By Chris Harris Commonwealth Journal
CNHI
6-22-11 — Local water-dwellers who flocked to Conley Bottom last summer for the Lake Cumberland Raft-Up event will be pleased to know that organizers expect the event to take place again this year.
It might attract a few less visitors, however.
J.D. Hamilton, owner of Lee's Ford Marina and member of the Lake Cumberland Association, which planned last year's record-breaking raft-up, said that this year, the Guinness Book of World Records won't be a goal.
"I wanted to do the Guinness thing again, because it brings more excitement," Hamilton told the Commonwealth Journal. "But the general membership (of the Lake Cumberland Association) said that they don't want to do that again until someone else breaks the record."
This year's Raft-Up is scheduled for August 13 at Camp Earl Wallace, a site in Wayne County about three miles up from last year's Raft-Up location.
Hamilton noted that a group associated with Lake Lanier in Georgia had designs on breaking the record themselves on June 11, but decided to either cancel or postpone those plans. Hamilton said that had that happened, Lake Cumberland might have shot for the record again, but decided not to since the Georgia raft-up didn't occur as originally planned.
The 2010 Lake Cumberland Raft-Up actually took place in Wayne County at the Conley Bottom Marina, but was a collaborative effort on the part of all those who make their livelihood on the shores of Lake Cumberland, including those in Pulaski County. The goal was to connect as many watercraft as possible, tied together into one continuous structure.
There had to be one person on each boat, each vessel had to be connected to another by ropes, cords, or cables, and the structure had to stand like that for at least a minute. Representatives from the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records were on hand to monitor the event and determine whether or not the record had indeed been set.
The final tally: 1,651 boats, setting the historic mark. A total of 20 different states, plus the District of Columbia, were represented to help top the former record set on Lake Norman in North Carolina.
Kentucky put 945 in the event. Ohio, home to the famed "Ohio Navy"
which annually visits Lake Cumberland, was second with 581 participants. Indiana had 101. Tennessee had 13. Other states included Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and of course Washington D.C.
Hamilton said last year that he hoped the Lake Cumberland Raft-Up could become an annual event. The Lake Norman site did it six times from 1998 to 2004, setting the previous mark at 1,453.
In fact, Lake Norman was where the record was originally ticketed for the books. However, the Lake Cumberland Association set out to make a name for the local body of water by claiming the record for themselves. With only about 90 days to put the event together, lake marina owners and other involved parties got the word out quickly.
Hamilton noted that Lake Cumberland is the fourth-most visited lake in the United States and has a proud history befitting a world record such as the one set last year.