Crimson Voyager and The Legendary Relaunched from Portugal

On the morning of February 25, Master Mendes and the crew of Transinsular’s M/V MONTE BRASIL released two miniboats. The Crimson Voyager and The Legendary were deployed during their transit from Lisbon to Madeira, Portugal.

The boats can be tracked with other miniboats at sea from https://educationalpassages.org/events/atsea/ and http://explore.educationalpassages.org/, but also on their individual boat pages: Crimson Voyager and The Legendary.

The journey of these boats started over a decade ago. The Crimson Voyager was first launched in 2015 after it was prepared by students at Morristown Beard school in New Jersey, USA. This is its 4th voyage.

The Legendary was first launched in 2019 after it was prepared by students at Webster Elementary in New Hampshire, USA. This is its 3rd voyage. 

Upon their recovery in Portugal, the boats were brought to schools through the Escola Azul Program. Each school proposed their activities, including: Repairing, Decoration, Study of the journey, Connecting with the schools in the USA, Preparing contents for the next finder, and Engaging their Communities. 

Crimson Voyager went to Agrupamento de Escolas D. Pedro I (pictured above, left), and The Legendary went to Agrupamento de Escolas Diogo de Macedo (pictured above, right).

A moment to celebrate 

It is with great pleasure that we celebrate with and congratulate these schools on their achievements as we believe they have gone above and beyond their proposed activities, and have taken such good care of the projects, even through the global pandemic of 2020.! 

We congratulate all of the schools that have been involved every step of the way (or should we say every wave?). This includes the tireless work of Joanna and Maria as “Miniboat Captains” all these years, leading their students and warmly inviting Educational Passages into their communities. 

We would also like to thank the entire Escola Azul team and program, DGPM – Directorate-General for Maritime Policy, and Luis Sebastiao of ISR, who have helped to keep these adventures going, ever since the first miniboat landed in Portugal in 2014. 

Luis helped to make the final arrangements for the relaunch of Crimson Voyager and The Legendary – testing and securing the GPS transmitters and sealing the precious cargo contents inside the boat hulls. When asked about these last 11 years with miniboats, he said “What an amazing journey this has been. Observing how the wind and currents shape the boats’ paths is fascinating; finding people to rescue them is even more exciting. But the real magic of this project lies in the human connections it creates.”

Over the years we have seen 19 miniboats to and from Portugal (see links below), and the connections they have made are immeasurable. It reminds us of a quote from Luis’ friend, Jorge… “Nunca imaginei que um barquinho tão pequeno pudesse levar tanta gente a bordo!” which translates to, “I never imagined that such a small boat could take so many people on board!” 

Join the adventure

Track these journeys with us! All miniboat tracks are available online and we invite tracking and predicting by all. We will also be hosting a special session with Escola Azul soon to share resources and help more schools participate in this way. 

We also invite schools to reach out if they are interested in connecting with us, or another school. With miniboat landings in over 34 countries over the years, Educational Passages is available to help make more connections. 

More about the miniboats to and from Portugal

Since 2014, Educational Passages miniboats have been landing on the shores of Portugal. The first was the Charger, originally from Connecticut, USA. Thanks to Luis Sebastiao from the ISR and other interested researchers, it was recovered. These colleagues repaired and redecorated the Charger, and coordinated its relaunch from the Azores that same year. It traveled to Guyana! Then, in November of 2014, when West started to approach Portugal, Luis was eager to help. With lots of support from friends and colleagues, it was picked up in the surf. The arrival of West began the “Leva Portugal ao Mundo” (Take Portugal to the World) program, and in January 2016 it was relaunched with great fanfare… watch this to learn more.