Waterford High School Student Sends Unmanned Drifter to Ireland

Grantee: Waterford High School – Waterford, CT

Project Title: Educational Passages

Grant Type: ecoSolution

Description:

Kaitlyn Dow, a student at Waterford High School, built a 5-foot mini-sailboat (the Lancer) that successfully crossed the Atlantic. This was part of Kaitlyn’s year-long research project where she was studying wind and currents in the ocean. The goal was for the drifter to document the pH changes across the North Atlantic as it went. Also as part of her project, the boat was filled with gifts from Connecticut and stories from the 4th graders at Quaker Hill Elementary School.

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 and was found by an 8-year-old girl, Meabh, and her father. She has told her story on Irish Language Radio, at her local school.

Continuous impact/Community engagement: 

The boat is to be repaired and sent back to the US.

You can learn more about this project here and here, and follow their travels here!

Fund More Projects Like This!