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Schools Marine Challenge Race Day – June 29 2005

A warm start to the most successful race day yet!
The event build up day started badly with a large storm threatening to blow us and our structures away, but thankfully Race Day itself was due to be far warmer and calmer…. but not for the competitors! In a few hours all the work of a year or longer would be put to the test on the water in the three dynamic categories; solar electric and i.c.

Race Day 05 Menu Picture Gallery Winners Gallery Race Day Videos (large files for broadband connections) Solar (4mb) Electric (5.4mb) IC (10.6mb)

This year we had a dedicated team of race marshals to ensure the laps and times were taken and recorded accurately and delivered to the team of judges smartly after each timed event. 2005 also saw the first use of numbered pit lane entry system for each school. This was designed to give the teams a place to work, a launch site for the boats and give the drivers good visibility to where the team were starting the boats, any instructions the pit crew had could be easily seen from the podium with hand signals the norm.

Solar Craft
We had a shaky start to the build up day as the water for the solar pond had not arrived by 5 o’clock and was promised for first thing on race day, but thankfully it arrived in time, after the first of the early arrivals, so a sigh of relief was heard around the team.
As the scheme progresses, year on year, so does the innovation and design ideas in each class of the challenge but none more so than with the solar craft.
A new race system was in place to ensure a more even chance of recording a good result in the varying light levels during the day, making this a closely contested event as each round gave a different winner.
The event was run in heats with the group winners going through to the finals.

The specialist solar school, Budmouth Technology College proved to be the more complete detailed racers, good weight balance, solar panels held securely and the power train as friction free as possible. The best of 3 round final was a close affair with Budmouth streaking into a good lead and concerns were felt that they had gone out too early, setting a very good time in only the first round. Could the other schools improve to beat them?

What they said.... "I'm absolutely delighted with the way that the momentum of the Schools Marine Challenge has grown so rapidly in the three years that it has run. Getting young people to consider a career in marine engineering is an important aspect of ensuring that there is the right skills and vitality to ensure that the South West's marine sector remains internationally competitive long into the future." Tim Feetwood, Marine Sector manager at the South West RDA "The challenge is a great way of engaging students in marine engineering whilst encouraging schools to form valuable links with industry where they have had the chance to access industry experts and cutting edge technology. The schools and businesses have worked really hard to get their creations ready for race day and we would like to thank all those involved for making the competition such a success." Adam Corney, Executive Director of Marine Southwest

After the solar event we had a demonstration of an electric power boat from George Skinner and colleague to showcase alternative power in a commercial setting, then it was straight into the next competitive round.

Electric Power Boats

This is the second year we have run with an electric power boat class and it proved to be a winner again. The reliability of the class was highlighted from the gun with a sprint to the first buoy as all the boats from each pit lane headed for the first turn together.
Race control was kept busy during practice and the heats, issuing, charging and swapping batteries even during the race; the exhausted cells were being returned too hot to touch as the teams used various race strategies to refuel their craft mid race! The pit lane system ensured that the teams had the space to make those pit stops to change batteries and relaunch smartly.

IC Class
To many, this is what the scheme is all about; the noise, smell and feel of a ‘real’ engine has no substititute when it comes to atmosphere! This year saw the best and closest running of the IC event.
As more and more teams get better at starting and running of the IC engines, more craft took to the water, especially the boats from the more experienced schools.
This event was again not without it’s spectacles as at least 3 engines had to be changed, rebuilt or swapped during the rounds to our knowledge. Buoys were being hit by the boats, and some at high speed. Numerous propshafts and power-trains had to be stripped and rebuilt during the afternoon with most seeing action again on the water. The competitive edge between schools was balanced nicely with a spirit of cooperation as teams helped each other out with spares and knowledge to make the most of the day.

A Special thanks must go to Paul Firmin, from Nimrif Models, and his team for hands on tuning of engines and carburettor setting. If you missed him, Paul was the one in waders tuning the boats as they passed! The only complete failure we saw was the boat from All Saints School with the propshaft rotating at the same speed as the engine and shaking other components off as the revs rose.

After the final event was over and the results were being poured over by the judges to total up the points from the rounds we saw another demonstration on the lake from Paul’s team as they ran their large IC powerboats at some incredible speeds. Paul himself ran what he terms as a fast electric boat and after close scrutiny it was found that he was running it with 18 cells compared to our 6!

The results were as close as we’ve had with no obvious winner emerging from the crowd, each point from each round of all classes had to be added together and congratulations must go to the champion school for 2005, Kingsbridge Community College.

And so onto next year.
Some schools have already started designing their boats for next year; staff have been complaining that they cannot get to a computer in one school for all the pupils in the way!