Hundreds of dedicated solar boat enthusiasts came from far and wide to take part in the Penrith City Council sponsored Solar Boat Challenge held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre on 25 September 2009. 11 teams from local schools participated, competing against schools from as far away as Tasmania and Queensland.
Local schools included Cambridge Park Public School, Claremont Meadows Public School, Werrington Public School, Cambridge Park High School, Colyton High School, Glenmore Park High School, Jamison High School, Kingswood High School, Nepean High School, Penrith Anglican College and Penrith High School.
The Challenge aims to increase awareness in the areas of sustainability, climate change and alternative energies in an interesting way as teams work together to build a fully functional solar boat.
There were two categories available in the challenge. Groups could choose to build either a remote controlled, or a wire guided boat, catering for a range in levels of experience and expertise.
The remote controlled race is split into primary and secondary school divisions. Boats in this category are remote controlled and compete in an endurance race on the lake by undertaking a circuit, relying exclusively on solar power, with no batteries allowed (photo below).
The second event is the wire guided model race. These boats are not remote controlled and rely instead on a wire hanging above the boat to guide them on the track from one end of a pool to the other. These boats compete in a straight sprint race relying exclusively on solar power (photo below).
While the racing is important - that's not all that the event is about. The challenge requires that each team also show their understanding of the design, manufacture and racing process by creating a graphic presentation which is essentially a diary or log of the project from beginning to end. This helps to make sure that the teams are learning along the way and that the learning is an integral part of the challenge for all participants.
Marks are also provided for the presentation of the boat and it's design, with winners of each category decided on an aggregate of all components.
Penrith's primary schools were very successful with Cambridge Park Public School taking out first place in the Junior Wire Guided category, with Claremont Meadows Public School and Werrington Public School taking out second and third place respectively. Jamison High School also placed second in the Junior Remote Control Class.
Mrs Chris Jobson from Cambridge Park Public School was pleased the students did so well, picking up first place with their HMAS Featherduster, so named because it is so light!
Mrs Jobson said “”The Challenge was great and the kids really enjoyed what they did. They undertook research, investigated solar boats and then did all the building and shaping themselves. They worked as a team and there was great team spirit. They are a great group of kids.” (photo below)
They were many other activities on the day for the students to participate in while they waited for their race. Penrith City Council had information stands and fun activities including the “Eco Pursuit” board game. The Power House Museum also had a science exhibition with experiments running throughout the day (photo below).
If you are interested in finding out more visit the Solar Challenge website - http://www.solarchallenge.com.au/.
