A Nebraska energy plant employee floated 38 miles down the Missouri River in an 846-pound pumpkin in an effort to sail previous the Guinness World Document of 25 miles.
Duane Hansen, 60, mentioned Tuesday that he deliberate to submit video and witness statements this week to the record-keeping group documenting his 12-hour cruise Saturday from Bellevue, simply south of Omaha, to Nebraska Metropolis.
The present file of 25.5 miles was set in 2018 by a person who paddled from North Dakota to Minnesota, in keeping with the group.
“I’ve been dreaming about this,” Hansen mentioned. “This has been a five-year journey to get a pumpkin that’s large enough.”
Officers from town of Bellevue helped doc the journey on its Facebook page, noting when Hansen launched from the general public docks (7:30 a.m.), when he appeared to surpass the previous file (2:52 p.m.) and when he arrived at Nebraska Metropolis (6:30 p.m.)
“Looks like a novel if not barely loopy technique to rejoice his sixtieth birthday, which was yesterday,” the publish mentioned.
Hansen, who pushes coal for the Omaha Public Energy District, mentioned his knees had been nonetheless sore, and he was grateful that he didn’t capsize on one of many river’s many hazards, just like the rocks he hit or the waves that pushed over the perimeters of his vessel.
His spouse named the boat Berta after the “Two and a Half Males” character.
Hansen mentioned he acquired the concept to seize the world file after he attended a pumpkin rising seminar in Oregon and met a earlier file holder.
It took him 5 years to develop the type of pumpkin — an Atlantic Large — that was massive sufficient to get him over the end line.
“I’ve grown lots of failures,” Hansen mentioned, noting that he has raised loads of gourds within the 200- to 400-pound vary. “I wanted an 800 plus.”
“This 12 months I had some failures with different crops,” he added. “However this one right here pulled by means of.”
