Gryphon Cruiser

Beaufort Middle School

Updates:

1st Voyage

  • Sept 2022 - March 2023: Beaufort Middle School prepares their miniboat

    Beaufort Middle School is an Arts in the Basic Curriculum School, featuring depth in the arts of music, drama, art, and dance,  and also a grant funded Medtech7 STREAM school, which offers pre-medical biomedical courses. Integrating STREAM made the mini-boat project a perfect fit for our school.

     

    6th graders and their teacher team captains started the Gryphon Cruiser project in September 2022. The progress stalled for a while in the winter of 2022, but we got back on track in March 2023.

     

  • April 7, 2023 - Launched into the Gulf Stream

    The Gryphon Cruiser was featured on WSAV, a local news station out of Savannah, GA the end of March just before the boat set sail on April 7. The feature was titled Beaufort school setting sail on special maritime educational program and aired on March 30, 2023.

    Some behind the scene looks at the school, March 30:

    A deployer was found, Salt Fin Charters:

    The boat was launched on April 7, 2023 at 11:55am local time thanks to Salt Fin Charters. Dropped in at North 32 degrees 03.552, West 79 degrees 24.787.

  • April 10, 2023 - Recovered in Daytona, FL

    The Gryphon Cruiser was launched about less than 50 nm west of the Gulf Stream, but the winds sent the boat south as a storm approached. By Monday morning, April 10, the miniboat had landed in Daytona Beach, Florida!

    It was recovered and brought to a nearby school.

    There was some damage to the mast, so after the new students got to see the boat, Beaufort Middle School’s very own Ann Ritchie drove down to pick it up and make repairs.

  • 1st Voyage Complete

    Click on the titles above to explore the first voyage of GRYPHON CRUISER

2nd Voyage

  • May 20, 2023 - Relaunched

    After a quick trip (less than 3 days) down to Daytona Beach, Florida, the GRYPHON CRUISER was recovered and brought to David Hinson Middle School thanks to Jeremy Blinn.

    Ms. Ann Ritchie, Captain of the crew at Beaufort Middle School, was able to drive down to Florida to recover the boat so that repairs could be made (the mast was damaged). Ms. Ritchie also volunteered to stop in Jacksonville on the way back and help to launch HOPE and SEA EAGLE farther out into the Gulf Stream. After some hard work to make repairs and reseal the boats, all three were brought to the port of Charleston, SC by May 20 and loaded on cargo ships to head to the Atlantic!

    The GRYPHON CRUISER went with SEA EAGLE on the M/V Flevogracht (HOPE went on the M/V Hawaiian Highway).

    May 20, 2023 – Launch Day

    The two miniboats were launched on May 20, 2023 around 22:00 UTC.

    We all want to thank Master Revenko and crew, Jay Stewart at the Port of Charleston, Ann Ritchie and crew at Beaufort Middle School, Janet Buford and crew at the School in Jacksonville, and all who have helped to continue this project and connect us all.

    Sensor Data

    The boat has two GPS systems onboard. The reports from the main GPS are showing on the map at the top of this page here (which updates once per day with location reports every 6-12 hours). Here below is where you can see the data reporting from the second GPS which is connected to the sensor package. In addition to reporting location with a secondary GPS tracker, this system is also collecting air temperature, water temperature, and orientation of the boat. Please note that the map below will only the last 7 days of data and may include invalid points and data. If you are interested in looking at the data in a different format from the whole voyage, contact us.

  • June 28, 2023 - Recovered on Nantucket, MA

    A few miniboats strayed from the Gulf Stream, including the Gryphon Cruiser, and made a quick trip up to Nantucket. Perhaps it wanted a summer vacation to New England?

    The good news is that it was quickly recovered by the Wissman Family who found the Gryphon Cruiser on Siasconset Beach, and said that “On a side note, we just happen to be from Charleston, SC which is actually the same port this little boat was launched from! So serendipitous!”

    2024 Repairs and Relaunch

    Check out the latest in this podcast: