Parent writes Turks and Caicos explorers at VisitTCI, seeking help to find mini boats from Maryland, USA

#TurksandCaicos, December 19, 2017 – Salt Cay – Three months ago, a parent from Maryland, USA wrote a letter to the VisitTCI website in regards to mini boats that were launched off of their coast, one of them which ended up in Salt Cay, over 1200 hundred miles away.  She said:

“I am a parent at The Country School in Easton, Maryland, USA.  15 months ago, June 2016, we launched 3 miniboats in the Atlantic, 300 miles offshore, between the Delaware Bay and Bermuda.  These boats were kits that 11-13 yr old students built through school programs and Educational Passages.  They are free sailing 1.5m long fiberglass hulls, sand weighted keel, diamond shape sail with GPS NOAA tracked transmitters onboard.  The boats also contain a message compartment with mementos the students included to show others about their school and community.  All three boats were launched within a mile of each other the same morning and have sailed to the corners of the Atlantic.

Two boats landed in the UK within 6 months, one in Wales in September and the other in Scotland in November.  Our boat continued to ply the Atlantic, circumnavigating the North Atlantic.

Last week, in front of Hurricane IRMA, our boat COUGARS stopped transmitting its location.  We thought the worse and assumed the oceans had taken our science project to the depths. Our students were saddened but we have enjoyed watching it sail the ocean.

Tonight, COUGARS started transmitting again.  It appears to be on the southwest shore of Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos. I am unable to find any contacts on the island, so I thought to contact your company, since you services the island.  We would love to see the boat recovered and delivered to the closest middle school.

If you are unable to help, would you please put us in touch with someone on the island of Salt Cay.   Any help would be greatly appreciated!”

That boat was found by Ranfurly Been, a local fire fighter in South Caicos, and will eventually be relaunched to continue its tract around the ocean.   Magnetic Media will give updates as this amazing story continues.