innovate arkansas

The University of Arkansas' College of Engineering is bringing Solar Splash, the world championship of intercollegiate solar boating, to Lake Fayetteville June 18-22.

People from across the region will be able to see the future of sustainable boating as 19 teams, from as far away as Turkey, compete for top honors without burning a single drop of gas.

Each team of students is responsible for designing its own boat and solar power system. Boats are scored on how they look, how well they are built and how well they operate, in addition to their performance on the lake.

"The Razorback solar boat team competed very strongly last year, and our overall score improved compared to 2006 when we won the championship," said Roy McCann, associate professor of electrical engineering and adviser for the UA electrical team. "Most significantly, for the first time since the University of Arkansas began competing in 2000, we came in first place for the sprint race. This had been a primary goal in our designs over the last few years."

The official competition began Wednesday, with technical inspections to continue through Thursday morning. The racing starts Thursday and Friday, when the solar boats will be timed on a qualifying course and a slalom course. Friday afternoon the teams get to show off their boats' speed in the 300-meter sprint races, scheduled to finish on Sunday. The endurance competition, in which boats try to go as far as possible in 2 hours, is scheduled for Saturday morning.

These events are free and open to the public. This will be the third consecutive year that the College of Engineering has hosted the event on Lake Fayetteville. Solar Splash, in its 14th year, is the world's only international, intercollegiate solar electric boat design and race competition.