Kaitlyn & Meabh's Lancer Mini-Boat
Donation protected
Kaitlyn Dow, a student at Waterford High School, built a 5-foot mini-sailboat (the Lancer) that has successfully crossed the Atlantic.
This boat was prepared by Kaitlyn and other students of Mike O'Connor's UCONN ECE Marine Science Class at Waterford High School (WHS) in coordination with Mrs. Shoemaker's 4th grade students at Quaker Hill Elementary School. The boat kit was provided by Educational Passages
This was part of Kaitlyn's year-long research project where she was studying wind and currents in the ocean. She built the boat and a surface drifter. The two were launched from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutes new research vessel Neal Armstrong. The boat theoretically would be wind driven and the drifter carried by currents.
As part of her project, the boat was filled with gifts from Connecticut and stories from the 4th graders. The hope was that the boat would cross the Atlantic and be found by someone that could bring it to a local school, share the story and possibly fix the boat to return to the sea.
The boat landed on a small island at the mouth of Galway Bay found by an 8 year old girl, Meabh, and her father. She has told her story on Irish Language Radio, at her local school and now will be joining the director of Educational Passages at the European Marine Science Educators Convention on the 6th of October In Belfast. From there the boat will go to her school to be fixed, redesigned and launched again.
We are looking for funds to bring Kaitlyn and Meabh together. The plan is to fly to Ireland in February and help to fix and relaunch the Lancer. Then in June, Meabh will hopefully be able to travel to Connecticut and then to Savanah Georgia to present at the National Marine Educators Conference.
Any funds raised will be used for travel to and from Ireland, repairs to the boat, upgrades to the GPS transmitter, the possible addition of sensors on the boat and additional satellite time to track the boat.
The full story can be found summarized on the following pages:
http://patch.com/connecticut/waterford/whs-unmanned-sailboat-reaches-ireland
http://educationalpassages.com/boats/lancer#.V-03I_krLrc
http://www.theday.com/article/20160919/NWS01/160919163
https://twitter.com/DrifterWhs
This boat was prepared by Kaitlyn and other students of Mike O'Connor's UCONN ECE Marine Science Class at Waterford High School (WHS) in coordination with Mrs. Shoemaker's 4th grade students at Quaker Hill Elementary School. The boat kit was provided by Educational Passages
This was part of Kaitlyn's year-long research project where she was studying wind and currents in the ocean. She built the boat and a surface drifter. The two were launched from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutes new research vessel Neal Armstrong. The boat theoretically would be wind driven and the drifter carried by currents.
As part of her project, the boat was filled with gifts from Connecticut and stories from the 4th graders. The hope was that the boat would cross the Atlantic and be found by someone that could bring it to a local school, share the story and possibly fix the boat to return to the sea.
The boat landed on a small island at the mouth of Galway Bay found by an 8 year old girl, Meabh, and her father. She has told her story on Irish Language Radio, at her local school and now will be joining the director of Educational Passages at the European Marine Science Educators Convention on the 6th of October In Belfast. From there the boat will go to her school to be fixed, redesigned and launched again.
We are looking for funds to bring Kaitlyn and Meabh together. The plan is to fly to Ireland in February and help to fix and relaunch the Lancer. Then in June, Meabh will hopefully be able to travel to Connecticut and then to Savanah Georgia to present at the National Marine Educators Conference.
Any funds raised will be used for travel to and from Ireland, repairs to the boat, upgrades to the GPS transmitter, the possible addition of sensors on the boat and additional satellite time to track the boat.
The full story can be found summarized on the following pages:
http://patch.com/connecticut/waterford/whs-unmanned-sailboat-reaches-ireland
http://educationalpassages.com/boats/lancer#.V-03I_krLrc
http://www.theday.com/article/20160919/NWS01/160919163
https://twitter.com/DrifterWhs
Organizer
Mike Oconnor
Organizer
Waterford, CT
