With anticipation buzzing in the air, two Cub Scouts waited for the signal to send their customized miniature sailboats down the lanes of an inflated racetrack.
On Saturday morning, Cub Scout Pack 9, of Holts Summit, held its annual Raingutter Regatta, a racing event held by Cub Scout packs nationwide.
Scouts build a small sailboat from a prepackaged kit, including a 7-inch balsa wood hull they can shape and plastic and metal parts to bring the rest of the boat together.
Typically, scouts would propel their sailboats down the track - traditionally an actual rain gutter sealed to hold water but replaced by an inflatable alternative - by blowing on the sails. However, this year, the scouts used small hand-held fans to put the wind in their sails.
Cubmaster Jason Jenkins said they started using the fans at their last regatta to level the playing field between the youngest scouts, ages 5, and the oldest scouts, ages 10-11 during the championship rounds.
This put the pack ahead of the curve when trying to plan the regatta this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Everybody is masked up, but we already had a solution in place to continue to have this event for our families," Jenkins said. "COVID has changed a lot of the things we do; we didn't want to give up the program completely."
Sixteen scouts from Pack 9 and their families gathered at Grace Lutheran Church to participate in the regatta event.
Lined up on a table before the racing began, the boats displayed a range of customized designs. Some featured bright colors, one bore the Jolly Roger on its sail, and a few displayed sea creatures like a shark or a giant squid.
One scout even had a tiny photograph of his grinning face attached to the passenger area of the boat.
The regatta was set up as a double-elimination tournament. First, scouts competed in their dens, which are divided by age - kindergarten Lions, first-grade Tigers, second-grade Wolves, third-grade Bears and fourth/fifth-grade Webelos.
Pack 9 has more young scouts, so the Wolves, Bears and Webelos competed as a group in the first round of the tournament.
Once each den's bracket was complete, the winning scouts competed in the Race of Champions to determine overall first-, second- and third-place winners.
Liam Dirks, 6, took home a medal from the Tiger Den bracket as well as the first-place championship prize. New to the program this year, Liam had never participated in the Raingutter Regatta before Saturday.
"It's really exciting," Liam said of winning, holding a golden trophy with a sailboat topper tall enough to reach the middle of his chest when he set it down.
Events like the Raingutter Regatta and the famous Pinewood Derby car race teach the scouts to be good sports, along with giving them an opportunity to do build something and be creative.
"It's really hard for a kid, especially a first-grader or kindergartner who has maybe never had to deal with losing," Jenkins said. "Learning how to lose graciously is almost harder than it is to learn how to win."
Scouting activities also often give the scouts' parents an opportunity to spend time with their children and help with tasks, like putting together the regatta boats or building the Pinewood Derby cars. The program opens up a variety of potentially new activities not only for the scouts but their families.
"It offers so many things to so many kinds of kids," Jenkins said. "You don't have to be the fastest or the smartest or the most popular or the richest - it's very inclusive."
Although most people still think of them as Boy Scouts, the organization opened to girls back in 2017.
Jenkins, who is an Eagle Scout, has lead the pack for about six years and is passing the torch in the coming months as his own children have aged out of Cub Scouts.
Liam's father, Justin Dirks, will take over as Cubmaster. His younger son, 5-year-old Wyatt, also joined scouts as a Lion this year and took home a medal Saturday.
Justin and his wife, Mallorie Dirks, see the benefits of the program for the children, including socialization and the variety of activities they are exposed to.
"They're super excited about it, just in general," Justin Dirks said. "I didn't want to see anything happen to the local chapter."