Spring Break
Concrete canoe club cruises to third place
Stephanie Vallejo
Issue date: 5/13/09 Section: News
An eight-month concrete canoe project proved worthy at the Mid-Pacific Regional Conference in Reno last month, earning SJSU's team third place.
The SJSU Concrete Canoe Club brought their 20-foot-long homemade canoe to Reno for the regional competition to try to qualify for the national competition.
"We tied for first place in final product," said Anthony Cirinelli, a senior civil engineering major and concrete canoe project manager. "But the tie-breaker went to Berkeley, because they were better than us in the other categories."
At the competition, the judges critiqued each competing team based on four categories: racing, final product, a 13-page technical paper and a five-minute business presentation.
All 13 members, which included a four-party paddling team, started creating the canoe's design last August and finished in April, Cirinelli said.
Mark Young, a junior civil engineering major, joined the team after winter break.
"When I first heard about it, I thought, this can't be for real," he said. "Then I realized that as long as the density of the concrete is lighter than the water, it would float."
Cirinelli said building the canoe was a less time-consuming task than the rest of the project.
Before the initial construction, he said, the team had to design, form and mold an example of the final product with Styrofoam or fiberglass.
During that four-month stretch, they tested different types of concrete. In January, they began the concrete mold.
"When you first show up and you don't even have a canoe yet, it's just a fiberglass mold sitting there," Young said. "You just can't help getting into it when you see the canoe take shape."
Cirinelli said that they used a lightweight concrete mixture, which is less dense than the water, in order to make it float.
Although the team's canoe weighs 160 pounds, he said its length actually makes it glide faster in the lake.
"When people think concrete, they immediately think heavy, but it's about the displacement," Cirinelli said. "When you think about an aircraft carrier or a cruise ship, those are big steel vessels, but they still float."
The SJSU Concrete Canoe Club brought their 20-foot-long homemade canoe to Reno for the regional competition to try to qualify for the national competition.
"We tied for first place in final product," said Anthony Cirinelli, a senior civil engineering major and concrete canoe project manager. "But the tie-breaker went to Berkeley, because they were better than us in the other categories."
At the competition, the judges critiqued each competing team based on four categories: racing, final product, a 13-page technical paper and a five-minute business presentation.
All 13 members, which included a four-party paddling team, started creating the canoe's design last August and finished in April, Cirinelli said.
Mark Young, a junior civil engineering major, joined the team after winter break.
"When I first heard about it, I thought, this can't be for real," he said. "Then I realized that as long as the density of the concrete is lighter than the water, it would float."
Cirinelli said building the canoe was a less time-consuming task than the rest of the project.
Before the initial construction, he said, the team had to design, form and mold an example of the final product with Styrofoam or fiberglass.
During that four-month stretch, they tested different types of concrete. In January, they began the concrete mold.
"When you first show up and you don't even have a canoe yet, it's just a fiberglass mold sitting there," Young said. "You just can't help getting into it when you see the canoe take shape."
Cirinelli said that they used a lightweight concrete mixture, which is less dense than the water, in order to make it float.
Although the team's canoe weighs 160 pounds, he said its length actually makes it glide faster in the lake.
"When people think concrete, they immediately think heavy, but it's about the displacement," Cirinelli said. "When you think about an aircraft carrier or a cruise ship, those are big steel vessels, but they still float."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
ridiculous
posted 6/15/09 @ 10:47 PM PST
There was no tie, Berkeley won final product. And that is not the correct tie-breaker procedure anyway.
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