Cardboard Boat Races

Cardboard Boat Races
Posted on 03/20/2017

The St. Monica’s Titanic


On Tuesday, February 28th, 2017, four St. Monica’s students, Vanessa, Kieran, Rhylee, and Cassidy, had the opportunity to participate in the 2017 Cardboard Boat Races at the Innisfil YMCA.

The students were given two hours to build a boat that could float across the pool to the other end. The students were supplied with two 4 by 8 feet pieces of cardboard, one roll of duct tape, about a meter of string, a paperclip, and one bowl of contact cement. Ms. Davidson coached and supervised the students but was not permitted to give her opinion or assist with the assembly of the boat at the competition.

Kieran and Cassidy paddled the boat, while Vanessa and Rhylee held the boat in place while they got in. On paper the design the students came up with seemed suitable for floating across the water but when they actually built the boat out of cardboard, they realised that the design was flawed in several ways. When the students got into the boat to start paddling, they immediately realised that it was not going to end well.  The cardboard was already soaking up a lot of water and the boat started to cave in on itself. The boat steadied out for a bit but almost as soon as Kieran and Cassidy started to paddle, the boat completely capsized.


Although the students did not place amongst the top five teams, they still had loads of fun and now have many stories to tell.