Date: April 21

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Paul, Lance

Location: Home Depot

What we were planning to accomplish: We were hoping to buy all of the materials that we will need for the upcoming month.

Meeting Description(what we actually did): For the very first meeting all group members drove to the Home Depot where we gathered our materials to start building the shoes. We bought Styrofoam, Plywood, Silicon Caulk, Metal Hinges, Plastic Sheets, and Screws. We had to search around the depot for quite awhile and ask the experts which materials were best so that we would have the best chance of winning the walk on water contest. Buying the materials came out to be quite expensive, but we were all willing to pay the price if it means that we have a chance of not taking the final exam. After buying the materials we proceeded to have an inaugural meal celebrating the beginnings of the project at the world famous Chipotle, in Encinitas. While there, we discussed some basic racing strategies and how much we are going to trash talk with the other teams.

Plans for the Future: After gathering all the materials we plan to bring them all to Gaurav's house to begin assembling the shoes. Combining the styrofoam is our main priority in the future as it is the bulk of our shoe. We plan on meeting throughout the weekends to slowly but surely build the foundation and the specific parts of our shoes to excel during the trials.

Date: April 22

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Paul, Lance

Location: Gaurav's House

What we were trying to accomplish: We wanted to simply cut the blocks of styrofoam and attach them together and allow them time to dry.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): The first building meeting began in the afternoon with the whole team arriving at Gaurav's house with the supplies that we bought from the night before. Paul pulled out the circular saw and started dividing up the styrofoam blocks into the necessary slabs to stack for the shoes. After cutting each of the two styrofoam blocks into three sections we stacked them up to create the form for the pair of shoes. Each shoe had three slabs and we then used the silicon caulk to glue them together. We didn't slack off on the use of our caulk to ensure that our shoes would stick together. Just to make sure that we would have enough caulk Nick and Lance drove down to the Home Depot to buy more silicon caulk. Meanwhile Gaurav and Paul were busy caulking the plywood board onto the bottom of the styrofoam base. The purpose of the plywood is so that we can screw in the metal hinges so that we don't pierce too far into the styrofoam.

Plans for the Future: Next meeting we plan on attaching the metal hinges and screwing them into the plywood. Hopefully in the future we will cut out the flaps and attach those to the hinges. We also plan on duct-taping the shoes to secure them even more than they already are. Testing the shoes is also a priority, but the local pool is under construction, which is limiting our ability to easily transport and test the shoes.

Date: April 29

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Paul, Lance

Location: Gaurav's House

What we were planning to accomplish: We wanted to cut out the flaps and begin attaching them to the plywood via the metal hinges.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): To start off the afternoon the group screwed in the metal hinges into the plywood board. The styrofoam and plywood has been strongly glued together as the silicon caulk has dried and solidified. We made sure to measure the even lines where the hinges would be evenly spaced out along the slab. We also measured out the midline for each row so that the hinges would be centered and become more hydrodynamic in the water. In addition, we began to measure out the dimensions to use for the flaps and began dividing up the material in the necessary arrangements.

Plans for the Future: For the next meeting we plan on attaching the plastic flaps onto the hinges and taping the entire shoe. We still need to test the buoyancy of the shoe to make sure that we aren't wasting hundreds of dollars on a pair of shoes that doesn't even float. We also need to shape the foam in the future to provide the proper shape.

Date: May 19

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Paul

Location: Gaurav's House

What we were planning to accomplish: We wanted to test our shoes to check their buoyancy and then shape down our shoes.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): This was by far the most strenuous of all the work days as this job took a lot more manpower than the others. We needed to shape our foam into the necessary shape to limit the amount of drag experienced while submerged. Nick came late because he had a baseball game and as you can tell by the pictures, he was occupied for the first 15 ish minutes by the likes of a fine Jersey Mikes sub one that he did not share unfortunately. Paul and Gaurav took to the cheese grater and handsaw and started shaving down the extra width from the foam. Then, all 3 of us began screwing in the flaps to the plywood board. We drilled pilot holes into the plastic flap then applied caulk to the hinge and then finally attached the hinge to the flap via screws. The caulk and screw combo was used in order to assure that the screws wouldn't fall of in the water. We also left a screw drilled directly into the plywood and left it sticking out in order to cause the flap to rebound and not get stuck in a fully up position. We were going to test but decided it would be a better idea to let the caulk dry, so we ended up packing up for the day.

Plans for the Future: We definitely need to test out our shoes and make sure our flaps are engaging properly. We need to focus on how we are going to tackle the actual racing portion. We need to tape up our shoes in duct tape so that the styrofoam remains together and we also need to sand our flaps as the cutting job on them was very spotty.

Date: May 23

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, , Lance, Paul

Location: Neighborhood Pool

What we were planning to accomplish: We simply wanted to test our shoes and get the racers comfortable in the shoes. Then make any necessary adjustments.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): We all went to the pool to try out the shoes for the very first time. We first submerged the shoes into the water to test out their buoyancy which went as expected. Then, Lance hopped onto the shoes to try them out for the first time. He was able to walk smoothly the first time and was able to command the shoes very well, we noticed that our flaps were not the best and the hinges had a lot of friction. The flaps would get stuck rotating which is something we hope to address. It was a very quick test as it was already pretty late when we started. After testing we went to Jersey Mikes after much argument, while we were there we saw some fellow classmates and Paul decided it would be appropriate to ruin a friend's date by sitting on his lap for approximately 5 minutes. We then dropped off the shoes and finished off the meeting.

Plans for the Future: Refine our flaps and make sure the mechanism is working properly. Attach shoes to the WoW shoes as Lance was just standing on them. Add more flaps possibly? Control the problem of the shoes not going straight.

Date: May 25

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Lance

Location: Gaurav's House + Neighborhood Pool+Home Depot

What we were trying to accomplish: We definitely did not think about redoing our whole flap design, so we were initially only planning on testing and working on getting the racer times down.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): Lance and Gaurav worked on the website while at Gaurav's house and were finishing up wrapping the shoes in duct tape. They then loaded the cars and proceeded to begin testing at the neighborhood pool. Nick had a baseball game and joined us at the neighborhood pool. Then Nick and Lance tested the shoes (Paul had work) and we realized we were going very slow. We were about 30 seconds across the 13 meter pool, which wasn't going to win us anything. We needed to redo our flap mechanism. On the plus side, we were able to determine exactly where we wanted the crocs to go on the shoes. While we were leaving the pool, we ran into another WoW group, The Master Boaters, working on their project. Aidan Baker lived right next to the pool we were using. They had extra plexiglass and sold us a slightly used 24" x 48" x .220" sheet of plexiglass for $30 because they couldn't return it. This was quite a deal and a major score for us. We then went to Home Depot and purchased 20 additional hinges to add to the bottom of our shoes and extra duct tape in case we needed it. We went to Chipotle and dropped the shoes back off at Gaurav's house to conclude our meeting.

Plans for the Future: Tear off the failed plastic flaps and add on the new plexiglass ones with the new hinges we purchased. We want to have more than just 5 hinges on each shoe and have them be shorter to make them stronger unlike the long, feeble plastic flaps. After we make our change we need to test them quickly to make sure our new strategy works. Hopefully the new idea will help bring us to the finish line in a faster manner. Also make cutouts in the shoes to add in the crocs to provide support for the racers.

Date: May 28

Team Members Present: Gaurav, Paul, Lance, Nick

Location: Gaurav's House + Neighborhood Pool

What we were planning to accomplish: We wanted to completely finish the shoes, especially attach on the newly bought flaps. We wanted to test out our new mechanism and make sure that all racers were comfortable, finally we wanted to carve out holes in the shoes to add in the crocs.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): Paul went to Gaurav's house early to reconstruct the flap assembly. We tore down the old flaps and added 2 hinges in between each old one. Paul cut the Plexiglas with a circular saw while Gaurav added the hinges and patched up the duct tape. We also added the crocs to the top surface of the shoes. We used plenty of glue and screws to hold them down for testing. Then Nick arrived and helped us drill holes into all of the 30 individual flaps, allowing us to attach them to the shoes. We added them and decided to trim the screws so that the flaps could close fully. Lance arrived then and held the flaps with pliers while Paul cut the screws off with a sawzall. We then decided to test our shoes. We all got to test with the Crocs attached to the top of the shoes and it was a direct upgrade to doing it barefoot. We were still super unstable though, and the shoes ripped off, so we decided to cut 2/3 of the way into the shoes to attach the Crocs. We glued the Crocs into the shoes and packed up.

Plans for the Future: KEEP TESTING!!!

Date: May 29

Team Members Present: Lance, Paul, Nick, Gaurav,

Location: Neighborhood Pool

What we were planning to accomplish: Testing the shoes and any necessary adjustments.

Meeting Description (what we actually did): Paul and Lance tested the new design of the shoes with the holes right after school, but Nick wasn't able to because he had a baseball game. We had to have him try the shoes after his game with Gaurav. The shoe featured adjustments with the croc embedded into the shoe which added support and refinements to the flaps. Nick tested the shoes for about 45 mins and Gaurav hopped in the shoes a couple times, but we won't talk about that...

Plans for the Future: Do good on race day, the time has come

Date: May 30

Team Members Present: Nick, Gaurav, Lance, Paul

Location: Alga Norte Pool

What we were planning to accomplish: Win the race

Description (what we actually did): Today was race day and things did not go as well planned. We were able to go around 1.1 m/s in a community pool but our flap design proved to be detrimental in the long race. Our shoes strayed right the whole day which ultimately led us to placing 11th overall, a severe disappointment to all of us. Besides that we had a lot of fun at the pool and were more than happy that the Elongated Muskrats didn't win as they were being cocky all week. Similarly we were happy that Daddy Dawson's Bolsheviks didn't win as we were engaging in weekly trash talk with them throughout the course of the project. After the races we went to the Carlsbad In n Out with a couple of fools from 5th period and then we went to Gaurav's house for one last time to play some volleyball and drop off the shoes.

Plans for the future: Definitely work on the website and hopefully take these shoes and paddle out with them at the beach. Dropping in on some legendary shore break barrels up in The Wedge would be great.