Klamath Falls, Ore. – Upper Klamath Lake served as an engineering and physics classroom for high school students in a cardboard boat competition Monday.
The races were held at the Moore Park Marina.
‘Black Pearl’ boat Captain Mia Groff says the rules are simple. “We got three materials. We got cardboard, duct tape, and plastic sheeting to use on our boats, and whoever’s the fastest wins.”
The competition included teams from Klamath Union, Mazama, Henley, and Lost River High Schools.
“We just wanted to show that as a school, we’re improving in our science department,” Lost River’s Daniel Valadez explained. “And so we’re going for a grade too, so this is why we are racing this boat.”
“We put in a lot of effort into ours,” Henley’s Vanessa Ramirez said. “We wanted a good grade, and so the effort was there.”
Captain Groff says a little over-construction doesn’t hurt. “We used some really strong cardboard. Sears is actually the one we have to thank for that – and then we covered it all in duct tape, and then in plastic, and then in duct tape again.”
The cardboard boat competition has been an end of the year school tradition in Klamath Falls for the past 16 years.
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