Page 9: of Marine Technology Magazine (June 2006)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 9 news guidance. While the team was proficient in that it was able to design and build a vehi- cle that was functional, it turned out that the vehicle's tether was too short, hinder- ing its range of motion in the pool. Despite this shortcoming, everything else worked well.

Bob Lobecker, of TMS coordinated the efforts of 14 judges from industry and aca- demia to review technical papers, posters, oral presentations and mission perform- ance.

This was Lobecker's third stint as a judge - his first time as the head judge - and he attributes the enthusiasm of the kids and the competition for keeping his interest. "These kids are the best and the bright- est. They are so enthusiastic even in the face of a completely failed mission. They learn from the experience and vow to come back next year to win. The kids that enter this event are clearly the cream of the crop as illustrated by the colleges they will attend next fall such as MIT, URI, Webb

Insitute for Yacht Design Rutgers Marine

Science Program, Clark University, USC

San Diego, Brown University, US Naval

Academy and Keene State College.

In most cases the teams that invested the most time testing and evaluating their vehicles enjoyed the most success. Nearly unanimously the teams felt that additional time should have been budgeted to test and evaluate their vehicles before coming to the competition. In a few cases, the competi- tion was the first time they actually were able to "fly" their vehicles in a pool. They were all submerged in various tanks, tubs and vessels filled with water, but few had the opportunity to actually operate in a pool.

One exception to this rule was the team from the Greater New Bedford Vocational

Technical High School (GNBVTHS), which was successful at getting its vehicle completely operational in a very short peri-

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Contact: David R. Lavis, General Manager 900 Ritchie Highway, Suite 102

Severna Park, MD 21146 410-544-2800

E-mail: [email protected]

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