Canoes test engineering prowess
Engineering students pitted their concrete canoes against 11 other teams to test their effectiveness and speed.
Published on Mon., April 30th, 2007
Three winded KU engineers paddled hard against the tranquil waters of Lone Star Lake on Saturday. Though racing against the clock and other boats, they were content in the simple fact that their concrete canoe stayed afloat on its maiden voyage.
Jason Neal, Monett, Mo. senior, Becky Anderson, Meriden junior, Emily Robbins, Overbrook sophomore, and Colby Farlow, Tecumseh junior, try to keep afloat in their concrete canoe Saturday afternoon at Lone Star Lake, southwest of Lawrence, during the concrete canoe contest that was part of the 2007 American Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Continent Regional Conference. Neal, who’s captain of the Kansas concrete canoe team, said the team has been working on designing and constructing their canoe since around September.
Photo by Anna Faltermeier
Eleven teams of engineers raced canoes on Lone Star Lake, located southwest of Lawrence, as part of the 2007 American Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Continent Regional Conference. The conference was a three-day event with 10 engineering competitions. Teams from 11 regional universities entered into the concrete canoe contest, which had them design, build and race their ships according to an extensive rule book.
“We just have to make it less dense than the water so it floats,” said Emily Robbins, Overbrook sophomore, and one of seven members of the University of Kansas team.
Robbins said her team’s canoe, a 20-foot, 250-pound boat named the Koncrete Uproar, was able to remain afloat because it wasn’t made of normal concrete. Instead of rocks and pebbles, the concrete mix included glass pellets and latex, which made the canoe lighter, more flexible and less permeable by water.
Jason Neal, KU team captain and Monett,, Mo., senior, said that to compete in the day’s races teams had to first pass a dunk test to make sure the canoes wouldn’t line the bottom of the lake if capsized. After passing the dunk test, the teams competed in five races of speed and endurance, trying to paddle through buoys and straight-aways without tipping their canoes.
“That water is really cold. We don’t want to go in it,” Neal said about a half-hour before he and two others overturned Koncrete Uproar and had to swim it back to shore.
He attributed the overturn to rough paddling and a sharp turn, which sloshed water into the back of the canoe. The weight caused the canoe to dip into the water, causing the rowers to abandon ship and leave it bobbing just below the lake’s surface.
“You never know how it’s going to act until it gets in the water,” Neal said.
You never know how it’s going to act until it gets in the water.
-Jason Neal, KU team captain and Monett,, Mo., senior
The teams were judged on the aesthetics of the boat, racing performance and a presentation of their canoe and design to judges. Participation in a technical writing competition was a required to be a part of the competition.
According to unofficial results, the KU team finished ninth out of 11 teams. The winning team would be eligible to compete in the National Concrete Canoe Competition in June in Seattle. However, Becky Anderson, Meriden junior and teams spokeswoman, said the competition was more about fun than winning.
“We wanted to get the canoe to look the best that it could, and when it came to rowing it we just wanted to have fun,” Anderson said.
Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan.com.
— Edited by Ryan Schneider
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