1999
Concrete Canoes, a "Solid" Engineering Education!
by Dave Meyer
Innovation, competition, sportsmanship and pride all seemed to be themes of the 1999 Regional Concrete Canoe competition held in Madison, on April 29th through May 1st. The annual event is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and by Master Builders Technologies.
The challenge is to design and build a fully functional racing canoe. Not only must it achieve high speeds on a straight distance course, it must also possess the ability to maneuver quickly through a slalom course and turn on a dime in several hair-pin turns. In canoe design, these properties all conflict. Because of this, traditional canoe races rarely encompass both speed and maneuverability. As far as hull design goes, this is one of the most challenging competitions in the country.
Oh yes, it also must be made of concrete.
As a former two-time concrete canoe team leader for Michigan Technological University and a current civil engineer, I can tell you that the idea really is not as crazy as it sounds.
To succeed, you must research a problem you know very little about. Then apply innovation, engineering principles, and hopefully a lot of common sense. Now invent some testing methods to see if your idea will really work. (Most current tests and equipment do not apply here!) Then figure out how you are going to build this strange, new thing. Organize, train and manage a workforce. Now find a volunteer to test it! Train personnel to operate it. Write a detailed report and create a presentation to sell it. Finally, build a booth to display it and present your new product to the public.
Does this sound like a job you have? If not, you probably wish it were. It is innovation, engineering, manufacturing and marketing all crammed into one (hopefully) water tight stuff sack, tied to a thwart, and paddled down a river. It teaches creativity, imagination, research skills, decision-making and problem solving abilities, hands-on-manufacturing, organization, scheduling, salesmanship and tons of teamwork! I can't honestly think of a better way to train an engineer.
This year, nine teams of students answered the challenge to compete in the regional competition. They were: UW Madison, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Marquette University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Bradley University (Peoria, IL), University of Illinois Chicago, Purdue University (IN), University of Southern Indiana (Evansville), and Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana.
The canoes ranged in weight from about 100 to 300 pounds. Thickness ranged from 1/4" to 1". Most canoes were finished so well that you'd swear they were fiberglass. Each team competed in the areas of Design Paper, Oral Presentation, Display, Final Product, and a full day of racing, including sprints, slalom and endurance races.
In the end, after some good-old-fashioned nail-biting competition, UW Madison won the overall competition and earned the right to advance to the national competition in Orlando, FL early this summer. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in with a close second, sneaking a few races away from Madison.
Please join me in congratulating all the participants in this challenging and exciting competition. Keep up the great work!
