Wild at Heart

Tim, our third son, is a “wild at heart” kind of guy. He’s been that way since he was born. He’s the kind of guy who on his first time skiing went straight down the hill instead of zigzagging like most skiers do. That made him the perfect choice to be the “skipper” of the solar powered boat that won the Solar Splash 2008.

Solar Splash is the World Championship of Intercollegiate Solar Boating, hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The solar boats are built and raced by the engineering students of their respective universities. Universities from as far away as Turkey and as large and respected as the University of Arkansas and Carnegie Mellon entered this year's competition.

Cedarville entered the Solar Splash competition for the first time in 1997. Since 2004 they have won the competition every year but one (they came in 2nd that year). Points are earned in 7 categories: Technical report, Visual Display, Workmanship, Sprints, Maneuverability, Solar Slalom & Endurance. Tim said the Endurance race was like Diddy Kong Racing (we knew playing all those video games would pay off some day!)

It proved to be a close race between Cedarville University and Istanbul Technical University with the University of Arkansas placing third. Congratulations to Cedarville University and the entire team of engineering students including Dr. Tim Dewhurst, professor of Mechanical Engineering, for a job well done!