Classes compete in annual Boat Battle

Representatives from each grade attempt to sink other teams’ duct tape and cardboard boats while keeping their own afloat

Sonia Verma and Alex Zhang

Sonia Verma and Alex Zhang

Transcript:

Hannah Wu: I was told someone was gonna drown and I want to see that happening.

Voice-over: An inter-class boat battle was held at the Mona Vista pool during lunch on Wednesday, May 24th, members from each grade built a boat out of duct tape and cardboard to ride across the pool. The goal of the battle was to sink the other team’s boats and be the last boat intact and floating.

Aya Abdelrahman: The seniors made a rocket-like boat. It’s really, really big, and it looks like a coffin. The juniors made – well, I think it was mostly Michelle, she spent eight hours last night making it – is a small tiny rocket boat and I named it King Bob the Second because we love King Bob the First from Minions. The sophomores made their boat, it’s called the Loaded Diaper from the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. And then I know nothing about the freshman boat, but that’s probably gonna sink.

EE: So how do you feel, you know, as a senior about how our class is gonna do? Is it high expectations, what do our expectations look like?

Kushagra Srivastava: Well, I’m currently seeing the boat for the first time and it looks very disappointing.

EE: Very disappointing?

KS: I have low expectations for us.

EE: Low expectations. That is not good. Do you think, you know, out of the four classes, what do you think we’re gonna end up in, 1st, 2nd [or] 3rd?

KS: I think we’ll go 1 ft into the pool and then the boat is going to sink 

EE: One foot into the pool. And do you think that the fact that they decided to tape a phone to the boat? Do you think it’s a sign of confidence or how do we feel about that?

KS: I don’t know.

EE: Do you think it’s a mistake by them?

KS: I guess we’ll have to see it.

EE: We’ll have to see.

KS: I just don’t think that boat is watertight.

HW: Honestly, I think the sophomores or freshmen are going to win because freshmen and sophomores are lighter.

VO: The freshman, junior and senior teams had a successful dispatch, but the sophomore team started to sink immediately after pushing off the wall.

VO: Squirt guns, dodge balls and splashing and scooping water were methods utilized to sink other boats. When backed into a corner some teams used underhanded tactics like grabbing other teams’ boats while others made desperate sacrifices to keep their own vessel afloat. After a long battle, King Bob the Second started to sink, eliminating the juniors. After an intense confrontation, the freshman boat started to break down leaving the seniors the last boat floating.

EE: How did we feel that we did?

Rohin Inani: It was a huge W for the class of 2023, yes, sir. It was hella fun. 

EE: Were there any moments where you were worried and concerned? Or was it like ‘Nah, I was in the bag the whole time?’

RI: I think we have to give up one person so we weren’t tipping over anymore. 

EE: That was part of the strategy the whole time.

RI: That was part of the strategy

EE: Any final thoughts on how the performance went?

RI: Not really, not really. It was pretty good, it was pretty good. I think we did hella good, Aayan and I. W W. Yeah, that’s about it.

EE: Alright, it was light work, it was light work. 

RI: Yes, sir.