The first week of May is the busiest week for residents in Wagner College. Every night, the team members join their forces to collect boxes, buy duct tape and draw sketches all over the building in order to create the dream ship and get ready for the long awaited event of the semester: “The Roth Regatta 2011 – Superheroes and Villains.”
As soon as the team chose Dracula as their villain character, they began to collect sketches and construct the boat. They designed a closed coffin-shape boat with six sides, tapered around the shoulders, and a big cross in the middle of the coffin. The team worked hand-in-hand to wrap the entire boat with duct tape — the most time consuming part in the building of the boat.
“It’s been so far four days since we began to cover the boat with the tape,” said Jonathan Yi, a freshman double majoring in biology and psychology. “We expect it to take us for four more days to finish the boat.”
The construction kept going after the team shaped the boat, adding cardboard tubes to it, attaching them below the base of the coffin.
“These tubes are the essential parts of the boat in order for it to flow on the water,” said Jonathan Presvelis, a sophomore computer engineering major.
After the team completed the structure of the boat, they arrived to the final step of the making: the painting of it. In order to combine with the concept of Dracula, the team decided to color the entire boat in black and the big cross in yellow. They also incorporated a new feature to the cross: instead of leaving it laid on the coffin, they stood it upright in the middle of the coffin, so that it could be visible.
“The cross is going to be the spotlight of the boat; we want it to be outstanding,” said Kevin Bustillo, a senior applied math and economy major. Although it is plain hand and hard work to build the boat, the team kept on showing high enthusiasm for the event.
“I was in the boat last year, and I loved it. I enjoyed [it] a lot,” said Presvelis.
“This is my first time participating in the event, and I’m really excited, I want to have fun from it,” said James Connors, a sophomore astronomy major. Despite demanding the team members’ a lot of time and effort, the boat brought joy and teamwork to all the participants. Moreover, having Dracula as their figure gave them even more faith on the boat.
“Dracula is cool and very special as a villain. Unlike other teams, which focus more on heroes, we have Dracula — total awesomeness,” said Bustillo.
