WHILE homemade rafts will be put to the test at the Queanbeyan River Festival, there'll be one vessel that will safe and secure.
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The Queanbeyan SES and their trusty boat will be welcome presence along the River. Volunteers will keep a watchful eye over each of the crews and if the boat is not quite up to scratch, they're happy to come to the rescue.
Operations officer Brent Hunter was part of the duo who helped tow Queanbeyan City Council's boat 'Spongeboat Wetpants', back to shore at the 2013 Queanbeyan Regatta.
The homemade raft, made of recycled rubbish bins, tyre tubes and planks of timber, failed to make it passed the starting line.
"The boat wasn't going anywhere, it was twirling in the current so we thought we better grab it before it got to the weir. That was a bit exciting ... it was all in good fun," he said.
"We also pulled one girl out of the water, she got a bit tired so we pulled her into the boat."
He said they'll be on hand once again.
"We'll be there, we'll help them out if needed," he said.
"It's the best spot to watch the race because we get to follow it all the way up to the turnaround point and all the way back down. If someone does fall in the River, they might get a free trip back with us."
Mr Hunter said the SES has been too busy to enter their own watercraft but is looking forward to seeing all the other vessels.
"It's a great community day and it's not often the River is used for this type of thing. Everyone from Queanbeyan should come down and check it out. It's going to be bigger and better," he said.
"We've been too busy this year to enter our own raft but maybe next year...we might even get towed back to shore by our own [SES] team."
