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MIT Nerds Race Cardboats

Today a bunch of geeks up in Massachusetts launched their first-ever cardboard boat race!! These nerds have their own cute little newsletter and have written a long, long, long story about their cardboard regatta that may eat into your rum-drinking time. We advise that you just read our article, which steals the best part of their article and adds some gravitas to it, due to our powerful voice in the cardboard community.

The Rules

The rules of the race were straightforward:

Contestants were allowed to use paper tape and caulk on the seams of their boats, and to paint boats with enamel, lacquer paint, varnish, or water sealant. Each boat had to be less than three meters long and 1.5 meters high. For the races themselves, there were semifinal heats in which two boats competed head-to-head. In each round, the three crew members and boat had to paddle — using kickboards as oars — to the 50-meter mark, turn at a buoy, and return.

Jillian A. Berry (Jaeker), The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Contestants

Four vessels entered the Zesiger Center Pool:

  • Ship Happens
  • Unsinkable II
  • Conner Four Pirates
  • The Black Pearl
Judging the Guilty

The boats were judged on a scale from one to 10 by five judges from the Institute: Professor Wesley L. Harris, Dr. Kim B. Blair, Professor Thomas J. Allen, Professor Donald R. Sadoway, and Dr. Ari W. Epstein PhD ’95 – Captain Kingston Drew volunteered to judge as a subject matter expert.

Later that day the school held another, less-interesting regatta, for the 43rd year in a row.

The Winner

Ship Happens took the top prize this year!

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