Connecticut Students Endeavour to save Research Vessel

Some 915 students of Connecticut’s Region 4 Middle and High Schools are looking for help in returning their stranded oceanic current research vessel to Connecticut from Georgetown, Guyana where it has been ashore since December 14, 2014.

The students are looking to affect needed repairs and continue the vessel’s amazing data-collecting journey around the Atlantic.

The “Charger” is a 5-foot, 45 lb. selfrighting, self-steering, and self-tending sailboat that is part of the Educational Passages program run out of Belfast, ME.

The vessels participate in the NOAA “Drifter” program that helps students and scientists chart and learn about the currents of the world’s oceans.

The Charger has travelled 26,824 km’s since being launched in the Spring of 2012, and it’s return would bring it full-circle around the Atlantic Ocean.

The boat is currently stranded in Georgetown, Guyana and cannot be re-launched due to a dead battery and GPS unit.

The US Coast Guard has offered assistance if the boat can be delivered to one of their bases, so the students are reaching out to the maritime communities at large for assistance in the first leg of it’s rescue journey.

Shipwright Technical Services of Ivoryton, CT has offered aid in helping coordinate the efforts of the recovery.

The Students are looking to get the boat back, make all repairs and return it to the water to continue the research project. Local marine interests to the school district have offered assistance in repairs and upgrades once the boat has been returned.

Anyone with the ability to assist in Charger’s recovery is asked to contact Andy Colloton at Shipwright Technical Services at shipwrighttech@gmail.com

Educational Passages “Charger” webpage: http://educationalpassages.com/boats/charger#.VeBWOfkzaM8

Detail of the Charger voyage: http://educationalpassages.com/sites/default/files/Chargers%20Amazing%20Voyage_0.pdf

NOAA Drifter program tracking page: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter/drift_ep_2012_1.html

Region 4 School System: http://www.reg4.k12.ct.us/

Shipwright Technical Services: http://www.shipwrighttech.com/