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Happy National Rum Day!🍹🏝️🏴☠️
Western Kentucky U wins 2026 concrete canoe competition
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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- Aug 9, 2025
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For a country where canoes are such a big part of your heritage (or at least that is an idea i had) the paddling skills have a bit room for improvement, So have the ergonomics of the canoes I saw.
You don't like concrete? Where would the 22,500 km of Netherlands dikes be without concrete. Oh, maybe a lot more canoeing water.
The concrete canoe competition has been going on among U.S. universities for about 30 years. It is an engineering competition for the students, who likely don't claim to be sophisticated paddlers or paddlers at all.
The way things are going, I'm just glad they didn't change it to a concrete "kayak" competition.
Well, if there were concrete kayak competitions, would they be allowed to be posted here? Who runs this joint, anyway?
I was curious and I looked it up. Europe also has a concrete watercraft race called the Betonkanorace—and, ironically, it is held every year somewhere in . . . the Netherlands. Google is unsure whether concrete kayaks are included, but perhaps @dutchlennart could clear that up for us.
Actually, I'm interested in why concrete canoes can float. What are the physics involved? Would a canoe made out of any of the top 5 densest natural elements float: Osmium, Iridium, Platinum, Rhenium, Gold?
It is aggregate achievement, but I have a sinking feeling that it will take more to cement their status as a great university.
One year a Johns Hopkins U. Engineering professor contacted me on behalf of JHU’s concrete canoe team. Her request was to introduce the team to padding! I loaded up 3 canoes with 8 seats and met the team at a local pond. One or two of them had been in a canoe at summer camp, but the rest didn’t know which end of the paddle to put in the water. They went racing having had a total of 4 hours training in canoe paddling. So, it maybe is normal that the teams aren’t expert paddlers. They’re engineering students, not canoers.
The race is only one part of the competition. The teams also are evaluated and scored on things like their planning, research, engineering write ups and team presentation. I don’t know the scoring methodology, but it might be possible to loose the race and win the competition.
As to Glen’s question, boats made of heavy material float because they displace water that weighs more than the craft. Most boats are made from material heavier than water (steel, aluminum, fiberglass). So as long as the material is strong enough to hold a shape that keeps out water weighing more than the material, it will float.
The race is only one part of the competition. The teams also are evaluated and scored on things like their planning, research, engineering write ups and team presentation. I don’t know the scoring methodology, but it might be possible to loose the race and win the competition.
As to Glen’s question, boats made of heavy material float because they displace water that weighs more than the craft. Most boats are made from material heavier than water (steel, aluminum, fiberglass). So as long as the material is strong enough to hold a shape that keeps out water weighing more than the material, it will float.
