Butterfly of the Sea

Meridian School

Updates:

Sensors

See sensor data below

1st Voyage

  • Fall 2022 Student Update

    Students at Meridian School in Seattle, WA began preparing their miniboat during the 2021-2022 school year, and continued to 2022-2023.

    They connected with Uncruise Adventures who agreed to help get the boat set to sea off one of their cruises going to Hawaii in November.

    The students named their boat BUTTERFLY OF THE SEA, because “our school mascot is the monarch butterfly.”

    They reported on their work as follows: “In this project we split into groups: the launch, the media, the sail, the deck, the cargo, the hull and keel, and the tech team. As the launch team, we studied the previous launches, winds, and currents.”

  • Click to access data from sensors

    This boat was launched with two GPS systems onboard. The location reports from both units will show on the map at the top of this page here (which updates hourly with new positions if available).

    Here below is where you can see the data reporting from the second GPS which is connected to a custom 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 show 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.

  • November 11, 2022 - Butterfly takes flight!

    The crew of the Uncruise Adventures ship, Safari Explorer, took great care to test the electronics on the miniboat on November 10, and got the system working by November 11. So they set her to sea! Here’s their official report:

    “Butterfly took flight at 1400 Hawaii time, Thursday November 10, 2022.  Location: 26*02.734’N, 147*35.124’W.  We are currently 603NM NE of Hawaii and approximately 1434NM from Pt Reyes, CA (where we made our turn to begin the crossing to Hawaii).  There was a Laysan Albatross flying just east of our location during the launch, so Butterfly is in good company for the beginning of her voyage.  Thank you for letting us be part of the journey! -Rika and the Safari Explorer Crew”

    Pictures will be posted soon!