Here’s a video of our co-ed sprint heat from the canoe races at PSWC 2014, courtesy of captain Jake’s parents. This was the first heat we’ve won in years! Our team took advantage of DiSCovery II’s straight speed and their extensive preparation on their way to qualify for the small final. The coed race consists of two down-and-back laps for a total distance of 400 meters.
Tag Archives: 2014 Canoe
PSWC 2014 Results
I’ll start off by putting this into perspective and context. Historically, USC ASCE typically places top-three in one or two events at PSWC. Our 18-school conference, combined with perennial powerhouses in the concrete canoe competition, make our conference one of the most competitive of the 15 in the country.
Last year, our only victory, albeit significant, was our first-place environmental win. This year, going into the awards banquet we didn’t expect much, but were proud of our collective effort.
We started out the awards banquet with a 1st place victory in the Scavenger Hunt competition. Despite having a team less than half the size of many other schools, our focus and determination led us to win one of the most fun events, finding cool spots and landmarks around SDSU’s campus and throughout San Diego.
Steel Bridge won 3rd place in construction speed, completing the construction of their bridge in roughly 18 minutes. They also won 3rd in bridge lightness. Our team ended up placing 3rd overall, earning an invitation to the AISC/ASCE National Steel Bridge Competition in Akron, OH!
Last year, our Concrete Canoe team had their first canoe to successfully survive every race in three years, but placed 14th overall. Despite deductions in the oral presentation and final product categories due to technicalities, the Concrete Canoe team placed 6th overall and won 3rd in design paper!
Our paddling team also did well, placing 7th overall. Highlights included our women’s slalom team placing sixth, our 4-person co-ed team winning their heat, and our men’s sprint team winning the small final by less than a second to place 6th, after missing the big final qualification by only a second.
Considering where we were just a year ago, and the fact that most of this year’s USC ASCE PSWC team were first-time attendees, all of these results are spectacular. But as we were celebrating our successes, we won an award that we never expected: 3rd place overall for the entire conference!
The overall conference rank is determined by summing all of the weighted points earned for each event, including canoe and bridge, the smaller design teams, and the sports tournaments. To win, a school must be well-rounded, participate in every event, and fight to win individual games, even if they don’t win entire sports tournaments. USC ASCE has not placed this high in the overall conference rank since 1994. Our 3rd place finish would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
Here’s the event placement breakdown that led to our 3rd-place overall finish:
- Concrete Canoe – 6th
- Steel Bridge – 3rd
- Technical Paper – 5th
- Geotechnical / Geowall – Participated
- Environmental – 5th
- Surveying – 7th
- Impromptu & Mystery – Participated
- Family Feud Quiz – T5th
- Basketball – T5th
- Volleyball – Participated
- Ultimate Frisbee – T5th
- Tug of War – Participated
- Kan Jam (2 teams) – T5th, Participated
- Scavenger Hunt – 1st
- Concrete Bowling – Participated
PSWC 2014 Event Point Distribution
This year, we proved that just because we have a smaller department, fewer resources, and less manpower than other schools doesn’t mean that we can’t be successful. Let’s celebrate our victories, analyze our weaknesses, and come back next year ready to take 1st!
PSWC 2014 Day 2: Concrete Canoe Races
The main event of PSWC Day 2 is the Concrete Canoe Race Competition. All 16 schools with functional canoes compete in 5 events:
- Men’s Endurance/Slalom (time-based)
- Women’s Endurance/Slalom
- Men’s Sprints (Heats, Small & Big Finals)
- Women’s Sprints
- Co-ed Double-sprints (4-person)
Our canoe successfully made it through all of the races, and looked great in the process!
Early morning at the site of the canoe races. We arrived around 6:30am. 
Unloading the canoe for the races. 
Bringing the canoe to our spot on the beach. 
Preparing to set the canoe down on its beach stands. 
DiSCovery II waits to get into the water. 
Our President and VP handle the canoe’s gunwale caps. 
Canoe team, getting ready for the swamp test. 
Carrying DiSCovery II into the water for the first time. 
DiSCovery II floats! 
We have to completely submerge our canoe, then prove that it floats back to the surface, to pass the swamp test. 
Filling the canoe with water. 
Our cheering squad watches from the beach, hoping our canoe floats. 
Filling the canoe with water. 
Time to push DiSCovery II completely underwater. 
Release the canoe, and don’t touch it, while the judges watch. 
DiSCovery II passes the swamp test! 
Bailing the water back out of DiSCovery II. 
Bringing DiSCovery II back onto the beach while we wait for the races to begin. 
Attaching gunwale caps to the edges of the canoe, to protect them while paddling. 
Loading the canoe for the Men’s Endurance race. 
Sending DiSCovery II off for her first race. 
Men’s endurance. 
Lining up for the men’s endurance race. 
The rest of the team prepares to cheer our paddlers on from the beach. 
Waiting for the men’s endurance race to begin. 
Men’s endurance. 
Men’s endurance. 
Coming in from the men’s endurance race. 
One race down, 4 to go! 
Waiting for the other schools to race. 
Watching our women’s endurance team head out. 
Women’s endurance. 
Co-ed sprints. 
Waiting for the women’s endurance team to line up. 
Digging in for a turn. The endurance slalom races challenge teams with a series of tight turns around buoys. 
Women’s endurance. 
Women’s endurance. 
Women’s endurance. 
Women’s endurance. 
Women’s endurance heading in. 
Men’s sprints lining up. 
Men’s sprints heading in after finishing 2nd in the heat. 
Men’s sprints coming in after winning the small final (by only a second)! 
Relaxing on the beach between races. 
Small-final-winning men’s sprints team after their last race. 
Women’s sprints team practicing. 
Women’s sprints team heading out. 
Women’s sprints. 
Cheering for the women’s sprints team. 
Women’s sprints lining up. 
Women’s sprints. 
Women’s sprints. 
Women’s sprints. 
Judges’ scoreboard after all the heats, with lane assignments for the finals. 
Co-ed sprints team heads out. 
Co-ed sprints. 
Co-ed sprints. 
Co-ed sprints. 
Co-ed sprints team comes in after winning their heat! 
2014 Concrete Canoe Paddling Team. 
2014 Concrete Canoe Team. 
2014 USC ASCE PSWC Team. 
Time to bring the canoe back home. 
We don’t really need this many people to help carry it, but everyone wants to help! 
Carrying the canoe back from the beach. 
Loading DiSCovery II back into the trailer.
PSWC 2014 Day 1: Canoe & Bridge Aesthetics
PSWC 2014 Started off with a beautiful day of Concrete Canoes and Steel Bridges on display!
Early-morning assembly at the hotel. 
Full trailer waiting to be unloaded. 
We’re here! 
Waiting to unload the trailer. 
The team prepares to lift the canoe out of its cradle. 
Carrying the canoe out of the trailer. 
Bringing the canoe onto campus. 
Bringing the canoe to our display area. 
Carrying the canoe to our display. 
Setting the canoe down on temporary stands. 
USC engineers ready for a busy day. 
Carrying a canoe stand to our display area… 
It’s WALL-E! 
Wheeling a several-hundred-pound rock to our display area to hold the canoe. 
Placing the canoe stands. 
Preparing to flip the canoe over. 
Carefully inverting the canoe for display. 
Attaching WALL-E’s feet. 
Assembling the steel bridge for display. 
Assembling the steel bridge for display. 
We need another small piece of wood – good thing we brought a saw! 
USC ASCE NASA-style logo on our Space Shuttle Cutaway Section. 
Completed canoe display. 
Fully-assembled bridge. 
Partial Canoe Team with DiSCovery II. 
Our final product display table and space shuttle canoe cut-away section. 
Our canoe cut-away section: a space shuttle. 
Selfie with WALL-E! 
DiSCovery II on display. 
Our 2014 Steel Bridge on display. 
Nicole with DiSCovery II. 
Canoe team display. 
DiSCovery II with its asteroid and WALL-E display stands. 
Our 2014 Steel Bridge. 
“The orientation of our canoe display creates a space where exhausted students can rest in its cast shadow.” – a building science student 
Everyone loves WALL-E! 
Nicole with our Final Product Display. 
People view our canoe and bridge displays. 
Not-the-canoe-team with one of our practitioner advisors. 
DiSCovery II and the final product display. 
Canoe Display. 
Space Shuttle Cut-away Section. 
Space Shuttle Cut-away Section. 
Space Shuttle Cut-away Section. 
DiSCovery II on display. 
Our 2014 Steel Bridge on display. 
Everyone loves WALL-E! 
Our canoe captains deliver the oral presentation. 
Carrying the canoe back to the trailer, to rest before tomorrow’s races.
Final PSWC 2014 Preparations
All of our design teams are busy with last-minute preparations for PSWC 2014. We’re off to San Diego tonight, excited to compete!
Ben grinds down a piece of the steel bridge. 
Ben grinds down a piece of the bridge. 
The Steel Bridge team prepares to practice assembling their bridge. 
The Steel Bridge team practices assembling their bridge. 
Kelly holds the results of a failed concrete bowling ball test. 
The Concrete Bowling Ball awaits its paint job. 
The Environmental team’s system goes through a test run. 
Cleaning the basement canoe area. 
The space shuttle cut-away section, complete with cardinal red steel stands made from last year’s steel bridge. 
Kelly and Lucy assemble the final product display table. 
Admiring the completed canoe-staining. 
DiSCovery II awaits its lettering. 
Lucy applies a second coat of paint to the canoe letters. 
Jake paints canoe letters. 
Erin paints “Southern” onto the canoe. 
Carefully painting lettering onto DiSCovery II. 
Painting on the canoe & university name. 
Erin paints lettering onto the canoe. 
Touching up the canoe lettering. 
Erin and Jessica discuss the status of the canoe finishing. 
Jessica and Erin paint “DiSCovery II” onto the canoe. 
Jessica carefully touches up the canoe lettering. 
Painting lettering onto the canoe. 
Removing a lettering stencil from the canoe. 
Watching paint dry. 
Touching up the canoe lettering. 
Erin cuts out labels for the concrete aggregate samples for the display table. 
Jessica goes into full-on artist mode while staining the canoe. 
All of USC ASCE’s equipment and creations are safely packed into the U–Haul to head to San Diego. 
WALL-E Looks over DiSCovery II and the rest of our gear in the U-Haul.
Concrete Canoe Update
We’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on our concrete canoe and its auxiliary components over the past few weeks. Our cut-away section is a seven-foot-long space shuttle, complete with red steel stands (not pictured):
Our two stands include a massive asteroid (made out of concrete, of course), and a special robotic guest:
We’re building some other cool stuff, including a canoe, of course, but you’ll have to wait until PSWC to see everything else. For now check out the construction pics:
Lucy and Kelly carve an asteroid out of Styrofoam. 
Placing a concrete shell on the asteroid canoe stand. 
Preparing to paint the asteroid canoe stand. 
Team members admire the (shiny) DiSCovery I Practice Canoe as they remove it from the mold. 
Re-lining the canoe with contact paper for the DiSCovery II pour. 
Placing concrete. 
A carefully orchestrated operation of mixing and placing concrete. 
Mixing concrete for DiSCovery II. 
Placing concrete in DiSCovery II. 
Adding another layer of reinforcement (this time fiberglass). 
Preparing to build a curing tent for DiSCovery II. 
Assembling PVC pipes for the DiSCovery II curing tent. 
Post pour-day-II celebratory team dinner! 
Erin and Jessica assemble Styrofoam blocks to be cut into a space shuttle. 
We just sanded a big block of foam into the shape of a space shuttle… 
SC Traveler was finally removed from behind our building, to make room for DiSCovery I and DiSCovery II after PSWC 2014. 
While SC Traveler was a great improvement for our 2013 canoe team, we’re hoping to reach new levels of success with DiSCovery II. 
Preparing to place concrete in our space shuttle cut-away section. 
Jessica sands sheets of Styrofoam into wings. 
Freshly painted space rocks to accompany our asteroid stand. 
Preparing to remove DiSCovery II from its mold. 
Removing DiSCovery II from its mold. 
Admiring our shiny new canoe. 
DiSCovery II awaits sanding and staining. 
Sanding the exterior of the canoe. 
Canoe captain Jake sands the canoe, unafraid of the plentiful concrete dust. 
Erin sands the canoe. 
Tyler delicately brushes excess concrete dust off of the canoe. 
Jessica meticulously sands the canoe. 
Sanding the exterior of the canoe. 
Erin (supposed to be working on the display board) says hi! 
The first layer of staining is completed.
2014 Practice Canoe Fresh out of the Mold
After pour day, we decided to re-pour this year’s canoe with a better reinforcement product, as the reinforcement led to the canoe being much thicker than we had designed. But we’re saving this first canoe for practice! Here it is, fresh out of the mold:
Yes, it’s so smooth, it’s shiny!
Pour Day 2014
Our 2014 Pour Day for Concrete Canoe went well, with three layers of concrete and two layers of carbon fiber grid reinforcement going into our homemade mold in about ten hours of work. Roughly fifteen members helped out including a few dedicated non-canoe-team helpers. We finished off the bulkheads, so the only remaining concrete placement will be for the edges and any patches.
Finishing off the mold, start time: 10:30am 
Covering the mold with contact paper 
The rush of helpers is here 
Smoothing all the cracks 
Laying ropes to gauge the concrete’s thickness 
Waiting for concrete 
laying more ropes 
Mixing the first batch of concrete! Start time: noon. 
Placing the first layer, in sections 
Kelly and Noah placing the first layer 
Smoothing the first layer of concrete 
Smoothing the first layer of concrete 
Preparing dry concrete mix in the mix room 
Placing the first layer 
Elise and Rosa, still mixing endless buckets of concrete 
Lucy and Erin weight concrete ingredients 
First layer of reinforcement, second layer of concrete 
Still mixing concrete 
Breaking apart fibers in the mix room 
(late) lunch break: pizza! 
Several people spent the whole day making concrete in the mix room! 
Weighing stuff for concrete in the mix room 
Completed first layer, with most of the second layer 
Second layer in progress 
Second layer in progress 
Finishing the first layer on the ends 
Working on the ends 
Lucy and Kelly placing concrete 
Second layer of reinforcement, third (final) layer of concrete 
Waiting for more concrete 
Donut break 
Placing the final layer 
Finishing the ends 
Finishing the end 
Spray-foaming the bulkheads into place 
We’re done – time to build a canoe tent 
Assembling PVC pipes for the tent 
Finished canoe 
Tented canoe, time to clean up! 
Time for a celebratory meal – end time: 8:30pm