Millennium Raider

Hampshire Regional High School (Westhampton, MA)

Updates:

1st Voyage

The Hampshire Regional High School (Westhampton, MA) began preparing their miniboat, the Millennium Raider, during the 2023-2024 school year.

In May 2024, Educational Passages interviewed the crew and produced a podcast episode from the conversation. An audio and video version was made available, check them out here:

 

 

  • Drifter Study

    The Millennium Raider was launched in 2024 along with a MakerBuoy drifter to learn more about wind and currents. Here is an embedded map of the last 30 days of tracks (note these data are not QA/QC’d and include transit points):

  • Sept - October 2024: Collaborating with SEA Education Association

    Update from Miniboat Co-Captain Mr. Masenior:

    On Thursday September 26, 28 Hampshire Regional students traveled to Woods Hole, Massachusetts for a field trip.  Many of these students were 8th graders who spent every Wednesday after school last year assembling the Millennium Raider, our research miniboat. We also took along a small contingent of high school students interested in STEM careers.  

    Our crew started the day touring around the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Aquarium and Discovery Center. Students loved the touch tanks in the aquarium, immersing themselves in the interactive exhibits of the Woods Hole Ocean Science Discovery Center, and exploring the village of Woods Hole.

    After exploring Woods hole, our crew then traveled to the Sea Education Association’s (SEA) campus to meet with students from Proctor Academy’s Ocean’s Classroom. The meeting was facilitated by SEA’s resident oceanographer Dr. Jeffrey Schell. Dr. Schell outlined the itinerary for their upcoming cruise and the Ocean’s Classroom students  shared their research projects that they will complete on this month-long cruise aboard the Corwith Cramer.  Our crew enjoyed learning about sargassum, marine mammals, benthic organisms, and microplastic, plankton, and sediment studies.   

    We ended the day with an exciting tour of the Corwith Cramer, SEA’s 134-foot steel brigantine where we learned about how the ship operates and functions as a research vessel. Captain Pamela Coughlin chatted with students from the helm and Dr. Jeffrey Schell demonstrated on-board science equipment, while the rest of the crew toured students through sleeping berths, the salon and galley, and science research, mechanical, and equipment rooms aboard the ship.  

    Our research miniboat, the Millennium Raider, will be deployed by the crew of the Corwith Cramer into the Gulf Stream at the tail end of their month-long cruise. It will then become a part of a fleet of miniboats supported by Cassie Stymiest of Educational Passages. Once deployed the Millennium Raider will collect data on ocean temperature and air temperature. This data will then be tied to GPS coordinates and will become an additional data point for scientists studying ocean currents and climate change. We are looking forward to the first pictures that will be taken by our onboard camera!

    The crew of the Millenium Raider would like to send along a special note of thanks to Captain Pamela Coughlin, SEA Oceanographer Dr. Jeffrey Schell, and Abigail Elder for organizing our visit and to our fabulous school administrators who have helped us to realize the goals of this project!

    Blog Update from C-318 Crew on the Corwith Cramer:

    “Hands to set the raffee!”

    October 28, 2024: Launch News!

    Miniboat and Drifter Buoy were deployed at the exact same moment in the middle of the Gulf Steam.

    Time:  0240 local time (We are +4 UTC, or 0640 UTC)

    Location:  16deg 01.72’ N x 073deg 32.69’ W

    Sea surface temperature was:  26.58 deg C

    Sea surface salinity was:  36.17ppt

    Current was:  3.92 knots going towards 066 degrees

    Wind direction at the time of deployment was from the northeast direction blowing Beaufort Force 5.  This would have sent the miniboat back into the heart of the Gulf Stream.  But this did create choppy seas with the current direction going directly against the winds.

    Deployment team was C Watch:

    Students:  Penelope Garth, Reagan Lorio, Adam Kokoinos and Quinn Sullivan deployed the miniboat.

    Student:  Molly Schad deployed the Drifter Buoy

    Student:  Virginia Arnold led the double-gybe that put the Corwith Cramer in the proper sailing configuration for deployment.

    Students:  Max Preuss and Linden Morgan stepped the mast

    Marine Technician: Nora Jackson bent on the sail

    More details to follow.