A team of University of Indonesia (UI) students has secured fourth place in the 2017 Hydrocontest boat design competition held on Sept. 4 to 10 in Saint Tropez, France.

"UI won fourth place for the race in the heavyweight boat category and was awarded for mass transportation innovation," Fadhil Naufal, UI Hydro Team head, told Antara news agency on Tuesday. 

In addition, the team had also qualified to the quarter finals in the lightweight boat category, where they came in seventh place, as well as sat in the ninth place for the long distance race. 

In the heavyweight boat category, the first place went to Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland, followed by Haute Ecole d'Ingénierie et d'Architecture in Fribourg (HEIA Fribourg) Switzerland and University of Belgrade Serbia in third place. 

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Placing fourth is UI's highest achievement after having participated twice in the annual competition. The Indonesian team, which consists of 14 members, designed the symmetric catamaran type vessels for the lightweight boat category and flat plate type vessels for the heavyweight category.

The Hydrocontest is an international competition that requires the participants to design a vessel capable of holding loads of 20 kilograms for its lightweight category and 200 kg in heavyweight with high energy efficiency and speed. 

The category of long distance race, meanwhile, measures the boat endurance, as it tests which can do the highest number of laps within two hours.

In its fourth year, Hydrocontest participants came from 23 university teams from 14 countries in Europe, America and Asia. From Asia alone, it was attended by UI and Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya.(liz/kes)