Bobcat

1st Voyage

• The central question

  The rv Bobcat was a whole school project supported by parents and the broader community. The central question addressed was:

  

• Neah Bay - Site for launching

  Neah Bay was selected as a launching site for several reasons. One, it is the western-most point of the lower 48, and it is beautiful. The student reaction to that beauty:

  “It’s hard to describe beauty in English. It’s hard to determine what someone is trying to say when words get overused, and words are losing their meaning. That being said, with the intention of using the full power of my words: Neah Bay is astonishing.

  I could see the tall trees towering over me and casting shadows ten times their height, and   I could see rolling hills and mountains covered in a thousand shades of green to the bottom of the sky, and I could see the crashing waves foaming white against the beach, and I could see this all from my cabin porch and carseat window.

  I loved closing my eyes on one of the warmer nights and listening. Winds softly rustling, a gull or two calling, the thundering waters, the crackling fire- it was symphonic, to say the least.

  But more important it is the U.S. home of the Makah Nation; a resilient maritime culture of the North West.  https://makah.com

  On June 3^rd, the entire school went to Neah Bay, WA to launch our craft. The launch group:

  

• June 6-7, 2019 Launch trip to the coast

  We spent four days learning about the environment, culture, and people of the Makah Nation. It was wonderful.

  And then we all took the rv Bobcat to sea on the Windsong.

  

  And launched her:
  
  Students have placed a note inside for the finders and it reads as follows:

  Greetings and hello;

  The RV Bobcat is a school project to see if we can be the first to get a small drifter across the Pacific. At launch date, it had never been done. She has a solar powered GPS responder so we can track her progress but sometimes boats get lost.

  So: Please connect with us if you find this boat. We really want to know where, and when she comes ashore.

  If you find her, please keep her outside and right side up so the GPS unit can continue to report her status.

• June 7, 2019 - Back to shore

  She was launched a few dozen miles offshore and was last seen heading north, but hours later she started heading east back to where she started and appeared to have landed on a beach on 6/7/2019.

• June 11, 2019 - Recovered and back home

  The RV Bobcat was recovered on June 10 and is now back “home”. Considering the number of tide cycles on the rocks, there is remarkably little damage.

  

  

  

  The rv Bobcat will be relaunched; most likely in September.