FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. -- Well, Missouri S&T's 2008 concrete canoe REALLY looks good (everybody says so), but the green-and-sand-colored vessel called "Shamrock" didn't pass the "swamp test" today with flying colors. In fact, it stayed sunk like The Edmund Fitzgerald. The idea is to dunk the canoe in a big trough and see if it floats back up to the surface -- this is a precautionary test to make sure the canoes don't sink to the bottom of Lake Fayetteville tomorrow when the real racing events start. Missouri S&T will now have to equip Shamrock with extra styrofoam before hitting the lake.
Team members weren't too disappointed, though, because their canoe floats just fine as long as it's not full of water AND because the swamp test only counts for five percent of the overall judging AND because Mizzou's canoe failed to resurface from the bottom of the trough, too, AND because, as one astute Miner pointed out, the canoes are made out of CONCRETE for crying out loud.
With much sadness we can report that the University of Arkansas has retired its Hogtanic canoe, which was such a big hit last year, especially when the monstrosity rolled over on its side and dumped its passengers during a particularly ill-fated outing. This year's Arkansas entry is called 3 Sheets To The Wind, and it actually passed the swamp test.
The Missouri S&T team members say they enjoy the company of the Arkansas team but that the University of Oklahoma is probably the favorite in the competition. Oral presentations in front of judges are going on right now. We'll be back at some point with updates and photos of Saturday's racing action. The Missouri S&T team expects strong performances by its paddlers.
P.S. We probably won't have new photos (of racing action) until we get back to Rolla some time on Monday. But we'll try to give you a feel for the canoe racing stuff some time Saturday P.M. The results are appropriately fluid. Unless you're in first, nobody really knows (or cares too much) where they stand in the overall standings. That's why we love this concrete canoe thing; it's pretty laid back and fun. Having said that, we really appreciate how much engineering work (and old-fashioned trial and error) goes into getting these things to the point where they're actually seaworthy.
