Tracking Model Ships at Sea

Tracking Model Ships at Sea April 24

Educational Passages has an educational mission to help students build, launch, and track model ships on the sea.

Dick Baldwin, after completing his lifelong dream of a solo sail, started Educational Passages as a project to interest youngsters in the sciences of the world’s oceans. Educational Passages offers a program in which school groups build and rig model ships which are then launched into the Atlantic from Maine, Florida, Bermuda, and even the Canary Islands. The boats are then tracked by satellite via GPS transponders attached to the models. The beauty of the program is that the students can track the course of their models from their own computers via the internet.

Dick Baldwin give a talk about the program at the Camden Public Library on Thursday, April 24, at 7:00 pm, as part of the Library’s Maritime Month. Maritime Month is supported in part by Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors magazine.

“We use unmanned mini-sailboats equipped with GPS tracking devices to study ocean and wind patterns and much more,” said Baldwin. “These five-foot mini-boats need no outside assistance and will sail directly downwind month after month. As these boats travel the oceans of the world to faraway lands, students have the opportunity to learn map reading, geography, earth science, oceanography, naval architecture, boat building, international relations, and meteorology.”

He added, “We have now launched 40 different boats and have many exciting voyages to talk about. These boats can survive hurricanes and will sail for thousands of miles unassisted. The excitement really builds as these boats make landfall and people of all ages and walks of life become involved. They fix the boats up as needed, add messages and trinkets in the watertight compartment, and send it back out to continue its voyage.”

The idea started in 2008 with small satellite transceivers mounted on the deck of miniature sailboats designed to journey with the ocean winds and currents. Since then it has grown with new boat designs, new partnerships, and more importantly, with an expanded audience. There are now people of all ages tracking the boats and involved in various stages of education, launch, recovery, and outreach. Clubs, schools, libraries, individuals, and foundations have all joined in the “mission.” All the boats currently at sea can be tracked on the website educationalpassages.com.

 “In 2009 Maine Maritime Academy launched our first four mini-boats as well as two drifter buoys. When the ‘K-Kids Kruiser’ from Old Town, Maine, landed in Ireland, it was transported to an Irish middle school. The kids skyped with the students in Old Town. This mini-boat was then put on display in an Irish pub.”

The models are 56” long, and are molded in the same way larger boats are produced and provide a very economical and inexpensive way to teach boat-building skills. It also teaches these skills in a very time efficient way as these 5-foot boats can be laid up and molded within a few days. Educational Passages is indeed fortunate to be working with Mid-Coast School of Technology and a state of the art boat-building company such as Lyman Morse in producing these boats.

When Mark Fitzgerald, noted naval architect in Camden, Maine, heard about our program he immediately recognized the potential it had and told us “I don’t think you guys have a clue as to how great this program could be. I’d like to design a boat for you.” He designed us a beautiful 56” boat which was debuted in the summer of 2012. He also helped us improve the strength of the self-steering rig and has significantly improved boat speed and performance. Mark’s new boats have sailed up to seventy-eight nautical miles per day which is phenomenal for a 5-foot unmanned sailboat.

For more information visit the website at www.educationalpassages.com.

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56” sailboats are built, launched, and tracked all across the Atlantic by Educational Passages. Dick Baldwin will be speaking at the Camden Public Library on Thursday, April 24, at 7:00 pm on the plan for students to build and track their own boats.