URI students tried to stay afloat in a cardboard boat race at the Tootell Aquatic Center. Photo by James McIntosh.
The University of Rhode Island held its first annual Cardboard Boat Race at the Tootell Aquatic Center, hosting student boat racing this past Sunday.
Teams consisting of no more than three members were able to sign up for this event through Campus Recreation’s IMLeagues. Registered students were then provided with materials and given the opportunity to build a boat solely out of cardboard and duct tape. Students had the option to sign up for the Racing Category (fastest for 25 yards), the Weight-Bearing Category (floats with the most weight) or for both.
According to Campus Recreation, all boats had to be pre-built, students were only allowed to use broken-down cardboard boxes and duct tape, students had to build paddles to propel their boat and all decorative materials had to be pool safe. In addition, each boat had to hold at least one person, had to be no larger than five feet in width and seven feet in length, and students were required to wear Coast Guard-approved life jackets and keep their limbs in the boat at all times.
According to Cindy Prenguber, aquatics specialist at the University of Rhode Island, students were eligible to win awards based on multiple categories.
“Awards were presented for first, second and third place for Fastest Boat, a first place award was presented for Greatest Weight Load and awards for Best Team Spirit and Most Fantastical Boat were presented,” Prenguber said.
Kobe Gallman and Jeffy Wang, first-year students, were awarded first place in both the Racing and the Weight-Bearing categories. They only took 20 seconds to cross the 25-yard pool, earning them the most points. Although they did not originally plan to compete in the weight-bearing contest, their cardboard boat held 405 pounds.
Their team, Drip Bandits, constructed their boat the night before the competition, yet, because of their simple design, they were able to come out as winners.
“We kept the design of the boat very basic and used small reinforced cardboard squares as our paddles,” Gallman said. “Other teams that opted to make impressive-looking oars found cardboard was too flimsy to keep up with their design.”
First-year students Benjamin Jacknovy, Benjamin Kopsick and David Connel competed in both categories and were awarded third place in the racing category. Their team, Pogchamps, thought the boat-making process was the most crucial part, trying to balance between one that would hold a person, but also move fast enough to win a race.
The Pogchamps also took the time to examine how the weight would be distributed throughout the boat, which is what they believe made their boat so successful. Jacknovy said that they layered the cardboard on both the back of the boat and the tip, which allowed the weight to be evenly distributed.
The winners of the third round of racing, Rhody Ruggers, used their previous knowledge of boat buoyancy to their advantage. The team consisted of Nick Hill, a third-year student, and two second-year students, Walter Boyko and Michael McCann.
“We decided to make it like a big barge because Walter is an ocean engineer[ing major] and in a lab, he had just done this [and a barge] was the boat shape that had the best buoyancy,” Hill said. “I think our boat was successful because we covered the bottom with tape and not only the seams.”
Team Titanic 2 was awarded the Most Fantastical Boat award. Emilia Delemontex, a first-year student, and their teammate, Owen Hefferman competed in the first race. Delemontex said that they believe they won this award because they had thematic phrases like “made in the USA,” and the famous “Titanic” song lyric “my heart will go on” on the sides of the boat. In addition, they also had a decorative flag and plastered “Titanic 2” on the boat. They were rewarded with URI pom-pom beanies.
Team Residential Academic Mermaids was awarded for Best Team Spirit. Each team member wore matching, handmade shirts with their team name across the front, playing along with the name of the Residential Academic Mentors, or RAMs, we have here at URI.
Despite the fact that some of the boats did, in fact, not float, all of the students brought their own Rhody Pride to the first annual Tootell Cardboard Boat Race.