PIE on the Tide

Peaks Island Elementary (Maine, USA)

Updates:

1st Voyage

Peaks Island Elementary (P.I.E) is located on Peaks Island, near Portland Maine, U.S.A.

The crew named their boat based off their school’s name and even created a logo.


4th and 5th grade students have been hard at work building and designing their miniboat.
Step by step, they have made great progress.

Read the featured article “PIES students prep miniboat,…for transatlantic trip” / “Illustrators Help P.I.E.S Students Create Paper Passengers for Miniboat” on Pages 10 and 11 of Peaks Island News.

  • May 29th, 2025 - Community Celebration

    The captains and crew of P.I.E ON THE TIDE invited the community to their annual S.T.E.A.M night to showcase student’s projects. Their mighty miniboat’s completion was on public display and was one of the highlights to celebrate during the evening. A special toast and christening was given to wish a safe journey before its scheduled launch at sea in June.

    EP Executive Director, Cassie Stymiest (along with EP Board Member, Sheila Adams) attended the joyous occasion in support of the students and school! They loved how each crew member (student) created a Flat Stanley to represent themself.

    Read the featured article “Full STEAM Ahead for Miniboat PIE on the Tide, Paper Passengers” on Page 11 of Peaks Island News

  • June 27, 2025: Launched into the Gulf of Maine

    Ms. Bridget delivered the PIE on the Tide to Newington, NH and it was taken offshore by the F/V Rachel Leah thanks to the Little Bay Lobster Co.

    The miniboat was launched at 8:30pm local time (= June 28, 2025 00:30GMT). We’ll share more about the launch when the crew comes back to port.

  • July 21, 2025: Landed in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

    M/B P.I.E on the Tide has made landfall in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada after only 23 days at sea! It was successfully recovered before crashing into the rocks from the crew of 360 North.

    From left to right: Terry Mullins, Steve Casey, Travis Poole (Captain) and James Dominix.

  • Voyage 1: Complete

    Click on the titles above to learn about the first voyage.

2nd Voyage

  • July 26, 2025: Relaunched

    Once the winds shifted, the crew of 360 North relaunched the PIE on the Tide off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Big thanks to Captain Travis and crew!

  • July 27, 2025: Landed again

    The boat started heading south, but took a turn east. After exactly 24 hours, the miniboat found its way into North Cove and landed.

  • Voyage 2: Complete

    Click on the titles above to learn about the second voyage.

3rd Voyage

  • July 28, 2025: Relaunched itself

    The tide must have pushed the boat back out, and she traveled up North Bay into Little Doting Cove after 4 hours.

  • July 30, 2025: A successful recovery by the local DFO team!

    We waited a couple days to make sure the boat was not going to refloat itself again before contacting our local friends out of Harbor Breton.

    It didn’t move, so on July 29 we contacted our friend Brittany Jay, DFO Fishery Officer who recovered BHS Roweboat a few years ago, and asked for help. She immediately replied and said they’d venture out the next day to scope things out!

    SUCCESS! By the afternoon of July 30, we received this wonderful report with corresponding pictures from Brittany:

    Another successful retrieval!

    After getting the emails last night, I was able to get together a crew to embark on the retrieval of the P.I.E on the Tide.

    We departed Milltown, Newfoundland at 0930, where we sailed out towards Little Dove Cove. It was foggy, but the seas conditions were fair offering us good sailing.

    At 1024 we spotted P.I.E on the Tide nestled in the rocks in the back of the cove, at the base of a steep embankment. It was perfectly placed, just waiting for us.

    By 1035, we had the Miniboat aboard and were all safely back in our boat as well.

    We sailed back to Milltown, with the Miniboat safely tucked away and secured, with the Pilot whales even making an appearance for us!

    My team today consisted of:

    • River Guardian Travis Hollett, my wonderful captain for the day.
    • River Guardian Mark Reardon.
    • River Guardian Jacob Glavine.
    • River Guardian Zachary Anstey.

    For now, the P.I.E on the Tide is safely secured amongst our own patrol vessel fleet, and it looks mighty good alongside them, the students did a wonderful job with their handywork.

    Next Steps?

    After talking with Ms. Bridget back in Portland Maine, we thought it might be good to keep the boat in Harbor Breton and introduce it to the students there when the next school year starts in a month or so. We can’t wait for them to see what is inside, and talk about the shared connections like island living…

    Stay tuned for more updates!