2001 Photos

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June 20 - 24, 2001
Buffalo, New York
Sponsored by:
ASME Solar Energy Division, the City of Buffalo, the University at Buffalo, and others.

1 Paddock area The Paddock Area is "Home" for the teams for the 5 days of the Splash. The two large white tents give each team 300 sq. ft. of secure workspace and easy access to get down to the lake.
2 Registration The first order of business is Registration. Laminated badges are prepared in advance and are issued when each participant signs waivers.
3 Skipper ballasting Each skipper is ballasted to 70kg. (154 lb.). This includes the life jacket. A wristband shows the amount of ballast and a matching band is on the ballast bag.
4 Swim test Prior to any boats going on the water, each swimmer must pass a "swim test". Although life jackets are required on the water, we feel all skippers must be comfortable in the water without one.
5 Students at the mixer Wednesday evening is the Mixer to kick off the Event. We had many dignitaries and members of the local community who served as Volunteers. Here, one of the volunteers inspects the work of a team composed of students from various schools, trying to solve a problem.
6 Dockside at Hoyt Lake Hoyt Lake is down below the Paddock area. For launching and retrieval, we have provided three "Roll-O-Docks" with appropriate spacing for the various boats.
7 Boat inspection Before any boat enters the water; a final checklist inspection is performed. This includes various required safety devices and conformance to the rules.
8 Boat launching For launching, "slings" are devised by each team. They vary, depending on the shape of the boat and other team preferences.
9 Boat on a dolly Each team is required to have a "yard dolly" to move their boat from the Paddock to the launch area. The Marquette boat uses hydrofoils, not on it at this time, so the dolly is quite high.
10 Parade lap in front of the Historical Society The premier event is the Endurance competition in which each boat goes as far as possible in two hours. This year we started in "Parade Fashion" so part of the first lap was a great photo opportunity.
11 Geneva boat The field is divided into two heats, 30 minutes apart to make starting manageable and safe. Here, Geneva College from Pennsylvania gets a final check before going out to the "high line".
12 TV interview Media interest in the area was very high. There were over a dozen interviews including coverage on CNN.
13 Solar panels on shore The only source of power for the Splash is the sun so when the Endurance Event is not underway, the solar arrays are used to recharge batteries. Only a limited number of batteries are allowed.
14 Timers The local volunteers provided help in many areas including timing. In the early stages of the competition, one boat at a time "qualifies" on a special course.
15 Paddock area Within the paddock area, each team utilizes their space differently. Here we can see the beautiful workmanship of the University of Arkansas boat, competing for its second year.
16 Boat number 2 Designs vary a great deal but after years of competing, the United States Coast Guard Academy built an entirely new boat of mahogany plywood. Lightweight components and simplicity proved very successful.
17 Working on the drive system The returning World Champions, the University of South Carolina, chose a more complex design. Their entire propulsion unit is moveable in both the horizontal for steering, and the vertical for trim.
18 The cockpit Instrumentation varies greatly from team to team. Certain switches are mandatory and most teams monitor at least current from their batteries. Others have extensive instrumentation including telemetry to the team on shore.
19 ETS boat Our first team from Canada, ETS in Montreal, was a rookie team. In their first year, their design included several highly complex systems. Unfortunately, not everything worked as planned but they are already making plans "for next year".
20 Boats on the water Drive systems vary. Cedarville University of Ohio continues to improve their "surface piercing prop" propulsion system. Like USC, the entire aft portion moves for steering.
21 Marquette boat trailer Marquette University from Milwaukee is now running the 9th boat they have created over the past 10 years. Their trailer allows them plenty of dry workspace any time they go out testing or competing.
22 UC Santa Barbara boat The University of California at Santa Barbara chose a radical approach this year. Unfortunately, it proved to be rather flawed with the lateral center of gravity much too far aft.
23 Boat launching The skipper of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County boat waits while Coast Guard is launching on the far side. This view shows the long clean lines of the hull and a skeg, which aids in steering, just above the head of the UMBC skipper.
24 Rice University boat Another rookie team was Rice University. The horizontally mounted steering wheel worked well until the rudder snapped off in a sharp, powered turn in the Solar Slalom.
25 Boats in the Sprint The Sprints are run without the solar panels as they only take less than a minute to sprint 300 meters. The double elimination format, gives everyone at least two chances to compete. Coming off the start line, one of the safety patrol boats starts a futile chase…the competitors are much faster.
26 Marquette boat on hydrofoils In a later heat, we see Marquette shortly after starting, rising out of the water on its hydrofoils. At this point, Geneva has a lead in the far lane.
27 Cedarville boat Farther down the course, in another heat, we see Cedarville under full power and the performance of the surface piercing prop.
28 Rice's visual display Not all of the competition is on the water. Technical Reports and Visual displays are judged for points. Although many displays were excellent, the judges gave top marks to Rice. The four model test hulls and the information they produced seemed to be the winning margin. It also resulted in a 4th place overall finish.
29 SUNY-Stony Brook boat The boat from SUNY Stony Brook showed good workmanship and sound engineering. The yellow bags in the bow are for flotation, required in some form on all boats. Batteries and motors are strategically placed to keep the balance just right.
30 Young fans The student team leader from Cal Poly Pomona brought his daughters who are taking a close look at the end product of the team's year of hard work.
31 Geneva boat on its trailer Out of the water, we can see several aspects of Geneva's stitch and glue hull made of plywood. Their drive shaft is quite far aft with a very small rudder just behind the prop. It worked quite well.
32 Kansas State boat Kansas State University, in its second year had many innovations. Given another season to make some fine adjustments, they could be one of the top teams very soon.
33 University at Buffalo boat Another rookie team using the same hull design as Geneva was the University at Buffalo. All smiles, as they are finishing the Parade Lap which starts one of the Endurance heats with mascot "Rocky" secure to the boat sign bracket.
34 Awards ceremony Many awards are presented over the course of the competition. Most are given out on Sunday after the end of the last event. Coast Guard came in third by only .06 points out of a possible 1000 but unfortunately made a serious early qualifying error that ended up costing them the World Championship.
35 Awards ceremony Our only High School team, Park School from Brooklandville, Maryland, received the Perseverance Award. They have competed for the past 5 years. This year, these juniors were co-team leaders.
36 Participants and volunteers Part of the large volunteer corps is seen here at the Awards Ceremonies in blue shirts. They assisted in many aspects of the event from early preparation through to final clean up.
37 The World Championship trophy And the World Champion is… the University of South Carolina. For the first year, we have created this permanent trophy, so USC will keep it for a year and have a smaller version to add to their many past accomplishments.