St Joseph

The ill-fated miniboat St Joseph was reportedly launched off the Golden Bear, a California Marine Academy vessel, in late  April 2017.

Thanks to Tim Cummings, the Director of Technology at St Joes’ in Alameda CA, she had been delivered to the academy.  Thanks to Michael Holden, a mechanical engineering professor at the academy, she was fitted with a makeshift keel and released.

The first report and set of photos of this vessel and its voyage were posted on the ships log at http://www.cma-virtualftv.org/2017/st-josephs-elementary-sailboat.

St Joseph stopped transmitting regularly a few days into its voyage and was eventually found washed-ashore on Bocana beach, about 60 kilometers south of San Quintín. A local fisherman turned St Joseph into the police. The vessel ended up in the hands of Ed Lusk, who contacted Dr. Holden to coordinate its relaunch but the relaunch never occurred.

When asked about the boat months later, Ed noted in an email:  “I have no idea of its location now. The police officers who had possession of the GPS unit have been reassigned to a town 180 miles away. The boat was damaged and given to local children to play with.”

So, the battered hull of the ill-fated St Joseph sits in the dirt somewhere in Baha, California, hopefully still fueling the imagination of school children.