Arkansas Students Streak To World Championship In Solar Boat

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Look up the words "team player" in your dictionary and you ought to find photos of University of Arkansas engineering students Silany Phosavang and Matt Zwicker. They overcame numerous obstacles to pilot the University of Arkansas solar boat to win the Solar Splash 2002 World Championship in Buffalo, NY.

"Our original driver, Sharmila Lal, became extremely ill and had be hospitalized the day before we had to leave," explained Kraig Olejniczak, professor of electrical engineering and faculty advisor for the solar boat project. "We arrived in Buffalo without a driver for the boat."

Solar Splash is an annual competition for solar powered boats from around the world. The week-long competition includes qualifying and event races in sprint, slalom and endurance. Points are also awarded for the technical report, a visual display and workmanship. Sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Solar Splash it held at a different location each year.

The University of Arkansas team designed and built Boss H₂Og with advice from Olejniczak and Bob Reynolds, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. In addition to winning first place overall, the team won second place in sprint and third place in endurance events and second place for both the technical report and visual presentation.

"That’s not bad for a team that won the Best Rookie Team award only two years ago," smiled Alex Lostetter, project manager and team leader. Lostetter is a graduate student in the microelectronics-photonics program.

Because of contest rules, only Phosavang, a senior in electrical engineering, and Zwicker, senior in mechanical engineering, were qualified to drive the Boss H₂Og and neither of them had ever driven it. Because weight is a critical issue for solar boats, particularly in the endurance races, Phosavang, at 100 pounds, gave the team a sizeable advantage over Zwicker’s 185 pounds.

"Even though she is not exactly comfortable on water, Silvany was ready to go," said Olejniczak. "And then we found out that she could not swim." Drivers are required to pass a swimming test before they are allowed to compete in Solar Spash. Although Phosavang could not swim, she was willing to overcome her fears and try to learn.

"We were faced with the choice of going with a much heavier driver or figuring out some way of getting Silany through the swim test," explained Zwicker. "So, we located a nearby Days Inn with a pool, gained access by jumping a fence, and gave Sil the short course in swimming and went directly to the swim test from there."

Although she had learned a "credible" backstroke in her short lesson in the little pool, the swim test was in an 11-foot deep Olympic pool. "She had to dive in and swim in a lane with other people all around," said Olejniczak. "She may have been terrified, but she did it anyway, and passed the test."

Contest rules do not allow practice on the lake, so the team delayed check-in to take the boat to the only other available body of water — Lake Erie. Since the boat is a one-seater, Phosavang was out on Lake Erie with only a radio to connect her to her teammates on shore.

"It became apparent to everyone that we had found our endurance driver when we watched her weave between 30-ft. inboard power boats while calmly radioing back information about the boat’s performance," said Zwicker.

Time constraints didn’t give Zwicker a chance to practice, so his first time at the wheel was in competition in the 70 m sprint qualifier. Although he didn’t win any awards, he managed to qualify for the 300 m sprint, where he took second place. He also piloted the boat in the slalom events, which are challenging because the solar boat has no rudder and all maneuvering must be done by thrust.

The two rookie drivers faced off against some stiff competition, including the Coast Guard Academy, Marquette University, the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of New Orleans’ Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Department, as well as schools from other countries. For example, while the University of Arkansas spent a total of $20,000 for Boss H₂Og and built its wooden hull in 6 weeks for $1,000, the University of New Orleans paid $250,000 over 3 years to have its carbon-graphite hull manufactured. And while Arkansas competed for the first time three years ago, the University of South Carolina has won the championship for the past three years.

"A lot of the credit has to go to Dr. Reynolds, who worked at the competition like a man possessed," said Lostetter. "He tackled every mechanical problem that came up — from building us a dolly so we didn’t have to carry the boat 300 yards for every race, to fixing problems in the propulsion units, to lending calm, solid advice."

"It is incredibly impressive to win a design contest against engineering schools from across the nation," said Neil Schmitt, interim dean of the College of Engineering. "The fact that this was accomplished in only their third year of competition shows the quality of our students and the engineering education they receive at the University of Arkansas."