Physics students participate in Boat Regatta

Students in Physics classes recently completed a project where they had to build a boat out of cardboard and race it in the school pool.  Due to covid, the Boat Regatta event was canceled from 2020-2021, but this year, it was finally back and teachers and students were very excited about it.  

The Regatta took place on Jan. 12 from 4-5:30 p.m .and there were four boats per race, and the top four boats raced in the final round to determine an overall number one. 

The teachers were really happy with how things went.  “I was excited for the return of the boat regatta. We took a few years off due to COVID but were always planning on bringing it back. It’s a great way to wrap up the semester,”  Physics teacher Andrew Lasch said.  

Groups of three or four people worked together during class and outside of class to make the best boat they could.  There were a lot of different strategies used.  “We used the strategies of taping the whole boat design from inside and outside so the water is guaranteed to not come in,” junior Jacob Sellhausen said.  

To build their boats, students had to use all the physics they had learned this semester to make sure it floated in the pool with two people in it, and that it could travel more than 5 meters forward. 

“We want students to first have some fun at the end of a hard semester, and second give them an opportunity to show us how the physics they have learned can be applied to a boat race,”  Physics teacher John Kozicke said.

 Everyone always kept questioning what kind of cardboard was the best and what was the most durable cardboards?  “No one really knows and you just gotta trust your design, trust in your teammates, and trust the taping job that we do.  If we sink we sink but our goal is just to make sure it floats over 5 meters,” junior James Napierala said.  

During the boat race, there was a lot of laughter and competitiveness.  The four teams that made the top four was “GHS Begal,”  “Speedy Siren,” “Feeling Nauty,” and “Yellow Submarines.”  The winner was the group “Feeling Nauty” comprise of juniors Ben Wimmer, Tyler Filetti, Noah Huffmen, and Ari Schueuer.  They won with the fastest time of 37 seconds.  “I thought it was like 50/50 if we were gonna sink.  I was really surprised we won because the boat had some water coming through,”Wimmer said.