Pumpkin Pilot Paddles for a prize

It’s as outlandish as a tale from a Roald Dahl book – but this Tom and the Giant Pumpkin story featured Yorkshire farmer Tom Pearcy paddling some 500m down the River Ouse through the historic city of York in a 1364lb (619kg) hollowed out pumpkin in a bid to win a Guinness World Record.

Tom had a safety boat on hand but says he was still uncertain about the stability of his pumpkin and worried that it might capsize and tip him out before he completed his small voyage. He had to hire a crane to lift the 97 stone pumpkin into the river after it was hollowed out for him to sit inside. The pumpkin was grown in Nottingham and entered for Tom’s giant pumpkin competition which he runs every year from his farm, York Maze. Before it was put into the river it had its name carved into the, ah, topsides – HMS York Maze…

Calling himself the Pumpkin Pilot Tom gingerly paddled his way between the Ouse and Skeldergate Bridges in York. He used the paddle like a canoeist rather than adopting the more expert stroke of a seasoned coracle sailor – where the paddle is held against the crook of the arm and used in a figure of eight fashion to drive the craft forwards.

HMS York Maze will now be on display at Tom’s farm until November 4. The farm is known for its maze of maize with 20 acres set aside where a maze is cut through a million maize plants each year to create a family attraction as a way of bringing in extra income to an arable farm, on Elvington Lane, just outside the city of York (YO19 5LT).

The farm’s pumpkins have already grabbed a few headlines and last year set a new world record for carving the world’s biggest Jack O lantern which was a whopping 2013lb.