Homecoming cardboard boat race sees victory, sunken ships Saturday

Thirty five boats set sail for the 15th annual Cardboard Boat Race on Saturday. The event, sponsored by the School of Engineering and Technology, took place in the Rose Ponds before the Homecoming football game.

It featured 28 teams from the Introduction to Engineering class, as well as student groups competing in the open competition.

“I think we’ll be able to make it across the two ponds no problem,” competitor Mitchell St. Amour said. “But I won’t say it’s not going to be chilly.”

The purpose of the race was for engineering students to apply the basic elements of engineering to build the best boat they can. Teams were only allowed to use certain amounts of duct tape, cardboard and liquid nails in the construction of their vessels.

After the teams crossed the first pond, they had to carry their boats to the second pond and sail around the statue in the water before reaching to the finish line. The length of the course was between 300 and 400 yards.

More than 200 participants competed in seven heats. Nine of the boats sank before reaching the end of the second pond.

Floating Titanic won the first heat and also took first place this year with a time of 5 minutes and 45 seconds. The record for the fastest time in the history of the event was set in 2010 by the ASME, with a time of 4 minutes and 58 seconds, said Brian DeJong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and organizer for the race.

There was no winner in the fourth heat because all of the boats sank. The winners of the other heats were Jenny, the S.S. Bottoms Up, BNH and the U.S.S. Popeye.

“It was a bit top-heavy,” Bottoms Up rower and Matt DeMaagd said at the finish line. “I expected us to go down like a rock.”

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers finished first in the open competition with their boat Omega.