2013 Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore

13 photos, 1 Video

For the 15th year, human-powered machines embarked on a 14-mile journey through the streets of Baltimore as part of the American Visionary Art Museum’s annual Kinetic Sculpture Race. Participants design and construct vehicular sculptures capable of crossing sand, mud and water.

VIDEO: Making a kinetic sculpture by Jen Rynda/Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Through mud, sand and water, kinetic sculpture racers go for glory
By Ian Duncan, The Baltimore Sun
7:25 p.m. EDT, May 4, 2013

It was just after noon Saturday and a large blue-crab-mobile was drifting out into the harbor with four students from Arbutus Middle School aboard and unable to steer. The problem? A thrown sock puppet that had damaged their controls.

The absurd moment captured the spirit of the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race, now in its 15th year, even down to the puppet as the source of mischief — carrying one is a requirement of the competition.

School principal Michelle Feeney watched anxiously from a pier at Canton Waterfront Park as a pair of kayakers paddled out to tow the middle-schoolers back to shore, so they could continue on their way.

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