Premium

Watch: US man breaks world records after building giant pumpkin boat

The man began his 26-hour-journey on October 12 in his boat, “Punky Loafster”.

US man carves giant pumpkin boat (Image source: guinnessworldrecords)

Gary Kristensen from Happy Valley, Oregon, is making waves with his impressive feat. Kristensen, 46, set a new world record for the longest journey on a pumpkin boat and travelled from North Bonneville to Vancouver over 26 hours.

Kristensen began his journey on October 12 in his boat, “Punky Loafster”. According to the Guinness World Records, the man has grown giant pumpkins since 2011. In 2013, he carved his first boat-sized pumpkin to compete in the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta, which he won for the last four years.

His “Punky Loafster” was pollinated on July 14 and harvested on October 4. The next day after its harvest, the giant pumpkin was officially weighed and measured at Bauman’s Harvest Festival in Gervais, Oregon. With a circumference of 429.26 cm, it weighed 555.2 kg.

Story continues below this ad

Kristensen began the pumpkin into a boat transition on October 11, and launched it into the Columbia River from a trailer at Hamilton Island Boat Ramp in the City of North Bonneville, Washington, the Guinness World Records reported.

Watch here:

“After a couple hours of paddling, the wind had strengthened to 56 km/h (35 mph), and waves were starting to come over the sides of the pumpkin. A safe beach directly across the Columbia from Multnomah Falls was identified for landing the pumpkin,” GWR quoted Kristensen.

Also Read | Peanut, the viral squirrel, euthanised by New York authorities; fans pay tribute

“Landing was difficult because there was thick vegetation in the water that would not allow the pumpkin to easily float through,” Kristensen said.

Kristensen beat the previous record of 63.04 km set in 2023.

EXCLUSIVE: EC brings in feature to check misuse of identity to seek voter list deletions

Political Pulse3 hr ago

The Election Commission has launched a new 'e-sign' feature on its portal and app to prevent fraud. This comes after allegations of misuse of online voter deletion forms in Karnataka. The feature requires voters to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers, reducing the possibility of fraud.

View all shorts

Live Blog