Put your skills to the test in our engineering challenge:

Build a boat out of nothing but a few bits of cardboard and some sticky tape, then sail it around a course in Plymouth harbour!

The winner is the last one to sink!

Please read the EVENT RULES AND RESTRICTIONS first!

The challenge begins at 10 o’clock on Saturday 19 September at Commercial Wharf (next to The Boathouse Café).  It will be one of the main events in this year’s Ocean City Festival.

You and your team will have just half an hour to design your boat (with a little help from some professional engineers and naval architects) and then two and a half hours to build it, before you attempt to sail from Commercial Slipway to the Mayflower Steps and back again.  Without sinking…!

It costs £20 to enter a team of up to 6 people and you MUST register in advance.   There must be at least one responsible adult on each team and you must all be able to swim!

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers will provide you with all of the equipment and materials you need to build your boat and the Plymouth and Devon Schools Sailing Association will provide you with everything you need to sail it.  This includes buoyancy aids, and a safety boat crewed by RYA qualified instructors.

If you would rather just watch(!) there will be plenty of other activities going on:

• The National Marine Aquarium and Babcock International have teamed up to run a STEM workshop.  Did you know that octopuses use jet propulsion to swim?  Or that turtles have ballast tanks like a submarine?  Find out how these, and other marine organisms work, and make some models to prove it!

• Engineers Without Borders will show you how to make a water pump from common building materials and household waste!  Why?  Because in remote parts of the world, where mains water is not available, this simple device can make the difference between life and death by providing access to safe drinking water.

• The Plymouth and Devon Schools Sailing Association will explain how you can learn to sail and take part in the weekly dinghy racing series in Plymouth Sound.

Event Documents

• Event Information

• Flyer

• Poster A4 (Landscape)

• Poster A4 (Portrait)