Concrete Canoe Team's Win at Nationals: A Story of Firsts, Teamwork, and Innovation!

Last month, CEE's concrete canoe student competition team won the ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The team's entry, Bear Area, took first place among 22 competing teams.

With this win, Berkeley became one of only three universities that has won "Nationals" five times in the 22-year history of the competition.

Members of Concrete Canoe put their hearts and souls into Bear Area, and seeing the team carry the canoe on their shoulders to races was quite a sight. This was the moment that showed all of our hard work had paid off. --Justin Beutel

The team attributes its win to members' dedication throughout the year. It takes hundreds of hours to complete a canoe, from research, to construction, to paddling. At one point, Construction Officer Dan Gee required each member to put in ten hours of sanding per week for two months.

Teamwork is also essential for success. There are several divisions among the team, from hull design and structural analysis, to materials research and development, to design, to construction. Each division is so specialized that even though all involved are civil and environmental engineering students, they cannot know everything that is going on in other divisions.

"What made us great is that we were able to trust and rely on one another for knowledge and support to reach all of our goals!" said David Leung, Hull Design and Analysis Officer.

Canoe members believe that the lessons learned about teamwork will be extremely valuable in their future careers.

"The practical life lessons learned on Canoe were even more valuable than all the technical aspects that went into the canoe's construction. One day after I graduate from Cal, I will be working with other engineers to create a product. Because I was a member of Concrete Canoe, I know I can be a successful team player. I would not trade my concrete canoe experience for anything," says Justin Beutel, Paddling Officer and next year's Project Manager.

CEE is competitive each year because the team is self-motivated to research new technologies. For example, this year the team introduced photocatalytic cement, which is not well known in the US. They also did scale model testing for the first time to consider hydrodynamic loading on the canoe. Bear Area's innovative concrete murals could not have been done without everyone putting in an enormous amount of hours.

Will Nguyen, Materials Officer, said that canoe is a showcase for engineering creativity. Already looking to the future, he says, "Next year, the technical team is going to do some crazy things!"

So watch out. CEE's Concrete Canoe Team is already thinking about what to innovate next year, how to make a canoe that stands out from the others, how to build a team of passionate people, and how to make sure that future members have the same wonderful experience they had.

And of course, they are thinking about how to repeat their win at Nationals.

Videos of the presentation and races from Nationals (2009):
Bear Area Presentation at Nationals (2009)
Women's Slalom
Men's Slalom
Co-ed Sprint
Men's Sprint

See also:

UC Berkeley Secures First Concrete Canoe Victory Since 1992, ASCE press release, June 13, 2009.

Concrete Canoe Team Places First at Nationals! CEE News and Events, June 16, 2009.

Civil Engineering Students Win Concrete Canoe Race, The Daily Californian Online, June 26, 2009.