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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019
Naselle students gather data for NOAA
Maverick Jr.
goes to work
By MALLORY GRUBEN
The Daily News
The unmanned miniboat
built by Naselle Elementary
School students has offi -
cially set sail.
A Coast Guard crew
launched the Maverick Jr., a
6-foot long vessel equipped
with a GPS tracker and tem-
perature sensors, off the
coast of Nicaragua in July .
The miniboat will sail
through the Pacifi c Ocean,
collecting water and air
temperature data for the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration .
It is one of about 20
watercraft that are part of
the Columbia River Mar-
itime Museum’s miniboat
program.
“I’m really excited about
the Maverick Jr. because
that’s our fi rst boat with
temperature and water sen-
sors on it,” said Nate San-
del, the museum’s educa-
tion director, who oversees
the program.
The boat already has
started collecting informa-
tion for NOAA since it set
sail at sunset on July 18,
Sandel said. That data will
later be shared with the pub-
lic on the museum’s website
for the miniboat program.
People can also use the
website to track the boat
as it receives “pings” from
the GPS tracker students
installed in the hull.
With the help of the
wind, the non motorized
miniboat will sail across the
Pacifi c Ocean. It’s intended
destination is Japan, where
students at Choshi Sec-
ondary Junior High, a Jap-
anese school participat-
ing in the program, have
also launched a miniboat
from their school. That
boat launched in November
2018.
The boats were built by
Photos by Columbia River Maritime Museum
Coast Guard Lt. Stephen Atwell speaks with Naselle students before they handed off their miniboat to his crew in May.
Maverick Jr., a miniboat built by Naselle students, sets sail off
the coast of Nicaragua.
fourth- and fi fth-graders at
Naselle Elementary School,
who then shipped one ves-
sel to the Japanese school
to launch. Students at both
schools will write letters
and trade theories about the
boats’ sailing path.
Naselle is one of four
elementary schools in the
region to participate in the
miniboat program this year.
The museum covers all
costs for the miniboats,
including about $10,000 for
two build kits from Educa-
tional Passages, the group
that sells the parts for the
GPS-equipped vessels. This
is the second year Sandel
selected Naselle as a pro-
gram participant.
He said he tries to pick
underserved schools that
might not otherwise have
the opportunity to fund
hands-on projects like this
one.
Prior to the Maverick
Jr.’s launch, the Naselle
students researched wind
patterns and ocean cur-
rents to select their launch
site. This year they chose
to launch the boat near
Nicaragua because they
noticed most of the mini-
boats launched from the
mouth of the Colum-
bia River had crashed , but
boats “launched off of Cen-
tral America and Mexico
tend to pick up on the trade
winds,” Sandel said.
The schools worked
with Lt. Stephen Atwell of
the Coast Guard to take the
boat to the Central Amer-
ican coast. Students per-
formed a christening cer-
emony before handing the
Maverick Jr. off to Atwell’s
crew late in May.
Atwell’s crew traveled to
Central America on a sep-
arate mission, Sandel said.
As they performed their
military duties, they waited
for favorable wind con-
ditions and an opening in
their schedule to launch the
boat.
“The kids had said to the
crew, ‘We trust you. This
is where we want it to be
launched from, but when
that happens is up to you,
because you have the best
judg ment on the wind,’ ”
Sandel said.
Next school year, San-
del will continue to visit the
Naselle students to update
them on their miniboat’s
progress and help them
track its journey.
The miniboat program’s
aim is to provide lessons
in science, writing, art
and Japanese culture. The
American students com-
plete precise measurements
as they build the boat,
paint and design the ships,
send letters to their peers
at Choshi and coordinate
media coverage for their
project, among other tasks.
New lessons can also
arise as the students track the
progress of their miniboats,
Sandel said. For exam-
ple, students learned about
atolls, or coral reef-en-
closed lagoons, when one
of the ships crashed in Kiri-
bati , an island nation in
Micronesia in the central
Pacifi c Ocean.
“Most of the kids didn’t
even know what an atoll
was,” Sandel said. So he
helped teachers design a
lesson to talk about the cor-
al-surrounded lagoons, how
they form and what life is
like for the people living in
Kiribati, he said.
Sandel said the program
“broadens horizons” for
students as they learn about
different cultures and new
places across the ocean.
“It’s the sense of explo-
ration, the sense of dis-
covery and getting to meet
new people,” Sandel said.
“I think especially for the
local kids here who are out
at the beach and looking
across the ocean, it makes
the world feel smaller. …
They realize that the world
doesn’t revolve around
(Naselle).”
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