Where In the World is Dream Sailor?

That's right! Students at SIES have been busy learning all about boats, dynamics of ocean currents, and principles of buoyancy since the beginning of the school year through our Coastal Program.

Last year, Mrs. Santos, Mrs. Ferguson, and Mrs. Caldwell applied for and received a Bosch Eco and STEM Teacher (BEST) Grant, which advances sustainability and STEM education in ways that inspire, excite, and engage. The program supports innovative inquiry-based learning experiences by awarding grants of up to $2,000 to preschool-grade12 educators. Along with additional funding from FRIENDS, we were able to purchase a miniboat and sensor package from a group called Educational Passages.

With the Educational Passages Miniboat Program, students work together to prepare, deploy, and track their very own miniboat while learning about ocean currents, weather, technology, and more. Each 5-foot long unmanned miniboat has a satellite transmitter, allowing us to track our boat as it sails across the ocean. It also provides SIES with an opportunity to connect with the local school and community where it lands and learn about cultures around the world. The Educational Passages Miniboat Program empowers students to become citizen scientists and global ocean stewards.

At SIES, all students have received lessons pertaining to the parts of a boat, weather patterns, ocean currents, and buoyancy during their Coastal Science special area classes. However, a group of 12 fourth grade students were chosen to participate in our SIES Miniboat Club. Each member of our team was chosen after a thorough application process. Students committed to attending Miniboat Club meetings twice weekly at 7 am.

Additionally, this team was led by one fifth grade captain, a dedicated parent volunteer (Mike Firestone), and the SIES Parent Educator, Lisa Marie Ferguson. The Coastal Team teachers (Mrs. Gillespie, Mrs. Skinner, and Ms. Wes) were also valuable members of our morning club.

After months of preparation and a boat christening held during our Coastal Night in January, Dream Sailor was ready to launch. Ryan Guthrie, father of crew member Townes Guthrie, took on the task of launching both Dream Sailor and Special (the miniboat from Massachusetts that landed on Bull's Island) for us. Ryan is the Navigation Officer for the M/V Colorado Express, a U.S. flagged container vessel owned and operated by Hapag Lloyd USA. After close monitoring of the weather, Dream Sailor was launched on March 23rd. Here is a message from Ryan below:

Everything went really well! I enlisted the help of our two Kings Point cadets and one of the Engineering Officers to make it happen. We used 1/4 inch polyester line and passed it through the eyelets on the bow and stern of each miniboat, then tied off the bitter ends to the weather deck railing on the Port Quarter / Lee side. Once the boat(s) touched down in the water, we untied one bitter end, and I pulled it all the way through the eyelets to release the boat(s). I had one of the cadets document the whole launch process with video and pictures.

The GPS position of the launch at 11:46 am was Latitude 36-04.0’N, Longitude 066-20.0’W. The ship was on a heading of 104 degrees @ 8.5 knots. Winds were out of the SSW @ 21 knots. Air temp was 70 degrees, barometer was 1021.4 millibars. Please feel free to reach out if there is any more info I can provide.

Thank you so much for including me in the students’ project! I am very happy to have helped them to see it through! And look forward to watching the boats progress!!

Best Regards,

Ryan

Click on the button below to learn more about the SIES Miniboat Club's weekly meetings and how they actually built the miniboat. You can also see a video of the actual launch. It is pretty amazing, but SIES students are incredible, right?!?!

You will also be able to track our boat using the 1) GPS data at the top of the page and 2) the sensor data at the bottom of the page. Follow along to see where Dream Sailor heads!