Last Saturday was a big day for us in Gibraltar, as we joined the Annual Charity Cardboard Boat Race for the first time. The boat race is a highlight of Gibraltar’s social calendar and has been hosted annually since 2009. This year, we joined as both sponsors and participants. Building the boat was a great team building activity, enforcing that we have truly become One Kindred Team in our new office in Gibraltar.
With sustainability ranking high on our long-term strategic agenda, taking part in the Annual Charity Cardboard Boat Race was a no-brainer. The idea is simple: you build a boat using cardboard and compete in a race. The event is all about bringing people together for a great cause. Organised by the William Tilley Lodge, the race took place in Ocean Village, just a stone’s throw away from our Kindred office, the World Trade Center. This year saw a new record of attendees, with all proceeds going to the Gibraltar Cardiac Association and the GBC Open Day Appeal.
Over the years, the race has seen some fantastic creations. Trendy as we are, Kindred decided to go for a ‘Game of Thrones’ theme. With any form of flotation material being completely banned, it took a lot of ingenuity and desperate brainstorming from our boat building team to create a vessel capable of lasting the course. It took a long bloody time, dripping sweat, and tears of laughter, but we finally got there. Our brave sailors paddled their way across the marina, and guess what, they didn’t sink! In our first ever race, meeting fierce competition, we landed fourth place in our heat. We are very happy with this, but also hungry for more, so we will come back even stronger next year.
All cardboard used to build the boat was recycled! At Kindred, employees have three days per year they can use towards charitable initiatives. Big thanks to our group of volunteers who scouted the beaches and bins of Gibraltar, to not only provide us with excellent building blocks, but to making our surroundings a little cleaner.
