NEW ORLEANS — If you throw a block of concrete in a bayou, it will sink. So how is it that hundreds of engineering students from around the Southeast managed to not just build, but race canoes made of concrete on Bayou St. John Friday?
WWL Louisiana went to the Gulf Coast American Society of Civil Engineers Symposium Friday to find out. The three-day event brings engineering students from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi together to learn, compete, and network. This year's was hosted by the University of New Orleans.
One of the main events is the concrete canoe race. Teams at each university spend up to a year designing and building the canoes. “I cannot tell you how much I am so excited,” said UNO team captain Lucas Trinh. Last year, he looked “at all the schools” and “talked with them for more knowledge” to improve his team’s canoe.
When the starting horn would blow for each heat, the teams all paddled furiously. There was a sprint and a slalom with men’s and women’s categories for each.
So why didn’t they sink?
As several students explained, it comes down to material, thickness, and shape. “It’s kind of like making a cake,” said UNO team member Amanda Darda, “there’s a bunch of ingredients that go into the concrete and that’s why it takes us a whole year to figure it out.” Her team mixes small glass beads into its concrete and strategically places floating materials within the hull.
Sometimes, a canoe breaks or capsizes. But the vast majority Friday made it to the finish line.
Afterward, it took entire teams to lift the heavy canoes into waiting trucks. Not a fun chore, to be sure, but as University of Louisiana at Lafayette team co-captain Claire Leblanc pointed out, “ASCE is all about camaraderie. I think everybody is just really close friends, you get to meet new people every day, and they’re always willing to help.”
The last day of the event is Saturday. There will be another competition for models of steel bridges.
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