Ready. Set. Go! Homemade boats getting pushed into the water as their drivers attempt to get in them, students cheering on their peers and laughing as they fail, boats racing across the pool or sinking into the depths below. Needless to say, this past cardboard regatta was rather riveting. 

For the folks who don’t know, or weren’t able to attend this year’s regatta, the cardboard regatta is performed by students where they make boats out of cardboard and duct tape to race across the Brecksville rec center pool. The Brecksville Broadview Heights Physics department works hard to put on the regatta for their students.

 The regatta has been an annual occurrence for ten years.  It all started in 2014, but took a hiatus during 2020 due to COVID-19.   MaryEllen Mauser is the master-mind behind the regatta.  She didn’t have the chance to participate in a regatta of her own, so Mauser wanted to ensure the students of Brecksville Broadview Heights would have the chance. Mauser had the help of Jessica Harnist for a few years, and then also relies on help of Seth Clerget in more recent years.

There is an extensive amount of preparation that goes into setting up the regatta. Every year there is a t-shirt design contest, where students can make ideas for the annual t-shirt that every student is given. Their peers vote on both design and color.  This year, the students decided on a bright pink shirt as opposed to the more common blues. After that is said and done, the teachers take over by ordering practically 200 shirts, along with enough pizza, snacks, and drinks to feed the students. 

Along with this, there is also a lot of coordination that must be done with the rec center to ensure a time and place for the event, most of which is taken care of by Mauser. 

When all that is set up, what’s left to do? Participants must construct their boats. There is a list of rules around construction, but this is mainly based on the materials used, as long as students only use corrugated cardboard and duct tape or packing tape the boat should be fine. 

Mauser claims that many of the kayaks and canoe-like boats are well-made, and it is rather easy to tell when a boat is made last minute without much thought. The real driving way to victory is a competitive spirit.  “If you want it badly enough, you’ll get it.” states Mauser. 

“The best part,” Clerget says, “is seeing all the fun that the students have during the event.”  During this year’s event, most people enjoyed falling into the water after their boat crumbled. The best boat design this year goes to Ella Detray, senior, and Sarah Priest, junior. They had a Helm, and Detray wore a Pirate hat! 

Most teams built their boats using cardboard and lots of duct tape to waterproof it. The students had a little over a month to construct their boats to hopefully get across.  

A boat that was a surprise to get across was the AP Physics boat, it was very large with many boys, but they still managed to make it to the other end.

On average, about 50% of the boats made it across as more fall-ins were expected from the students. Overall, It was a very fun and exciting event this year. As well as a thanks to all the teachers who contributed to making this happen.