University of Kansas freshman Justin Roderman paddles The Reginald team's entry across Potter Lake in the cardboard boat regatta, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, as junior Gary Peterson swims with his sunken boat in tow. The Reginald team won the KU Student Union Activities-sponsored event.

Grace Eason explained the secret behind the design of The Reginald team’s entry before Sunday’s cardboard boat regatta across Potter Lake on the University of Kansas campus.

“I did some research and found the most successful designs either had a pointed bow or slanted bow,” said Eason, a freshman from Lawrence. “Ours has both.”

Joining her on the team were two other hometown KU freshmen, Sarah Edmonds and Jacob Schepp, along with freshmen Tim Larson, of Chicago, and Justin Roderman, of North Dallas, Texas.

Minutes before the race’s start, Roderman, who would be tasked with paddling the boat across Potter Lake in the Student Union Activities-sponsored regatta, said he didn’t know exactly what would be asked of him but was hopeful the team’s entry would float and take home the $175 first-place prize.

The seaworthiness of the four entries was a legitimate concern, said KU junior Gary Peterson. He and his partner on the two-man Mazda Boat Shoe Skate Gang team, junior Kris Snyder, were members of the winning team in the inaugural event last year.

“Eighty percent of the boats sink immediately when getting on the water,” Peterson said.

Peterson and Snyder added to their KU experience last spring at the Wichita Riverfest cardboard boat regatta. Before Sunday’s race, they were confident they had found the winning formula. They were entering two boats of the same design in the contest and planning to split the prize money, should they win. Peterson and Snyder’s boats were made of 2-by-3-foot cardboard boxes lined with more cardboard inside and sealed inside and out with duct tape.

Unfortunately, Peterson and Snyder’s planning was all for nautical naught. Both boats took on water on launch and both teammates ended up swimming across the lake with boats in tow.

“It was too small,” a soaked Peterson said at the end of his swim. “The boat was too small.”

The Reginald won the four-boat competition with a time of 2:32, and the team had the only craft in the four-boat regatta to survive the crossing of Potter Lake. Eason said the success made her confident she could escape a desert island with the right materials.

“If I had an oar and 30 cardboard boxes, seven rolls of duct tape, four rolls of Gorilla tape, four spray cans of paint and two spray cans of lacquer,” she said. “It was more expensive than we thought it would be.”

Nonetheless, the winning teammates were already planning to defend their title next year.

“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Roderman said. “That was probably the best time I’ve had in a long time.”