Manchester Township High School’s Advanced Drafting and Design class will once again be participating in the Annual CardBoard Canoe Race. A competition provided by Ocean County College and set to take place May 9th, 2025, the competition will take on two events: “Showboats” and “Follow the Dotted Line.”
The first event is “Showboats,” which involves a pre-built canoe design that will be constructed in the classroom and brought to the competition. Judging will be based on model presentation and speed in a timed trial. A strict criteria makes the challenge, as certain materials are banned in the making of the canoe.
The second event is “Follow the Dotted Line,” which tests the teams on their ability to build a canoe. The canoe, constructed only from flat cardboard and duct tape, must be able to race across a pool of water within a competition-aligned time limit.
Two years ago, Manchester ran victorious in both events, winning “Showboats” with a time of 1:04, and “Follow the Dotted Line” with an impressive time of 3:30.
Mr. Kyle Pecora, teacher of the course, said that the interested students are currently in their “construction phase.” Which means, teams are drafted and they are working together to build their very own cardboard canoes.
Team “Hawk 2” consists of Landon Rubin, Todd Popek, Markas Varpiotas, Shane Daly and Matthew Perez. They shared that their design is similar to a diamond shape with a cockpit, spoiler, and additional head at its front resembling Mr. Pecora. When asking team member Shane Daly about the events that followed, he said, “[Event 1] currently working on the boat for the first thing…[Event 2] like LinkinLogs with cardboard,” as they also have to prepare to design cardboard to bring.
Team Reverse Oreo consists of Sean Seber, Antonio Moore, and Dominick Minneci. Their current focus is getting the boat together as they take on the traditional boat design used from prior years. The team has begun putting the parts into cad and getting them cut out while maintaining organization.
Team “The Gannets” includes Kathrine Estevanell, Maria Tovar, Shonnette Samuels, Callie Rust, Colin Tupper and Toluwani Oyewale. Their main focus is starting with the inside and adding layers to allow a person to sit inside, a key requirement to the challenge. When asked who would most likely be inside the canoe, they shared how their original plan was to fit the lightest person; however, they decided to go with Colin Tupper due to his prior skills and canoeing experience. The team has also gone with a non-traditional style for construction: a pointed shape on both ends that curves the length of their overall design. When asked what has been the most fun aspect of the process, they agreed that it was coming up with a unique design.
With less than two weeks before the competition, the teams are moving along rapidly. Already set with design and organization, it will not be long until their visions shape into canoes.
