On Friday, May 3rd our Applied Engineering team went back to Sacramento to compete in the annual Solar Regatta tournament. Applied Engineering is an academic team that focuses on creating their own solar-powered boat that is taken to competitions against many other schools throughout the state. Competing against 20 other teams, it sent a total of 23 members all the way to Northern California ranging from freshmen to seniors each specializing in a certain component.

As a result, Arcadia walked away with many awards and accomplishments under their belt; They won 2nd Place Overall, Best Technical Design, 1st Place in Endurance Race, and even set tournament record for the endurance race.

In preparation for Solar Cup 2019, the team worked hard on weekends to build a 15-foot long solar powered boat. According to senior Christian Chung, “This year, in particular, we decided to keep our same boat frame but alter the electrical, motor, and steering system”. They also decided to use an old e-bike motor alongside their own custom made battery as the team really tried to emphasize the importance of sustainability. When asked about the weekends in preparing for this event, Christian  claimed that “it can be stressful at times especially the hours leading up to the competition as anything can go wrong. Our team actually had to change our steering system by using a pole rather than a common friction system as the string we had wasn’t efficient for what we wanted to accomplish. Furthermore, we did have some technical difficulties with solar power as the sun wasn’t in the ideal conditions.” But knowing how hard everybody worked, Christian explained that it felt good to know that this team was able to improvise and adapt to these challenges and only further shows the quick thinking and creativity that the team members have. He excitedly explained that during the endurance race, the team blew out the competition and actually set the tournament record which was both fun and exciting for everyone! When asked if the weekends building up to the competition were tiresome, Team Captain senior Victor Huang shook his head saying “We split the team into different specific categories like electrical, drivetrain, steering, and art and everyone did their jobs wonderfully. Besides, we reused the boat from previous years and basically upgraded all the parts like motor, battery, steering which isn’t as hard as building from scratch.”

Although the team wasn’t able to retain their spot as the grand champions of the tournament, Christian believed that “it felt rewarding to know that in that specific race alone, everyone was watching and recognizing how much of a force Arcadia was to be reckoned with.” Christian then added giddily, that “many other schools complimented us on our performance and even came over to tell us how fun it was to watch us compete in that race. Overall, I could not be any more proud of what this team has accomplished this year, and I see great potential in this team for the future!” Good job Apaches and keep working hard until the next Solar Cup Competition!

Graphic courtesy of WESTBASIN.ORG