What began 40 years ago as a civil engineering class project at the U. of I. has grown into an organized annual tradition for engineering students worldwide.
The 2013 National Concrete Canoe Competition returned home in June when more than 20 teams of college students who designed and built concrete canoes gathered at Illinois to showcase the results of their nine-month projects.
The competition was the brainchild of Clyde E. Kesler, a professor of civil engineering and of theoretical and applied mechanics at Illinois from the late 1940s to 1982. He specialized in the properties of concrete and challenged his students to build a canoe out of concrete rather than participate in the usual term project.
On May 16, 1971, the first intercollegiate concrete canoe race took place between Illinois and Purdue University. Illinois won.
Today, thousands of engineering students across the nation build and race concrete canoes annually, competing in regional competitions to earn the right to advance to the finals.
The competition consists of events that showcase the skill of participating teams: canoe display setup, weigh in, swamp tests (to ensure the canoe floats when submerged in a water tank), oral presentations and canoe races.
“This competition’s really not about winning first. It’s about actually learning during the process,” said Armen Amirkhanian, a doctoral student and Illinois team adviser.
Concrete canoeing became an official event of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which oversaw its first National Concrete Canoe Competition in 1988.
Surprisingly, the idea of using concrete to construct watercraft has been around for more than 100 years. During the 19th century, a watercraft was made out of concrete for a zoo display in Amsterdam. During WWII, cargo vessels were constructed out of concrete because of the shortage of steel.