Arkansas Places Second in 2007 Solar Splash

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The University of Arkansas solar boat competes in the sprint competition at Solar Splash 2007.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas solar boat team came up short in its bid to repeat as world champions at Solar Splash 2007. The Arkansas team, composed of electrical- and mechanical-engineering students, placed second behind Cedarville University.

“The overall competition gets stronger each year,” said Alan Mantooth, professor of electrical engineering and one of three team advisers. “But we have quite a perennial battle for supremacy between our team and Cedarville. Overall, we’re proud of how hard our students worked, and it’s great to see them have so much fun in this event.”

For the second year in a row, the top-two teams switched places, as Cedarville won the overall competition in 2005 and Arkansas placed first last year. After two years of trying unsuccessfully to make it to Solar Splash, Instanbul Technical University traveled to Northwest Arkansas from Turkey and finished third in this year’s competition.

In its 14th year, Solar Splash is the world’s only international, intercollegiate solar electric boat design and race competition. Sixteen teams, including the Instanbul team and one from Canada, competed in this year’s event, which was held from June 13 to Sunday at Lake Fayetteville. This was the second consecutive year the UA College of Engineering hosted the event on Lake Fayetteville, and Solar Splash is scheduled to be held on the lake for the next four years. In addition, the UA team had hoped to field a new, two-hulled catamaran in addition to the “Red Boat” that won last year’s overall competition, but the catamaran wasn’t quite ready for competition this year.

Each team was responsible for designing its own boat and power system. Boats were scored on appearance, how well they were built and how well they operated, in addition to their performance on the lake. Each boat was required to operate on a combination of natural and stored solar power.

During the five-day event, teams participated in five on-the-water competitive events. On-site competitions also included visual displays and workmanship. On-the-water competition included qualifying boats in low- and high-speed configurations, a 300-meter sprint double elimination event, and a 4-hour endurance event. The Solar Slalom, another part of the on-the-water competition, involved a combination of speed and maneuverability.

Roy McCann, associate professor of electrical engineering and a team adviser, said this year’s competition was more competitive. For example, Arkansas won the championship last year with 867 total points and placed second this year with 895 points. This year, for the first time in eight Solar Splash competitions, the University of Arkansas team won first place in the 300-meter sprint.

“This was an important goal for the team,” McCann said.

Arkansas also won this year’s endurance competition.