SOLAR SPLASH^© 2000
Results and Awards

• Event Highlights
• Qualifying Event
• Solar Slalom Event
• Solar Endurance Event
• 300 Meter Sprint Event
• Overall Results
• Awards

Solar Splash 2000 concluded today with the sprint event and the awarding of trophies for various aspects of engineering. The University of South Carolina is the new Solar Splash World Champion, edging out the University of New Orleans by 12 points out of a possible 1000. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy finished in third, followed by two rookie teams: the University of Arkansas and Geneva College.

The endurance event was run today, and most of the boats performed quite well. A few boats had problems in their morning runs, but by the afternoon most of the bugs were worked out, and there were very few breakdowns. Results and points earned are shown below.

The morning skippers' meeting began with the announcement of the top three technical reports. For the third consecutive year the Coast Guard Academy was judged to have the best technical report. Results are posted below.

Conditions on Lake Pontchartrain were ideal in the morning for the completion of qualifying. By early afternoon the wind picked up a bit, and the lake started to get choppy. Qualifying was completed at 1:30 p.m. when the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth boat overturned while running the sprint qualifier and sank.

The preliminary sprint heats, which was scheduled for the afternoon, were cancelled.

The morning began with a north wind that produced a chop on Lake Pontchartrain, so qualifying runs were delayed until the afternoon. The swim test for skippers was held at the UNO swimming arena. All skippers qualified by swimming 50 meters and treading water for 1 minute.

Qualifying began in the afternoon and continued until 8 p.m. Five of the 16 teams had qualified in both the sprint and the endurance by the end of the day. Numerous other teams had qualified in either the sprint or the endurance. Qualifying will continue until noon on Friday.

All teams had completed both electrical and mechanical inspections by the end of the day.

After a couple of days with a cold front in the region, high pressure moved in and weather and water conditions were ideal in the afternoon for qualifying. The first team on the water was a rookie team from Louisiana State University, who completed the 70 meter sprint qualifier. The second qualifier was Geneva College, also a rookie team, who completed the qualifying maneuverability course with their solar arrays in place.

The day ended with the annual mixer, which featured tales from previous Splash events told by Jeff Morehouse from the University of South Carolina, Bob Bero from Grand Valley State University, and Bob Stark from Columbia University.