Ribbonwake Regatta — Red Panda Rowers Reference Sheet

The story of Ribbonwake Regatta

A fictional story inspired by the artwork.

At the start of the regatta the first stroke sounded wrong. Four paddles struck water together. The fifth caught a floating ribbon, and the sixth stayed upright. Mella had seen something written on the ribbon. She let the other boats pass while she pulled it free and spread it across her knees.

The message gave a depth in feet and the name of an old bend. A second ribbon appeared farther downstream, tied to a reed. The racers followed the bend at half speed. Somebody had been marking a channel through the sandbanks before the festival banners were hung along the same bank.

A boat carrying the judges had already grounded on the sand. The pandas used their striped paddles to measure the channel, then ferried the judges back in pairs. By the time they reached the finish, the spectators had eaten most of the picnic and the winners were helping fold the tables.

Mella returned the two ribbons to the reed cutter who had tied them. Next summer he came aboard as the crew’s sixth paddler while Mella steered. Their boat finished third. She kept the third-place ribbon on her belt and the old depth ribbon on the tiller, where it could do the most good.

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