Waterlogged watercraft

September 18, 2019 12:00 am • Last Updated: September 18, 2019 8:26 pm

By Sean D. Elliot
Director of Photography

s.elliot@theday.com

University of Connecticut, Avery Point, students, from left, Will Robinson, Larissa Tabb and Bella Langlois sip their soft drinks and cheer on the competitors in the final championship heat of the 9th annual UConn-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races from the Tub II, their entry in an earlier heat, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Groton — Competitors took to the water in the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday at Eastern Point Beach.

Students from 15 high schools around the state enrolled in the UConn/ECE program, along with staff and students from UConn's Avery Point campus, constructed boats of cardboard and duct tape. Heats were held for each group, with three heats for high school teams, and the winners of the heats raced in one last contest to determine an overall winner.

The event was expanded and moved to Eastern Point Beach last year because it has outgrown the small Avery Point waterfront beach.

The high school students attended a morning of "TED Talks" at the Avery Point campus before the races.

Mike Jones, with the University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience program, gives instructions to competitors approaching the starting line for one of the high school heats in the 9th annual UConn-Avery Point/ECE cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Dan Estrin, 16, of Waterford High School charges into the water with his team's entry, The Boatmobile, in their heat of the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Team members on the beach cheer on their boat crews in a high school heat of the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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The crew of the Lyman Hall high school's USS Citizenship paddle away from the beach in the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Gavin LaBrec, 17, and Ian Whitehouse, 17, from Westbrook High School, paddle Turtle II to a first-place finish in the championship heat of the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. Turtle II is named in honor of David Bushnell's Revolutionary War submersible built in Old Saybrook in 1775. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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Nick Bassett, 17, and Andrew Kattman, 17, of Glastonbury High School, struggle to paddle Hutton's Ark to the finish of the championship heat of the 9th annual University of Connecticut-Avery Point/Early College Experience cardboard boat races Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, at Eastern Point Beach in Groton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
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