Canyon High School [Anaheim] wins 3-Day Solar-powered Boat Competition in So. California

source: press release 2003.6.1

Sunny days and thoughtful nautical design resulted today in the first-place trophy going to the Canyon (Anaheim) High School team at the conclusion of the three-day Solar Splash competition sponsored regionally by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and its member public water agencies.

Taking second place in the races at Lake Skinner, near Hemet, were students from Long Beach Polytechnic High and third place went to Valley View High in Moreno Valley. Other schools competing were Newbury Park Adventist Academy, Moorpark High, Centennial High, Bonita High, and Paloma Valley High.

"This has been enormous fun," Metropolitan President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald R. Gastelum said at this afternoon’s awards ceremony, "and we salute the schools, students and teachers who participated."

"For Metropolitan," Gastelum said, "the program has been an excellent adjunct to our education programs, as it dovetails with our concern for stewardship of natural resources, education programs on water supply and water quality, and interest in eco-friendly watercraft for our reservoirs."

Solar Splash is an international program, mostly at the college level, with this weekend’s competition being the first held in California. Foreseeing an ongoing sponsorship, Gastelum said in coming years the competition will be held in partnership with the Center for Water Education.

Lake Skinner, near Temecula, another of Metropolitan’s reservoirs, has public campgrounds that the Solar Splash competitors and their advisors made into their own Olympic village for the weekend.

For the past six months, Solar Splash participants at the six high schools have applied their math, physics and design skills to the project. Identical wooden hulls were provided each team. Teams also were awarded $3,000 to outfit their boats with engines, solar panels and batteries by the Metropolitan member water agency serving their school: Calleguas Municipal Water District, Western Municipal Water District, Eastern Municipal Water District, and the cities of Anaheim and Long Beach.

"Although the hulls are identical, the entries all look like completely different boats," said Julie Miller, a teacher in Metropolitan’s education programs and Solar Splash manager. "The differences are in the way they have arranged their solar panels and engines, and of course in their paint colors and lettering."

"One requirement is that each craft carry a person weighing a minimum of 130 pounds," Miller added. "Some of the teams are putting in girls in their boats who need to add bags of rocks to bring the weight up to 130!"

Qualifying inspections—making sure the boats met the rules—were held Friday, with 90-minute endurance heats run on Saturday to see how many laps a craft could do within the time limit. Nine heats of racing were held this morning and afternoon.

Metropolitan Chairman Phillip J. Pace noted in opening ceremonies that "It is my hope that Solar Splash becomes an annual event and part of the program for the Center for Water Education, for which ground will be broken at Diamond Valley Lake. The center will be a place of thinking and sharing creativity, much like what we are experiencing here this weekend."

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage, and other resource-management programs.

More results and photos from the race.

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Students let Old Sol do the rowing

source: Linda Lou & Karie Allen Press Enterprise 2003.05.28

Some teenagers hope to collect some sun rays next weekend to race in
their handmade solar-powered boats at Lake Skinner. [Southern California]

High school teams from Corona, Menifee and Moreno Valley spent the past
few months designing their boats on paper, building them of wood and
hooking them up to solar-powered engines. Five schools from Orange and
Los Angeles counties also are competing on the lake.

The first Solar Splash competition in California, sponsored by the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is an effort that ties
science and water-quality issues in classrooms, Julie Miller, Metropolitan
Water spokeswoman, said when reached by telephone.

Students applied math and physics concepts -- such as buoyancy -- to
design and build their boats, and Metropolitan representatives gave a
seminar on keeping water clean, said Greg Schultz, head adviser for
Centennial High School's team.

Each school uses motors that run on both battery and solar power. Solar
energy, gathered from panels placed on top of batteries, is converted into
electrical energy that fuels the motor.

Schools have leeway to decide how many motors to install, but power
management is key, Schultz said. The goal is to make sure that boats
have enough power to last 90 minutes in theendurance challenge and
enough power to compete in the200-meter sprint, Schultz said.

Judging criteria include technical reports, aesthetics, race time in
the sprint and the number of laps made in 90 minutes. Prizes will
be awarded in each individual category, as well as to the top five
overall winners.

Schools were chosen to compete by their local water districts through an
application process.

Confidence is high

Charles Murphy, Paloma Valley High School's team adviser and a physics
teacher, said his Menifee students are ready to take on other schools with
their 16-foot wooden canoe.

"We're going to be hard to beat," Murphy said when reached by phone.

Students on Centennial's six-member team said they plan to triumph with
dual talents in math and industrial arts.

Unlike some other schools that used their science departments to build
the solar-powered boats, Centennial had its industrial arts department
produced the Corona school's vessel. Schultz teaches electronics, and
Kent Galloway, the other faculty adviser, teaches metal shop.

Jim Weise, a 16-year-old Centennial junior, said his team has sailed its
15-foot wooden canoe a few times in the school pool without major
problems. The team still is deciding on the best propeller system and will
take the canoe out for a spin on Corona Lake today.

"We got a good chance of winning," Weise said. "So far, we haven't hit
any pitfalls. We got a plan, and we'll stick to it."

Chris Thompson, 17, has worked about 100 hours with Weise after school
to iron out details that would help their boat stay watertight and speedy.
He recently coated the canoe with sealant and installed its propulsion and
electrical systems.

"I'm really proud of it," Thompson said. "It's my boat."

Western Municipal Water District granted Centennial $3,000 to enter Solar
Splash, and Eastern Municipal Water District did the same for Paloma
Valley High and Moreno Valley's Valley View High School.

Finishing touches

Valley View's team adviser, science teacher David Susuras, said the
electrical boat project is a first at the school.

"I thought it would be something rather simple and we'd be tooling
around the lake in our canoe," Susuras said. "But it's been a challenge
trying to make everything fit, but we made it. These kids have spent at
least 200 hours working on their boat."

The eight-member team, calling itself the Valley View Yacht Club, took its
16-foot boat out to Lake Perris about two weeks ago to test floatation
and performance.

"We know we have a good boat," said team captain Blaine Bockholt, 17.
"It trims out nice in the water. It's stable."

Valley View students said they've been having fun and learning about
physics, fuel conservation, budgeting finances and time management. The
experience even has prompted one student to sign up for a welding class
next semester.

"I want to be prepared for next year," said Jason Neiswonger, 17.

With only a few days left before the event, students say they need to
make a few finishing touches and to choose a name for their vessel.

"We need to find a name," said Mike Fulton, a 16-year-old Valley View
student. "It's bad luck to have a boat without a name."

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High school boat-builders have moments in the sun

Solar Splash contestants learn that teamwork has its own rewards

source: George Watson Press Enterprise 2003.06.02

Te'onna Adams is a bit of a gear-head and has deconstructed her rusting
VW Bug to prove it.

To expand her mechanical horizons, the senior at Paloma Valley High
School in Menifee decided to join several classmates and build a
solar-powered racing boat to race on Lake Skinner, near Temecula.

The team showed off the 15-foot wooden canoe at this weekend's
first-ever Solar Splash, sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. The results for the Paloma team were mixed because
mechanical problems stalled their efforts, ending with the canoe skippered
by Adams being towed to shore by a motorboat.

"It goes, a little bit," Adams said Sunday. "I don't know what to say about
that boat."

The 18-year-old contemplated for a moment, searching for something positive to
say, and they declared, "It's really good with right turns."

But the Paloma team ended up with the Teamwork Award for battling through
adversity, said Metropolitan spokesman Denis Wolcott. The team helped another
competing squad, Long Beach Polytechnic High School, charge their batteries, and Long
Beach gave Paloma a motor they didn't need when when Paloma's motor broke down.

Charles Murphy, Paloma's team adviser and a physics teacher at the
school, said the award speaks volumes about all of the competitors, who
came from as far as Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

"Anyone who put a boat in the water is a winner," Murphy said.

The top three overall spots went to Canyon High School of Anaheim, Long
Beach, and Valley View High School of Moreno Valley.

The other Inland school competing was Centennial High of Corona.

Michael Fulton, 16, of Valley View High, found it fascinating to build the
boat. Local water districts each gave$3,000 for construction costs to the teams from
their respective areas, thereby ensuring a level playing field.

"I learned a lot more on electrical stuff," Fulton said, moments after
cheering his team's driver, Jesus Luzanilla, 17, to a victory in
Sunday's sprint competition.

Like all the canoes, Luzanilla's boat cruised silently through the water,
powered by batteries that were charged earlier in the day with the solar
panels. Valley View's canoe was one of the fastest in the competition,
reaching speeds that Fulton figured exceeded 15 mph.

The MWD sponsored the competition to teach teenagers, in a fun and
competitive setting, about alternate energies and the need to protect
natural resources like water, said Julie Miller, an education representative
for the MWD.

Plans are in the works to make the competition an annual event. More
than 400 students, representing nine schools, attended earlier in the
weekend to get a handle on it for next year, Miller said.