Title: Ledyard Freshman Boat Races

Informant info: Kristen Chalmers was born in Belingham, Washington and is currently a student at Dartmouth in the class of 2017. She is an active member of the Dartmouth Outing Club. In addition to the aforementioned membership, Kristen has both participated in and led Dartmouth First year Trips, and she has also participated in Ledyard trips.

Type of lore: Customary/Material, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed alone at Dartmouth College. The informant was asked to retell any rituals she knew associated with any aspect of the Dartmouth Outing Club.

Kristen is a member of the Dartmouth Outing Club and has a leadership role within the organization. Before she became a member of the Ledyard Canoe club she was informed about this tradition orally, and then took part in it as a member. A fellow Dartmouth Outing Club member and ’14 informer her of this tradition (she has forgotten his name) and the item was apparently started by a Dartmouth ’70.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)

Item: There is a tradition among the members of the Ledyard Canoe Club called Boat races. The freshman are given materials and told to construct a miniature sailboat. They are led to believe that there will be a an actual race in which they will have to compete against each other and blow their sail boats to the finish. The freshmen become very competitive about creating their sailboats and trying to win the race. While the race is going on the upperclassmen watch as the freshman try and blow their boats to the finish line. While they are doing this, the upperclassmen push water into their faces while they are attempting to blow. Unbeknownst to the freshmen the entire exercise was an excuse to prank them.

Informant’s comments: 

Collector’s comments:

Tags/Keywords: Ledyard, Boat, Freshmen, Tradition