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How GUT students pedalled their way to victory in Hamburg
With the sheer strength of their legs Andrzej Wróbel and Krzysztof Kaczmarek of Gdansk University of Technology won the European Human Powered Boats Championships, which were held in Hamburg last weekend. The students from Gdansk had to compete against 16 of the best crews in Europe. Taking part in the competition were pairs from Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland.
Photo by Wojciech Litwin
'The championships are an open competition, which means that not only students can take part,' explains Dariusz Duda, a graduate of the Faculty of Ocean Engineering and Ship Technology who is also the guardian of the Korab Scientific Circle. 'Another peculiar aspect of these championships is the tremendous diversity in the designs of the competing vessels. I can baldly say our team did a great job. We succeeded in showing the best features of our boat – her turning qualities, lightness and speed. But this was not just the vessel. Here the crew are at least equally important, that is, the strength and stamina of our „engines”.'
Andrzej Wróbel has just begun his third semester at the Ocean Engineering faculty, whereas Krzysztof Kaczmarek is now a 7th-semester student. Both belong to the GUT Korab Scientific Circle. Both of them also co-designed the vessel on which they pedalled their way to victory. The Rector, for that is the name of the boat designed and built by GUT undergraduates, has already won two victories this year. The first was in May, when our Gdansk team won the International Waterbike Regatta in Zagreb. It was that victory which resulted in the invitation to Hamburg, to the so-called small European championships.
The Hamburg championships comprised three competitions: the 10 km race, where the Gdansk crew came second; the 100 m sprint, where the Gdansk students also came second and the Slalom, where they came third. And it was thus that they won the entire championship on aggregate points. The boat which made this victory possible weighs about 30 kilograms and cost more or less as much as a small car, i.e. approximately 30,000 PLN. It took five months to build.
The student circle team, comprising twenty GUT undergraduates, has more than one victory to be proud of. Two years ago our catamaran crew won the International Waterbike Regatta in Istanbul. The right of victory allowed us to organise the next regatta on the Motława in Gdansk. Next year human powered boat regattas are to take place in Rostock, Germany. 'It is possible that a new vessel will be built specially for this competition. Alternatively, we'll reconstruct the Rector to improve its parameters,' predicts Dr Wojciech Litwin, another of the students' scientific guardians. 'We also plan to build a new regatta boat propelled by solar energy. Here, however, we would need some financial support from the rector.'
The students' scientific guardians are workers of the GUT Faculty of Ocean Engineering and Ship Technology – Dariusz Duda, Wojciech Litwin and Arkadiusz Łabuć.