On Tuesday, February 18, teams of SEAS students competed in the first annual Cardboard Boat Regatta hosted by the Engineering Student Council. Students worked in groups of four to build boats from cardboard and race them in the Uris pool.

On Tuesday, February 18, the Columbia Engineering Student Council (ESC) hosted its first annual Cardboard Boat Regatta for SEAS students. The boat race was a highlight of the student council’s National Engineers Week celebration (February 16-22, 2025). ESC stated in a press release that National Engineers Week “promotes technical education and aims to inspire the next generation of engineers,” The council also featured exclusive merch drops, a game night, and a special dinner for SEAS students throughout the week of festivities.

The challenge presented by the ESC called for groups of four to build a boat out of cardboard that could sail the length of the Uris Pool. The ESC announced the race and a group sign-up form in an Instagram post on February 4 detailing “a glorious set of prizes,” including 200 Dining Dollars, free SEAS Cruise tickets, and the opportunity to curate a John Jay meal with Chef Mike.

SEAS and the Swim Test

The boat race was met with much enthusiasm, particularly as it relates to the history of the Columbia College (CC) swim test requirement. The swim test is a CC graduation requirement and longstanding tradition, where students must swim 75 yards (three lengths of the Uris Pool) or take a beginner swim course. Notably, SEAS students are not required to complete the swim test as the requirement was eliminated in 1991 after extensive back and forth between the Columbia student body and the Committee On Instruction.

Despite the reality of the SEAS swim test elimination, the anecdote commonly shared on campus tours and among the student body says that if Manhattan were to sink, then CC students would need to swim across the Hudson River. Meanwhile, SEAS students would be capable of using their engineering skills to build a boat capable of crossing the river to safety. Now, the boat race puts this popular tale to the test. 

The Race

Before the actual event, approved groups were provided with materials and guidance to prepare for the race. Approved materials included cardboard, duct tape, flex seal (a spray-on rubberized sealant), and Sharpie markers for decoration. Teams were not allowed to spend money on additional materials but were allowed to source their own cardboard. The terms of the race required that each boat pass a safety inspection. For the inspection, each boat was required to carry one team member, ensuring the captain would remain visible from shoulders up at all times and have an allowance for a quick exit in case of emergency.

On the day of the race, participating teams signed into the event between 9:00 and 9:30 pm. As they checked off students, candy and popcorn were distributed to participants. Some teams were instructed to have their whole team on the pool deck, while others were directed to leave after their heat or told only one person could be on deck at a time. 

Doors opened for observers at 9:15 pm, and as students took their seats in the bleachers, the room filled with anticipation. At 9:30 pm, the commentators, Anthony Ayala (’25) and Rosa Figueroa (’25) welcomed everyone to the event and announced the rules for each race. 

Each heat consisted of four teams, and each team’s captain started the race in the pool, sitting in their boats with one hand on the deck. When each heat began, the captains could start accelerating towards the opposite pool deck. While paddling, each boat was required to stay in its given lane and not interfere with other teams’ boats. Each race ended when the team captain’s hand reached the other pool deck. For scoring, teams were evaluated based on their completion time or distance traveled if the boat was unable to complete the course.

As boats were carried out and prepared before each heat, their varying designs became evident, with some resembling paddle boards and others canoes. With each boat design, teams had to carefully balance floating and maintaining stability while also paddling and avoiding water intake to stay afloat. The crowd’s energy and excitement remained high throughout the event, as many heats came down to neck-and-neck finishes or drew attention when only a single boat managed to reach the end of the course.

The first heat set the stage for the upcoming races, with only one boat, H20 Will Add Water, successfully finishing. A pirate-themed boat, led by a team captain wearing a pirate hat, stayed afloat while its competitors sank, earning cheers from the crowd.

As the event progressed, certain teams quickly gained popularity. Gator Gang, a team with participants wearing bright green wigs, won the second heat. The audience soon began to chant, “We want the wig!” in support of the team. After the win, a wet green wig was tossed into the crowd, adding to the excitement.

Creativity also extended past boat designs as certain team names drew attention. In the third heat, Drowning Evasion Initiative, or DEI, stood out as a crowd favorite. Spectators chanted “DEI! DEI! DEI!” as the race began. Though DEI’s boat promptly sank, the two remaining boats managed to push through and reach the other side of the deck.

The fourth and fifth heats saw more teams struggling to stay afloat, with only one boat finishing in each. Particularly in the fifth heat, Roaree even followed the lone surviving boat along the pool deck as it made its way to the finish. Throughout each heat, engineering school hoodies and dining hall shirts were randomly tossed into the crowd as well.

The sixth heat saw an unexpected comeback. One boat, after taking on significant water and sinking right at the beginning of the heat, tried a second attempt while other boats in its heat continued racing. After a large amount of water was poured out, the team had a second start, and this time, they successfully finished the race.

The seventh heat had two boats make it to the finish. The close competition kept the crowd on edge as they waited to see which team would pull ahead in their similarly designed boats.

The final round consisted of four teams that qualified based on time and performance. Teams that qualified were able to repair their boats before the final round. The teams that made this playoff round included Boat Guys, H2O Will Add Water, Team Jordany, and BOAT!!.  

The final heat was the most intense part of the event. H2O Will Add Water and Team Jordany both accelerated rapidly, reaching the end almost simultaneously. Onlookers erupted into debate over which team had touched the deck first, with some arguing H2O Will Add Water’s boat was closer while others believed Team Jordany’s hand reached the deck first.

After a short evaluation, at the end of the event, special awards such as the “People’s Choice” award and the “Unlikely Vessel” award were given to certain teams along with the first, second, and third place distinctions. The first-place winning team, Team Jordany, celebrated by jumping back into the Uris pool. 

Creative Captains: Seas Cruise

Unlikely Vessel: Gator Gang

Bob The Builder: H2O Will Add Water 

Titanic: Really Good Boat

Just Keep Swimming Award: Drowning Evasion Initiative (DEI)

Transfer To CC: JAMY

Best Of All Time (B.O.A.T): Backstreet MechEs

People’s Choice: Gator Gang 

Turtle Saver: Boatteam Mcboatface

Third Place: Boat Guys

Second: H2O Will Add Water

First: Team Jordany

Organizing the Event

Olivia O’Driscoll, the Vice President of Student Life who also serves on the Policy and Student Life committee reflected on the event in a brief interview. Seeing as this was the first annual race, many considerations were taken to establish it as a memorable tradition for students. 

O’Driscoll shared that as the swimming season was ongoing, the Uris pool was in high demand. In fact, the council was not sure if they would be able to run the event until about 2 weeks before the boat contest as they awaited the pool confirmation. “Once we got pool confirmation, it was all hands on deck (so to speak) to get the project off the ground. We wanted to accommodate all interested teams, which meant procuring a lot of cardboard,” O’Driscoll wrote in an email exchange with Bwog. She expressed that Columbia “Dining was a huge help on this front, giving [the Engineering Student Council] about four days of cardboard from John Jay.”

For trophy designs, O’Driscoll shared that ESC was inspired by the Stanley Cup, intending for the champions’ names to be inscribed on its base for each year. Students Nicolas Alarcon (’25) and Amy Xu (’25) designed and constructed the trophy. For additional awards, Janie Zhang (’26) designed certificates to celebrate the teams “whose boat wasn’t necessarily the fastest, but excelled along other axes.”

In planning the race regulations and tournament setup, O’Driscoll detailed that the rules were based “loosely off of other cardboard boat race rules online,” and then the ESC Student Life committee reviewed the rules to “anticipate any chokehold strategies” and set up the final round.

In relation to Engineers Week, O’Driscoll commented that the boat race was one part of reviving a Columbia Engineering tradition affected by COVID-19. Through partnering with the Columbia Office of Engineering Student Affairs, ESC aimed to expand on their “broader goal to build an engineering community through shared traditions.”

O’Driscoll shared that the idea of holding a boat race was inspired by an Egg Drop contest run during a previous Engineers Week in 2017. As the council brainstormed, ESC President Kavika Krishnan (’25) “made the joke that engineers don’t need to take the swim test because [they] can build a boat.”

As ESC members reflect on the event and plans for future boat competitions, they hope to take positive and constructive feedback received from the first event into consideration. Particularly, the teams expressed wanting more time and cardboard building materials in preparation for the race. Logistically, the council hopes to make more specialized merch and to utilize the Uris pool’s “screen and speaker system to better communicate times and heats to spectators.”

Commenting on the overall goals of Engineers Week, O’Driscoll stated that “other than the SEAS Cruise, [she is] not sure [she’s] ever seen so many SEAS students in the same place at the same time. The environment of the packed stands, full of students cheering for the creative problem-solving of their peers, was nothing short of electrifying.”

Boat Race via Unaisah Ahmed