UPI – A man from Oregon, United States, transformed his prized 1,214-pound pumpkin into a makeshift boat and embarked on a record-breaking 45.67-mile paddling journey down a Washington river.
Gary Kristensen from Happy Valley, who’s been cultivating giant pumpkins since 2011, began converting his enormous gourds into boats in 2013 for the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta – an event he’s won four years in a row.
This year, Kristensen hollowed out his pumpkin, nicknamed Punky Loafster, to pursue his longtime dream of setting the Guinness World Record for the longest journey in a pumpkin boat.
His 45.67-mile journey down the Columbia River, which took him more than 26 hours, aimed to break the previous record of about 39 miles.
Kristensen used a camera mounted to a broomstick to record his journey and printed the words “it’s real” on the side of the pumpkin to answer the most obvious question that might have been asked by curious onlookers.
