Bathtub racing started in Nanaimo, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 and involves the use of a bathtub boat

Bathtub Boat

Bathtub boats are small watercraft designed around bathtubs or close facsimiles and are used in bathtub races.-Boat design:Early boats were whimsical and crafted from a variety of materials. Today, most bathtub boats are monohull planers with outboard motors...

. The idea was conceived to showcase Nanaimo to the world, with the first races beginning with the "Nanaimo to Vancouver Great International World Championship Bathtub Race" in 1967.

Frank Ney, Nanaimo's mayor at the time, was one of the largest supporters and promoters of the annual race from its establishment until his death in 1992, and was an avid participant. He would regularly dress as a pirate and tour the town and surrounding communities.

Until the 1990s, the race was held as a part of Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

's annual Sea Festival,(aka Sea Fest), when tubbers raced from Nanaimo to Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach

Kitsilano Beach

Kitsilano Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Vancouver, especially in the warm summer months. Located at the north edge of the Kitsilano neighbourhood, the beach faces out onto Burrard Inlet...

. With the demise of the Vancouver Marine Festival in the mid-1990s, the race now involves a course beginning in Nanaimo Harbour and ending at Departure Bay

Departure Bay, British Columbia

Departure Bay is a bay in central Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the east coast of Vancouver Island. The surrounding neighbourhood is also referred to as "Departure Bay"—once a settlement of its own, it was amalgamated into the City of Nanaimo in the 1970s .- Geography :The bay is framed to the...

. The race is held the last weekend of July every year.Because of the race, Nanaimo is sometimes known as the Hub, Pub, and Tub city.

Other cities, like Auckland's

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 North Shore with its Englefield Bathtub Derby, and Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

with the US-Canadian Friendship race now hold bathtub races, but the Nanaimo event continues to be the most widely known.