Exciting news all around! Anita and her crew were mentioned in MIT's latest updates. Our website is live https://educationalpassages.org/boats/dmsanita/ and we've got a deployment date!

The team members finished sketching their designs onto the sail and began working with paint. They made a lot of progress today.

Connected with each team to record what they are all doing this week.

The members began to secure the water temperature sensor to the hull and keel. Carter P and Evan S worked to cut piece of fiberglass that will fully secure the sensor wire. Lucas W began sanding the white paint off of the hatch where the solar panel will be fixed later this week. Jaxon F will be drilling the hole for the solar panel wiring.

Kolby and Allie continued to transfer the designs onto the bow and stern of the deck. They said working with the paint pens was easy and they liked the color choices. We'll be ordering a brown paint pen to finish up some of the designs.

The Launch Team has heard back from the US Naval Research Laboratory! Our boat will be leaving DMS on May 15th and traveling to the Narragansett Pier to be launched by the RV Endeavor, which is the URI Graduate School of Oceanography's research vessel. This ship will deploy our Anita during their EN-716 cruise. The members of our team were orienting themselves with the RI coastline today and Coop was looking at ocean currents in the nearby area. They were looking for an ideal area to deploy our miniboat. Special thanks to Andrea at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus for her help.

We need some help getting Anita to Narragansett Bay. Unfortunately all small transit vehicles that our district owns are busy that day. She is 5 feet long and will be quite tall with her sail. If you have a vehicle that could accommodate her and are willing to take the drive, please let me know.

We have scheduled sailing time with Newport Sail, reconnecting with Cortney from last year's trip to the Ocean Race. The DMS Anita crew will head to Newport on September 11, 2024. With the end of the academic year approaching quickly, there are too many activities and not enough days to squeeze it all in. More details to come, but put this date into your calendar. The crew will go sailing for a few hours, pick up trash from the Fort Adams beach, and then participate in a classroom element in the 11th Hour (https://11thhourracing.org/) Great Room, making predictions about where the trash from the beach may have originated due to the ocean currents. By September we should have data from Anita that we can share as well.

BOW: front end of a boat

DECK: watertight covering of the boat hull

DEPLOYER: people launching the miniboat

HATCH: removable surface covering the top of a hold; protects miniboat cargo from marine environment

OCEAN CURRENTS: rivers of water within the ocean; Gulf Stream

SAIL: fabric attached to a mast; used to catch the wind and move a boat

STERN: back end of boat

VESSEL: ship or boat