Racers take off from the banks of Lake Buccaneer in homemade boats.While the saltiest of sea captains might not choose cardboard and duct tape as the ideal building materials for his ship, they certainly fit the bill for Jason Owens’ physics students.
And so, on a narrow strip of land extending soggily into “Lake Buccaneer,” 28 Boyd-Buchanan students launched their boats into murky water Wednesday for the 17th annual Physics Boat Day.
Spectators lined the shore as mosquitoes swarmed in the muggy air. The tinkling music of a nearby shaved ice truck floated over the pond as the students readied for the race.
“On your marks. Get set. Go!” Owens shouted, and the students started paddling furiously.
Owens, chairman of the school’s physics department, said the boats are the fourth and final project his students face during the school year.