New Delhi: In October 2020, some students from a New Hampshire middle school in the United States had launched a small boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Rye Riptides, the boat, contained some photos, fall leaves, acorns and state quarters.
After sailing for nearly one and a half years, the boat made it to an island in Norway, some 8,300 miles away, and was found by a sixth grader, news agency AP reported.
Quoting the Portsmouth Herald, the report said the 6-foot-long (1.8-metre) boat decorated with artwork and equipped with a tracking device was found on February 1 in Smøla, a small island near Dyrnes in Norway.
According to the report, the tracking device had gone silent for long periods during the 462-day journey, and Rye Riptides had lost its hull and keel when it was found, covered in gooseneck barnacles. The deck and the cargo hold were, however, still intact.
Karel Nuncic, the Class VI student who found the boat, took it to his school, which now plans a call with the students of New Hampshire’s Rye Junior High School, the report said.
“When you’re sending it out, you have no idea where it’s going to end up, how it’s going to get there, if it ends up (anywhere) at all. But these kids, they put their hopes and dreams and wishes into it, and I tend to think sometimes that helps,” Cassie Stymiest, executive director of Educational Passages, a nonprofit in Maine that began working with the school on the project in 2018, was quoted as saying in the AP report.
A School Project To Learn About Ocean Currents, Science, Math
In a press release, Educational Passages said the boat was built by the students in their science class to learn about ocean currents, science, and math. “This project tapped into so much more than the science curriculum,” the release quoted science teacher Sheila Adams as saying. She added: “The students needed to use their writing skills to inform others about their miniboat project, describe our school and town to people of other languages, just in case, and write requests to get the boat deployed. The students were getting excited seeing it all come together and were about to decorate the boat when COVID sent the students home for the rest of the school year, but they continued to collaborate and see the project through.”
Adams has since retired from her job.
After setting the boat out in the Atlantic Ocean, the students followed its path, though the GPS falling quiet for long periods dampened their spirits a bit.
The GPS blinked during the hurricane season last August and September and then went silent again, the AP report said, adding that the students learnt on January 30 that Rye Riptides had appeared to hit land in Norway.
“I was surprised the boat actually made it somewhere. I thought it was going to get stuck in some middle spot (on the map) and it actually made it, and it was really, really cool and surprising,” seventh grader Molly Flynn was quoted as saying.
“This was a great project and opportunity for our students. It’s amazing to see all their work and the work of Ms. Adams come to fruitiation in a way that connects us with students across the world. We are fortunate to have these opportunities for authentic learning,” Marie Soucy, Rye Junior High School’s Principal, said in the press release issued by Educational Passages.