Go Fourth and Have Fun

The Cardboard Boat Regatta in Rock Island yesterday was fun!

The QCElite robotics team raced two boats - one they built two years ago and one they built this year - and neither of them sank! Both boats are Class 2 boats, meaning that their structure and floatation must be totally cardboard, but their drive system and steering don't have to be. Both boats used bike pedals to turn propellers for propulsion. The old boat had two drivers and two propellers, the new boat, just one.

In its first heat, the old boat threw a chain. Since it was driven only by one person but had the weight of two, it didn't go very fast, so it had a poor heat time. It did finish, though, and since there were so few Class 2 boats, all of them continued into the semifinals. The time in the semifinals was much better, and in the finals, the old boat won it all, just like it did two years ago.

The new boat doesn't have a very aerodynamic (hydrodynamic?) shape, so it isn't very fast, but it finished every race, and ended up with a third place finish in the finals.


Even more fun is the instant boat competition. For your entry fee, you get the materials to build a boat on the spot. We helped Nick's friend Josh build his. His boat took on a lot of water, but made it to the finish line in third place. It certainly was not over-engineered!