Mini Maine

Sponsored by 5 schools in southern Maine

Updates:

1st Voyage - 2,338 days at sea

  • The Mini Maine Visits the Sebago Alliance Schools

    • Gorham hosted the iBoat tour from September 17th-21st
    • Windham hosted the iBoat tour from September 24th-28th
    • Westbrook hosted the iBoat tour on October 1st-5th
    • Scarborough hosted October 5th through October 16th
    • Bonny Eagle hosted October 17th through October 23rd
    • Gorham High School hosted the iBoat on October 24th.
    • Launched from North Carolina on December 1, 2012

  • December 1, 2012 - Launched

    This boat belongs to 5 school districts in southern Maine.

    She was set out on a private vessel with two other boats from New Jersey by Joe Robillard off the coast of South Carolina on December 1, 2012.

     

  • February 2016 - Quiet after 1,168 days at sea

    By the end of December the “Mini Maine” was making very good time and was all ready northeast of Bermuda heading toward Europe. She quickly sailed to the south east of the Azores and circled around the Sargasso Sea for a year or more.

    The Mini Maine stopped reporting Feb. 2016 after 1,168 days at sea and sailing 35,668 km!

  • April 26, 2019 - Recovered in Ireland after another 1,171 days

    We received a Facebook message on April 27, 2019 noting that, “I think one of your boats has washed up here – – it arrived last night in the middle of storm Hannah and is on the beach in Waterville, Co. Kerry Ireland!”

    After a few exchanged messages and pictures, we believed the boat to be the Mini Maine, which was last heard from in 2016! See here the pictures before and after:

    Ms. Rosemary Hill, the finder of the miniboat noted, “I’m hoping that our local marine education centre or the local school might be interested in keeping it.” But first, she has to figure out how to get the boat off the beach, which may be a bit water logged and very heavy!

  • Voyage 1 - Complete

    Explore the links above to learn about the first voyage of the Mini Maine

2nd Voyage - In prep!

  • December 2022 - Ready for refurb

    After the Mini Maine was recovered in Ireland in 2019 by Ms. Rosemary Hill, it was taken to a local science center, the LH Marine & Sea Synergy.

    They are taking on the task to repair and relaunch the miniboat again, but upgrade it first with new GPS and sensor technology. They are working closely with local schools and Scoil Naomh Mhichil, Baile an Sceilg for a bid to win the 2023 “We Are Ocean Champions Awards” with the project. Best of luck to all!

    They shared an update on December 13, 2022:

    And another update on December 20, 2022:

    And another in March 2023: