A Wind-powered Land Yacht is a small vehicle, constructed from recyclable materials and common household items, that is designed to run by wind power. The idea is adaptable to other environments - as seen in the Ice Yachts project.

Have a look at our snapshots page to see what a wind-powered "yacht" will look like in this challenge!

Each "yacht" project will have a Big Race Day when videos will be made and uploaded to the site for others to share.

This challenge is open for students in Years 4-7, home schoolers are also welcome. This is not competitive and all entrants will receive a Certificate of Participation.

The Challenge for your students:
In Learning Teams of three to four, students are to design and construct a Wind-powered Yacht. Each teams' yacht will be "raced" against other yachts. The goal is to design and construct a yacht that will travel the longest distance on Race Day.

During the construction phase of the challenge, each team will keep a blog of their progress and upload photos to share with the 'land yacht' community. Each team will also be required to gather and record data during the construction and testing of their yachts and share this data with other teams via the website.

This activity will address the key learning areas of Technology, Science, and Mathematics. Guidelines will be set for all students taking part in the challenge.

Although some aspects of the challenge will be public, you must be registered to take part in this project. About six weeks before a project will be run,you will be able to register teams. Instructions will be made available through the oz-teachers and land-yachts teachers' lists.

Details of how to upload images and videos, to upload team test data and to participate in the Yacht-blogs will be made available to registered teams.