The Head of the Zesiger is a cardboard boat regatta
in which three students put together a boat. They can
actually have as many boat builders as they like, but
they need to be in the cardboard boat, paddling during
the actual competition. The real challenge each year is
the fact that the race course changes so there are different
challenges. And so, when designing the boats there's a
different theme and focus in mind.
I was terrified on Thursday because we were like only
halfway through, a bit more really, but we didn't yet have
the hull so that was a bit of an issue. But we got a lot of
people to help the last two days so we able to finish it and
paint it, and, well, we're going to win.
My freshman year was the first year I competed and my
brother, he went to MIT as well, he's two years ahead of me
so when I got here as a freshman my brother Brian was
like, "Oh man, there's this cardboard boat race and I've
always wanted to do it but I could never get a team
together." I'm a mechanical engineering so it sounded like
a really good challenge mostly because everything you do
you have to innovate. There isn't any set way to do this sort
of thing. It's not like, you know, everybody that builds a
Formula 1 ® car, well people build Formula 1® cars and
there's a way to do it, so you do it. But a cardboard boat
you have to completely come up with how it's going to work
on the stop, every time. The difference between most
cardboard boat regattas is the students actually design it
ahead of time. They don't design it day of. Most schools
that offer this type of competition will give the supplies and
they have one hour to put some duct tape together, use
some styrofoam and different formats. This is purely based
on cardboard, paper tape and paint, that's it. They're not
allowed to use duct tape. They're not allowed to use
styrofoam or anything that has natural buoyancy to it. So
we went into this with a little bit more of a challenge then
you'll see at most schools. I think MIT students just like to
problem solve things and this is a really good opportunity to
try it out. Some people have tried it, maybe in High School
or something, but MIT really takes almost everything to the
next level when we do this sort of thing. A good fraction of
the students are young students, in the first couple of years.
Maybe some who haven't declared. Others are graduate
students so they're pretty far down the road. The goal of
building a cardboard boat to navigate a course in water,
however appeals to all of them, many of the core disciplines
of mechanical engineering happen to be well represented.
If you just look at our core classes: mechanics of materials,
well there's the cardboard and the strength of beams.
There's the dynamics, when the boat go unstable with
people trying to control it and the steering. And then there's
fluid part, both in the efficiency of the hull and in the use
of paddles and other propulsion devices. And these are
very broad themes across the school of engineering and
science as well. So they bring in their boats and they line
them up next to the pool. They are judged before they go
in the water for of course infractions, that's bad, but then
we're looking for the style, the spirit, the quality of the
design, and these are all things you look at and you make
an assessment on paper. Now that's a minor fraction of the
score. Most of the score and what determines the winner,
will really be success of the mission. And I think that's in line
with the way an engineer has to think. We can analyze and
make things beautiful, but it's got to get the job done and
it's got to finish the course in order to take the big points.
I just like to try new things and even if they don't work out
it's fine, it's the trying that's the fun part not necessarily
the winning or having the fastest, most efficient boat. And
it's really good to look at your calculations and then see that
it all works out in the end. That's one of the best parts.
When you can go from a computer to actual, physical boat
that is just like you imagined it; that's one of the most
rewarding parts for me. During the actual event we will have
boat-handlers on deck to help the participants get onto or
into their boats by holding the boat steady as they get in.
Throughout the entire competition they need to have all
three of their participants in the boat during their paddle
session. If any of their participants fall out, then they've got
to get back into the boat somehow before they can
advance. Not very many succeed actually, quite a large
fraction of these boats will sink. And I think if they were all
successful the students wouldn't enjoy it quite as much.
I think one of the best sinkings that I've seen was last year,
I believe it was. There was one boat and they got maybe
15 feet out on the course and it started sinking. And they
didn't try and panic or anything they just had one guy stand
up and play an imaginary violin while the boat sank into the
ocean. It's a lot of fun even if you don't have a solid boat.
Being able to design an event that the students could do
each year and each year it's a little more difficult is
something that we wanted the students to be able to have
here on campus, but also to open it up to other universities.
So the future of the Head of the Zesiger is definitely a bright
future, and I can definitely see a lot of different colleges
coming onboard to compete year after year. Hopefully we'll
have a good turn out from other schools in the future.