Hollow Vessel

Voyage 1

• About Us

  Sail Nauticus Academy’s team is comprised of 5th Grade students from 4 different schools throughout our community: Lake Taylor School, Compass Academy at Ruffner, Crossroads School, and Southside STEM Academy at Campostella. Our miniboat project was accomplished across 4 days total, throughout the 2025/2026 school year. This collaborative project has allowed students to grasp working together, without some groups of students ever meeting one another, for the same shared miniboat! Thank you to Norfolk Public Schools for making this opportunity possible.

  We named our miniboat Hollow Vessel because we noticed that the boat was hollow inside, from it being separated initially by deck and hull, in order for it to be able to float. We also really vibed with the name due to the eerie aftermath of the previous year boat’s story, the Forever Sea.

  Our hope is for Hollow Vessel to teach us the various trades and skills required to work in the maritime industry in the future.

  We hope our miniboat lands in the Caribbean islands or Jamaica!
  

• May 11, 2026 - Launched by Carnival Cruise

  After a successful celebration at Sail Nauticus, the Hollow Vessel was taken aboard a Carnival Cruise ship for launch where final preparations were made by the crew.
  
  

  On May 11, Captain Contarino reported in that the miniboat was successfully launched!
  
  We thank Carnival Cruise for another successful deployment and can’t wait to track where the miniboat will go.

  Data from the Sensor Pack:

  The location reports 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 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 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.

  
  Her onboard camera has been catching all the actions of her first few days at sea:
  
  

  May 21, 2026:
  Featured in Nauticus article, “Sail Nauticus Academy students Launch New Miniboat with Carnival Sunshine for Second Year of Ocean Exploration Project.”

  

• June Updates - At Sea

  At Sea Images:
  
  On June 16, 2026 Hollow Vessel joined up with a few other miniboats in the middle of the Atlantic! All three miniboats, including M/B Coral Tempest, M/B The Killer Whale, and M/B Hollow Vessel, were all sailing within 50 nm (a 25 mile radius from each other)! M/B Booyah got close enough to see what was going on, but decided to veer north.
  
  Considering where each of these miniboats were launched from and the very different paths they have traveled, this was a unique glimpse at our active vessels at sea.
  
  Stay tuned for more updates!

• Sail 250 Virginia Event at Nauticus

  On June 19-21, 2026 Nauticus helped host the Sail 250 Virginia event! Educational Passages staff was onsite sharing information on how folks can get involved and track Hollow Vessel and learn all about the project. Visitors of all ages made predictions of where she may land and got to see M/B Innovator I up close, as she was brought to the event from nearby Newport News, Virginia before their launch!
   
  Stay tuned for more updates!