BREA : Some Left at Sea by Physics Project

Kneeling on the edge of Brea Olinda High School’s pool Wednesday, Sydney Witt clasped his hands tight and prayed that his boat would stay afloat during the third annual student boat race.

He and 135 other physics students built 34 boats as part of a class project on buoyancy. The boats were made out of thin wooden sticks, paper, glue and paint.

The boats were built in various shapes and sizes, with names like Nerd Power, No Fear, Barbie Dream Boat and The Blue Sausage.

Witt’s boat, the USS Brownlee, made it across the pool with teacher Jill Brownlee aboard.

Others were not as lucky.

About half the boats sank or fell apart in the water. Several teachers and administrators who were part of the experiment got soaked in the process.

The boats were built by teams of four students each, starting in February when the project was assigned by physics teacher Mary Lee Davis.

Students were not allowed to ride in the boats, Davis said. She said students had to get a teacher, administrator or community leader to race the boats.

Brea Olinda Unified School District Supt. Edgar Z. Seal, Assistant Supt. Peter J. Boothroyd, school board President Susie Sokol and other district officials were among volunteers to race the boats. Most of the other racers were teachers or business leaders.

The water proved too much for many of the boats as racers paddled with their arms to navigate the 75-foot length of the pool. Davis said most of the boats sank because they were too big.

“If the boat gets all the way across, that’s an A,” Davis said. “If it just floats but can’t get across, that’s a B, and if it rips or sinks, that’s a C.”

No Ds or Fs though, she said.

Andrea Chanawatr, 17, got a B because her team’s boat didn’t fall apart until it was halfway across, Davis said.

“This is a good way to put what you know about physics to work in real life,” Chanawatr said. “It’s more fun than just reading about it in a book.”

The boats were being inspected after the race and the winning boat makers will be announced today, Davis said.