Skyline College: Solar Boat Team Competes Again

San Bruno CA

24 May, 2022

2:45 AM

Description

Press release from Skyline College: May 20, 2022 Due to safety restrictions, the number of teams was limited to 10 by SMUD, down from more than 20. Even so, everyone was happy to be back in person after waiting two years. It was a nice, warm, and sunny day at Rancho Seco Lake. The lake is the old emergency cooling pond of the former nuclear power plant on the site, of which buildings are still standing. The main reactor building and the twin cooling towers can still be seen over the lake, making a scenic background to the competition. The group photo is of our nine participating student team members, their red shirts matching their overhauled solar boat, who were eager to compete against other schools. Because of the pandemic, it was the first time for all of them to participate in the race. Some of these students will be returning next year to support and lead next year's team. We hope to gain more traction to better prepare for next year's race. It turned out the strongest adversary wasn't one of the other boats; it was the gusty winds which blew over the lake from time to time. The motor of the boat wasn't able to fight against this natural hurdle. After a couple races, Skyline's boat suffered an electronic failure and the team's boat had to be towed off the lake. This was not unusual, with many of the other teams struggling with wind and equipment technicalities in their first race after the long downtime due to the pandemic. This press release was produced by Skyline College. The views expressed here are the author's own.