BHS Roweboat

Burrillville High School (Burrillville, RI) and Fogo Island Central Academy (Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Updates:

1st Voyage - Completed

  • May 2021 - Burrillville Students Prepare their Miniboat

    The BHS Environmental Science classes began preparing their miniboat in May.

    By June 18, the miniboat was ready to go, and Mr. Rowe made arrangements for its launch. Check back for updates soon!

  • June 23, 2021 - Launched by F/V Terri Ann, and its journey so far...

    The miniboat BHS Roweboat was launched off the F/V Terri Ann on the morning of June 23, 2021, thanks to Captain Marc Palombo and crew. Here is a picture at the dock before they left:

    This is the 4th miniboat launch for the crew of the F/V Terri Ann and we are so thankful for them!

    Pictures from the launch:

    The BHS Roweboat was off to an interesting start. Sailing a bit southwest she was apparently caught up in a Gulf Stream ring but by June 26 the winds picked up and pushed her onto Georges Bank. She sailed along the northern edge of the Bank for a while, showing nicely how the currents are affected by the bathymetry of the sea floor.

    Jim Manning, an Oceanographer at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center,  has helped track these miniboats for the past decade. He notes the BHS Roweboat‘s track “demonstrates the potential of these little vessels to transect  our continental shelf waters at very little cost.  Powered solely by the sun,  wind, and surface currents, you can imagine a fleet of these fisher-deployed unmanned platforms routinely collecting valuable data when eventually fitted with low-cost sensor packages.  We have a network of citizen scientists on both sides of the gulf who are ready to assist in recoveries and redeployments.”

    About two weeks after it was launched, Tropical Storm Elsa came through, and the miniboat was clocked at a speed of 5.3 knots (when the winds were 36.3 knots, see picture to right). This system seems to have pushed the minboat towards Nova Scotia, where she is currently riding the tides and getting closer to landing in Canada… looks like we may be calling upon those citizen scientists for a recovery and redeployment soon!

    —

    During this time, the story of the BHS Roweboat was picked up by the Providence Journal and published on July 12, 2021. Read the full story by Mark Reynolds: Burrillville students’ project boat circles Georges Bank, weathers Tropical Storm Elsa, nears Bay of Fundy.

    —

    Here is the full press release that was written and distributed on July 11, 2021 by lead BHS Roweboat Educator, Greg Rowe:

    Tropical Storm Elsa Takes Aim at Burrillville High School’s Miniboat Off Georges Bank

    How do you get high school students interested in science??  How about launching a five-foot miniboat into the path of a tropical storm off Georges Bank?

    Roughly three months ago, students from the Burrillville High School’s Environmental Science CTE Program began designing and building a five-foot miniboat (the BHS Roweboat) from a kit designed by the not-for-profit organization Educational Passages out of Kennebunk, Maine. The goal was to take what students were learning in the classroom and provide them with an authentic, hands-on, and real-world experience in the study of oceanography. Instead of simply learning from standard materials, the Miniboat Project allowed students to design, build, deploy, and track the miniboat, while analyzing ocean data such as winds, currents, and waves. The boat’s location is collected by a solar-powered GPS unit onboard.

    The data collected from the miniboat is being tracked and visualized on the Educational Passages’ Path Analysis Tool, developed and maintained by RPS Group. This allows for an excellent way for students and interested parties to monitor the progress of the miniboat on its voyage. While the BHS Roweboat is the school’s first boat launched, the ultimate goal is to develop a mini fleet of these unmanned vessels that, once fitted with low-cost sensor packages, can collect even more valuable data. These data are used for a variety of purposes such as inputs to oil spill trajectory models and modeling for search and rescue operations.

    The BHS Roweboat was launched off the F/V Terri Ann on the morning of June 23rd, thanks to Captain Marc Palombo and his crew of lobster fishermen. Captain Palombo has been involved in four separate miniboat launches.

    Greg Rowe, the Burrillville High School’s Environmental Science teacher who the students named the boat after, stated the importance of bringing students, teachers, and faculty together during a tough year with everything going on with COVID-19. “With the full return of students coming back in March, we wanted a hands-on project that the students could work together on and complete by the end of school year. It was a great project for team-building and to be able to launch the miniboat right before a tropical storm was a huge bonus!”

    For more information and to see if the BHS Roweboat survived Tropical Storm Elsa, go to https://educationalpassages.org/boats/bhs_roweboat/ and https://www.instagram.com/bhs_envsci/.

    Notes to Editor:

    Educational Passages:

    Educational Passages is a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to connect students around the world to the ocean and each other. Schools and or organizations sponsoring a miniboat project, can purchase kits with boat parts and supplies. The students build the boat, fill them with messages and mementos, install the provided GPS, and send them out to sea to ride the ocean currents and wind. Students follow the track on the miniboat’s very own webpage, and teachers can integrate ocean currents, geography, and other topics into their curriculum to connect the miniboat mission. Encouraging further connections, when the boats land, the sticker on them says to bring the boat to a nearby school and connect classrooms from where it was sent to where it has landed. For additional information about Educational Passages, please visit www.educationalpassages.org or call 207-619-1259.

    RPS Group:

    RPS Group plc is a 5,500 employee, publicly held, multinational environmental consultancy and energy resources company with U.S. headquarters in Houston, Texas and their Ocean Science office in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. RPS advises clients on the built and natural environment across diverse public and private economic sectors. RPS has been a proud sponsor of Educational Passages for over five years.

    July 13, 2021

    The miniboat is now sailing near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The wait is on to see if someone can recover it safely before it lands…

  • July 14, 2021 - Landed on Long Island, Nova Scotia and Recovered

    The BHS Roweboat, after riding up and down the coast north of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, entered St. Mary’s Bay on July 13. She sailed towards Church Point, where many were watching on the webcam (https://www.novascotiawebcams.com/en/webcams/universite-sainte-anne/) and nearby offices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada out of Meteghan. The boat ended up sailing by the webcam during the night, but we know it was there because of the GPS track!

    On July 14, 2021, the miniboat made landfall on Long Island, Nova Scotia, just south of Balance Rock. Contacts were immediately made through emails and phone calls. Special thanks to Jim Manning at NOAA NEFSC for connecting with Megan Carver at DFO, whose team was able to successfully recover the miniboat within only a few hours of its landing!

    [Image text: BHS Roweboat recovered in Nova Scotia thanks to DFO, Miniboat landed here July 14, 2021, 21 days at sea, 1,823 km traveled, Fastest speed: 5.88 kts on 7/10]

    When Mathew Drewes, Field Officer of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, called us with the news, he said there appeared to be little damage. Pictures later confirmed this so that means another adventure is being planned. He also sent along some photos of the rescue mission, and this description:

    “The vessel was located at the coordinates provided.  It was stuck in the rocks and rockweed along the shore of Long Island, in St. Mary’s Bay.  There doesn’t seem to be much damage to the vessel overall and I’ve attached photos for you to also have a look at.  I’ve arranged for another officer (David – see attached) to set up the next stage of its voyage, most likely it will hitch a ride from Pubnico NS to Georges Bank.  There will be a few of us following to see where it ends up next.  It was a welcome side venture for us, and a great school project idea! Glad we could be a part of it.”

    Thanks to Mathew and David, and all who made this a successful adventure for the BHS Roweboat and students of Burrillville High School!

    An article was published in the Saltwire on July 30, 2021: “Mini sailboat built and tracked by Rhode Island students recovered near Balancing Rock, Digby County – A hectic, crazy, fun, stressful and rewarding project” by Carla Allen

  • Voyage 1: 21 Days at Sea

    Read above for all the details of the first voyage of the BHS Roweboat.

2nd Voyage - Completed

  • July 24, 2021 - BHS Roweboat heads out for Voyage #2

    DFO Fishery Officer David Wamback and crew took advantage of a photo op at the Tusket DFO Detachment in Tuskey, NS before being delivered to the F/V Sea Devil for relaunch:

    They also added some things to the cargo hatch for the next finder. Thanks David and all for taking such great care of the BHS Roweboat so that the adventures can continue!

    Captain Colin Babin of the F/V Sea Devil said he was very excited to take part in the relaunching of BHS Roweboat and said they’d take pictures and videos to share when they return to port. They were heading out to Sable Island fishing for Swordfish with rod and reel. They typically go out for a week or two per trip and usually land between 10-20 swordfish per trip with a 3-5 person crew. Here is a picture of the F/V Sea Devil:

  • August 7, 2021 - Landed in Newfoundland and Recovered Aug 10

    By August, it seemed that the BHS Roweboat had no intention of finding the Gulf Stream, and found her way approaching the south coast of Newfoundland. The good news is that she headed into to an area (Hermitage Bay) where we now have contacts for, because HK Pride landed there a few weeks ago, so we sent out some “heads up!” emails on the morning of August 7.

    By the afternoon at 22:42 GMT, the BHS Roweboat had found land on Middle Island, only 2 miles away from where HK Pride was brought to when it was recovered last week!

    We posted this notice:

    NOTICE

    UNMANNED 6 foot long sailboat (MINIBOAT) ashore at Middle Island, South of Pushthrough and Southwest of Saddle Island, NL, Canada (47.625936, -56.178492 – see map above and zoom in for latest location report) after 13 days and 1,000+ km voyage drifting from Browns Bank off Nova Scotia. Please rescue if possible to do so safely, and take pictures/video if you can.

    This is an educational project from the US, built by Burrillville High School students in Rhode Island. It is the second voyage for the boat, the first of which brought it to Nova Scotia (read above for the full story).

    The students would like to see their boat travel across the Atlantic Ocean, so please contact Educational Passages for more information and if you know anyone that can assist in a recovery to avoid damage to the vessel. It is an unmanned vessel, like a message in a bottle, but we would like to recover it to avoid damage if possible, and have it brought to a nearby school to connect students from Rhode Island, USA. Thank you!

    Star indicates where the boat landed. See map above to scroll in and see more detail.

    On August 10, after sitting on the rocks for 3 days, the BHS Roweboat was recovered by DFO for a second time (this time being a whole new crew though). Here is the account of the rescue mission, thanks to Brittany Jay, Fishery Officer:

    We are all very happy to report a successful mission in rescuing miniboat “BHS RoweBoat” from Middle Island Tuesday, August 10,2021. Officers involved (see picture below) in the rescue mission include: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fishery Officer Mike Drew,  Miawpukek First Nation – Aboriginal Fisheries Guardians Pat Jeddore and Edward Drake, and myself, DFO Fishery Officer Brittany Jay.

    It was a short sail for us from Conne River, NFLD out to Middle Island, only taking us about 40 minutes.

    Locating the vessel was fairly easy, the coordinate were spot on, and were able to locate it quickly. The vessel was pretty far ashore up on a rocky/boulder beach. We figured with a short spell of bad weather Friday evening, the waves pushed the vessel high onto the shore.

    Unfortunately due to the winds and water conditions we were unable to get ashore right by the boat. So we got to thinking and came up with a plan to put officers ashore on the opposite side of the Island where it was sheltered from the wind and hike over to the beach area.

    Edward Drake and I went ashore, and hiked, it was short hike, with a little rocky terrain but nothing major. Once on the other side we were easily able to reach the BHS Roweboat.

     

    Good thing these boats are pretty light as hiking back over the hills would have been much more difficult with a heavy boat. We did have to take the sail off before we hiked out just to keep it from damaging.

    The hike out was pretty smooth, and we were able to get back aboard our Patrol vessel with the BHS Roweboat easily.

    Our day didn’t end when we rescued the boat. I knew there were two little friends who were making the Journey, Bronco and Ducky, so obviously we had to open up the hatch and let them see their first bit of sunlight in a little while.

    We were happy to be able to rescue the BHS Roweboat and are pleased to say she is stored safely on dry land with the HK Pride for now, with future plans to set sail again and continue its journey across the Atlantic.

    Here’s a video of all the pictures put together thanks to Mr. Rowe(boat) himself:

  • October 2021 - Student connections

    Students at BHS connected over Zoom with students in Newfoundland in October.

    October 2021 to February 2022

    The boat has been visiting schools thanks to DFO Officer Brit, who also brought the BHS Roweboat up to St. John’s in February (thanks, Brit!). From there, the boat will go to a new school who will hopefully add some sensors on it before relaunching later this year. Thanks to Patrick Wells for leading the initiative!

     

    March 2, 2022

    The “Rowe boat” attended K-6 Science teacher Ed. Class thanks to Dr. Galway (Dean, pro tempore) and Dr. Azam.

    Later that day it took in the view at the farthest point east in North America thanks to Pat Wells:

    March 25, 2022

    The BHS Roweboat was put on display at the Manuals River center with the following poster:

    It was also a big part of the Your Community segment on NTV News on March 25. Two students from the Raven KASTER miniboat project, Stephanie and Kaitlyn, were intereviewed by Beth Penney about it. They are helping to share not only their story, but now that of the other miniboats in Newfoundland like the BHS Roweboat, and promoting learning opportunities for other students around the world.

    Here is the produced piece that aired on NTV News Your Community segment on March 25:

    April 2022

    Next, the miniboat will travel up to FOGO Island and visit the Fogo Island Central Academy there before being sent back out to sea.

    Back in Rhode Island, the BHS students are preparing their second miniboat, the Rowe Ridah, which will be launched in May.

  • Voyage 2: 13 Days at Sea

    Read above for all the details of the second voyage of the BHS Roweboat.

3rd Voyage - Completed

The BHS Roweboat was built by students in Burrillville, Rhode Island. It was first launched in 2021 and landed in Nova Scotia 21 days later. It was relaunched for a second voyage and after 13 days, landed on the south coast of Newfoundland where it was recovered again.

It was repaired by Pat Wells and then sent to Fogo Island Central Academy who added a sensor pack and sent the boat back out to sea for a 3rd voyage. Special thanks to the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA) Math-Science Interest Council and Mr. Mathew Murphy for all their support.

This is the story of its 3rd voyage.

  • 2022 Repairs and Preparations at Fogo Island

    The BHS Roweboat was transported to Conception Bay South where Pat Wells repaired it. Arrangements were made and funding secured to add a sensor package and provide Mr. Matthew Murphy with a unique Professional Learning opportuinty for Fogo Island Central Academy with the miniboat.

    We want to thank the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA) Math-Science Interest Council and Mr. Mathew Murphy for all their support.

    The boat was transported to the school and students there installed the sensor pack and prepared the boat for a 3rd launch. They discussed with local fishermen the best place to launch the boat as well.

    There is even a camera on deck! Here is a picture from testing:

  • June 11, 2022 - Fogo Island Central Academy launches BHS Roweboat

    On June 11, 2022 the students and Mr. Murphy took the BHS Roweboat out and launched if northeast of Fogo Island.

    This miniboat has a sensor pack installed, so in addition to location it will report air temperature, water temperature, and pitch.

    On June 14, the BHS Roweboat crossed paths at the launch site, and continued to travel north for a bit. We took a picture to try and capture the sunset:

    And later that night took a picture of the moon:

    It looped northeast and then headed south on June 15. We took a picture to see if we could spot land:

    By 14:02 UTC she had made landfall near Lions Den Rock. We took a picture to see what the rocks were like:

    A few calls were made to local fisherman alerting them of the miniboat’s travels towards land. Thanks to Lori Ann Oake who contacted Captain Glen Best a recovery was made!

    A few repairs will be needed before BHS Roweboat sails again.

  • Voyage 3: 3 days at sea

    Read above for all the details of the 3rd voyage of BHS Roweboat.

Sensor Data

This miniboat also has a sensor pack installed, so in addition to location it will report air temperature, water temperature, and pitch. Zoom in to the map below to see the data reporting from the sensor package.

4th Voyage

The BHS Roweboat was built by students in Burrillville, Rhode Island. It was first launched in 2021 and landed in Nova Scotia 21 days later. It was relaunched for a second voyage and after 13 days, landed on the south coast of Newfoundland where it was recovered again. Its 3rd voyage had it sail off Fogo Island.

This is the story of its 4th voyage.

  • June 27, 2022 - Repairs and relaunch

    Thanks to Captain Glen Best, the boat was repaired and set back to sea on June 27 from the F/V Donald’s Legacy.

    When Captain Glen returns to port we will hear all the details and hopefully get a few pictures to share with you all here.

    Update, August 2022: All GPS systems have stopped transmitting their location. We hope to still see the boat one day make landfall so we can see what happened. For now, please explore the track and story above!

Check out the Burrillville High School Environmental Science Class’ Instagram feed