A miniature yacht which set sail off the coast of Cape Cod in an American high school science experiment was discovered by a Connemara schoolgirl in the modern equivalent of a message in a bottle.
The three-foot-long sailboat named Lancer was built from a kit by 17-year-old Kaitlyn Dow, a student of Waterford High School in Connecticut. She stuffed it full of little gifts donated by pupils of her old primary school, Quaker Hill Elementary, with a memory stick containing essays from many of them.
Its deployment along with a number of other unmanned vessels on May 7 near Martha’s Vineyard was overseen by three marine science universities. Their progress across the Atlantic was tracked three times a day with GPS equipment.
As it approached the west coast, Kaitlyn and her teacher Mike O’Connor emailed as many people up and down the coast, asking them to keep an eye out for the Lancer. They feared it was going to get smashed along the cliffs.
However, against all odds it survived intact.
Among the dozens of Facebook messages sent by the pair, one was picked up by a pub in Droim, Lettermore. The owner alerted her family living in the vicinity.
Her sister, Neasa Ní Chualáin, logged onto the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration GPS map tracking the vessel and discovered it was still southwest of the Aran Islands.
Shortly afterwards the boat had moved and then remained put.
“We couldn’t believe it when the GPS tracker showed the sailboat literally in front of a little island that we gaze at every day from our living room window. Alas, we couldn’t see the boat but we discussed possible locations along the local shore that it may have sailed to.
“Méabh and her Dad Stiofán walked down to a rocky shoreline east of that little island – Oileán Anamna – and there she was, a little weather beaten, having sailed through 3,000 miles of storms and high seas.
“Méabh was beside herself opening the boat to see what surprises from across the wild Atlantic were hidden below. Wow, a teddy, an octopus, pencils, a t-shirt, UCONN [University of Connecticut] memorabilia and the best thing a memory stick laden with treasure from the elementary students.”
There was great excitement when Méabh, 8, brought her discovery to Scoil Naisiunta Thir an Fhia. Her teacher Rita Ni Fhlatharta plans to continue the project from the school by communicating with those involved in the project in America.
The marine science class experiment also involved the launching of a surface drifter at the same time and the goal was to see how the two objects would progress, with the boat using the wind and the drifter riding the currents.
Neasa and Méabh are this week taking the Lancer to the annual European Marine Educators Conference in Belfast. Méabh will also be making a presentation for her local Sea Scouts.
Neasa has also been in touch with Ciaran Oliver of TruLight Marine about making the vessel seaworthy again so that it can continue its voyage.
“Kaitlyn wants to come back here in the spring and launch the boat with Méabh but we’d need to get sponsors involved,” she explained.