ConcreteCanoe.org Coverage

Commentary

You may know that the first concrete canoe competition took place at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 1970. But, did you know that the University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign built their 360 lb canoe, called "Misled," without using a form? The team placed concrete, consisting of cement (4 parts by volume), fly ash (1 part), and sand (5 parts), over a frame of #3 rebar and four layers of 1 in. chicken wire. They went on to win the first concrete canoe competition when they raced against Purdue on May 16, 1971 in Danville, Illinois. The race was organized by Bill Wuellner and Bill Rettberg; Professor Clyde Kesler was the UIUC faculty advisor.

In contrast, the Purdue Boilermakers adapted the plans for a conventional racing canoe and used a foamed-plastic mold for the inside of the craft. The resulting canoe was on average only 3⁄8-inch thick and employed foamed polystyrene plastic blocks encased in each end to provide positive buoyancy should the canoe fill with water. Since their finished canoe weighed only 125 pounds, Purdue was strongly favored to win the competition.

When the races were held on the Inland Sea, it was decided that the championship would be determined based on the most wins in five heats. The races took place over a 1,240-foot course and the fastest time was 2 min and 46 sec.

Mike Novak and Jim Schmuddle won the first of the heats for UIUC. The second heat went to Purdue in a near photo-finish when Illinois suffered a man overboard. Purdue easily won the third heat but Illinois came back to win the fourth when competition organizers Bill Rettberg and Bill Wuellner paddled Misled to a win after half of the Purdue team fell into the water. Then, in the fifth and final heat, Rocco Gibala and Rick Rettberg secured the overall win for UIUC's Boneyard Yacht Club.

The student competitors carried out the concrete theme in the trophies they designed and made. The first-prize trophy consisted of "a slender shaft of exposed aggregate concrete, mounted on a sawed concrete base, and topped by a plaster of paris canoe model." It had come from the Boneyard and went back home with them to Illinois. The Boilermakers had created a "life preserver" made of normal-weight concrete that was "so heavy that two men were required to comfortably support it." They planned to have Illinois take the beast home with them but, to their chagrin, the Boilermakers had to take it back home to Purdue.

University of Illinois team (left) and Purdue team (right). Photographs by Clyde E. Kesler.

Little did these schools know that their competition would start a worldwide epidemic... where tens of thousands of people would become infected with Concrete Canoe Fever.

We've covered the ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competitions since the day that we launched this site. Our primary objective was to showcase the teams that participated. But did you know that our national coverage includes commentary and, in some cases, a slate of questions posed to the teams by the judges? Here is an example from 2011.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2014 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2014 plus photos of boats, race coverage, and commentary from the 2014 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Johnstown, PA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2013 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2013 plus photos of boats, race coverage, and commentary from the 2013 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Champaign, IL.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2012 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2012 plus photos of boats, race coverage, and commentary from the 2012 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Reno, NV.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2011 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2011 plus photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from the 2011 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Evansville, IN.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2010 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2010 plus photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from the 2010 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in San Luis Obispo, CA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2009 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2009 plus photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from the 2009 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Tuscaloosa, AL.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2008 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2008 plus photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from the 2008 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2007 NCCC Coverage" - links to official sites, conference qualifiers, racing venue, pre-national photos... top picks and commentary for 2007 plus photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from the 2007 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Seattle, WA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2006 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from 2006 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Stillwater, OK.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2005 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos of boats, questions posed during oral presentations, race coverage, and commentary from 2005 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Clemson, SC.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2004 NCCC Vital Statistics - Presentations and Boats" - photos, commentary, etc. from 2004 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Washington, DC.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2003 NCCC Coverage" - photos, commentary, etc. from 2003 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Philadelphia, PA.

ConcreteCanoe.org - "2002 NCCC Coverage" - photos, movies, commentary, interviews, etc. from 2002 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition in Madison, WI.