An American man broke this year’s Guinness World Record for the longest journey by pumpkin boat. That’s right, pumpkin.
Steve Kueny, from Lebanon, Missouri, spent almost 11 hours out on the Missouri River in his 1,208-pound pumpkin boat called Huckle Berry.
After his 38-mile journey across the river, Kueny said he is “cold, tired but pleased with the result.”
Kueny began his quest around 7:30 am in Kansas City, Kansas, and arrived in Napoleon, Missouri, around 6:20 pm, he told USA Today.
He was joined by Paddle KC Paddling Club and half a dozen boats to make sure he was “doing something very silly very safely,” he said. The crew helped him maintain his pace to make sure he wouldn’t be paddling in the dark.
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Kueny said kneeling inside Huckle Berry was a little cold and slimy, as one would expect the inside of a pumpkin to feel.
He began his plan to make the voyage around February of this year, but Kueny said he has always had a passion for being out on the water and growing giant pumpkins.
He became interested in pumpkin growing in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, so he figured why not sail one down the river.
Kueny said he plans on submitting all the evidence collected to corroborate his journey – including witnesses, GPS data, time stamps, video footage, and photographs – to Guinness World Records for verification.
In an interview with KCTV5 aired on Monday, Kueny said: “We’re going to be taking this pumpkin and trying to sail 38 miles to set a new world record. The current record was set over 37 miles about a year ago.”
He added: “We’re going to start at sunrise and try to get out there and put some miles on it.”
Last year, Nebraska man Duane Hansen set the Guinness World Record for paddling in a 846-pound pumpkin, breaking every previous record.
Kueny said he added a few sandbags to the bottom of his pumpkin to give him more stability, according to KCTV5.
It took him the entire summer to grow Huckle Berry large enough to serve as a boat, with Dill’s Atlantic Giant being the only pumpkin species able to grow so large.
Kueny grew and carved the pumpkin himself, saying it only took him about 45 minutes to scoop out all the seeds.
Kueny told KCUR-FM: “We test floated it before we carved it so we would know which end wanted to be up. Once we figured that out, we marked it, made the hole at the center.”
The Paddle KC Paddling Club crew had safety measures in place to protect him throughout the journey, like checking the water temperature and speed of water.
Founder and manager of the club Christy Kurtz said before the journey: “We’re hoping that we might be able to reach 4 1/2 miles an hour. If we float at 3 miles an hour and hit some eddies, it could be up to 12 hours. But we don’t want to be out on the river (after) dark tonight.”
Theresa DeSalvo, who served as an official witness to Kueny’s record-breaking feat, told KCUR-FM: “I was all excited about the great pumpkin coming to Kaw Point. It’s all in the spirit of Halloween and bringing people together on the river on this beautiful day.”
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