Boating in a box: W-B Area does the cardboard float

PLAINS TWP. —They christened it the USS Sturdy. The man in charge donned a cardboard box hat (once back on land) pronouncing him “Capt. Sturdy.” But after paddling the craft across the pool with the hull threatening to buckle midships, Angel Flores beamed and confessed the name “was the only sturdy thing about it.

“One of the sides was a little flimsy,” he said. But added cardboard helped, and he he proved undaunted. “I have confidence in our building ability.”

The confidence was well placed, as the USS Sturdy didn’t sink. Nor did any of the other constructs students built for Wilkes-Barre Area High School’s cardboard regatta, an event intended to provide a boatload of hands on science as students calculate weight capacity and displacement, but it rarely seems like anything other than fun in the pool.

There was a time, back when the regatta was staged in the Kistler Elementary School pool, that spectators were guaranteed at least a few failures, usually by boats designed with low gunwales or poor weight distributions systems. Though from the laughs most students gave when going down with their ships, it sure didn’t look like failure.

But the event, spearheaded each year by teacher Samuel Elias with support from other science-oriented staff, seems to have matured not only to 100% pool-worthy designs, but to growing size and weight. Last years six young men managed to set a record by building one cardboard craft to hold them all. This year, seven guys and one lady outdid that, each in their own box segments. (Maybe the secret was the source: They joined together cremation boxes).

There was one six-member crew, all sporting blue shirts with multiple images of yellow rubber ducks. The craft floated across the pool without a hitch, living up to the crew name of The Rubber Ducky Team (of course): Dat Le and Jimena Amigon, Velanie Valle and Isabella Yeager, Elizabeth Sage and Jeanne Adjayi. Their combined weight was 855

Caitlyn Sekelsky pulled a first — or more accurately, pushed a first — after boarding the eponymous HMS Caitlyn and doing 10 push-ups. It wasn’t so much to prove the boat was strong — which it was — but to put her signature on the event. Being a weightlifter to stay in shape during the softball off season, the fete made perfect sense while setting a precedent. Next year, maybe make boat calisthenics mandatory?

While the regatta is about math and nautical engineering, creative design is always welcome. Hannah McAfee and Mackenzie Miller paddled “Barbie’s Dream Boat” with pink accoutrements and a pointed prow. McAfee said the team added that so the boat would look good. Miller said it increased stability. Either way, the duo got big kudos from teammate Chloe DeGraffenreid, who greeted them on the far side of the pool with an excited hug. “They looked elegant; they were beautiful,” she praised.

Caleb Sopkie, 15, carried along a Viking sword and shield (cardboard of course) on his successful paddle. Why? “Just in case we had a boat war!” Well, that would be one way to bring back the sinkings.

The even ended on apt seasonal note, with Kelisbeth Gonzalez wearing a Santa hat while paddling a boat called The Grinch.

Next port of call: Whoville.