The Atlantic Flame

We received word today that our little boat is now on display at a school in Mimizan, France. It is great to see her cleaned up and on display! Stay tuned for updates.

FRANCE!!!

This morning we received a very exciting email from France. Using Google translate we found that it said:

Hello, today, Sunday, September 17, 2017, on the beach between Mimizan and Contis (France), I found your boat. It is damaged at the front, there was a hole…….and it was full of water. There was inside what I think is a GPS unit……, a US flag, a t-shirt, a scarf and a few dollars. I picked up all the items, but I left the boat on the beach.
What should I do? Jean Bernard DUPRAT

The GMS/Vanderwende Farm Creamery Atlantic Flame was launched in May, 2016, 16 months ago. The onboard GPS pinged twice each day until March of 2017 and then went silent. For the past six months we have wondered what became of our little boat. Today we found out that she did in fact successfully cross the ocean, but now we have lots of other unanswered questions; How did the mast get torn off? How did it stay afloat when it was full of water? Where all did she wander before reaching the French coast? Most of these questions will likely never be answered.

We have asked the finder to retrieve the boat, and he hopes to do so tomorrow. We hope that it will be taken to a local school and that they will be able to join us in learning from the project. Some similar boats have been repaired and relaunched but we don’t know if the damage is too extensive for that or not.

We held an all-school assembly today to celebrate the landfall. Vanderwende’s Ice Cream was served and enjoyed by all!

Hoping for a phone call or email.

The Flame has not pinged now for over 3 weeks. We aren't sure what this means but are hoping for the best. The best scenario at this point is that the battery failed for some reason and the Flame is still sailing just fine. If that is the case, we hope that she will make landfall soon and be found.

When it last pinged on March 27, the Flame was 200 miles from Spain and 205 miles from France. Over the past 3 weeks the winds have varied of course, but have mostly been from the east which would not push the boat ashore. Without another ping, however, it is just a guessing game.

The Flame has been on the water just two weeks shy of one year! Let's hope she makes landfall soon and we get that email or phone call!

The Flame Has Us a Little Worried

About a month ago our little boat did not ping for over 24 hours. It then resumed pinging as normal. Then a week or so later it did this again. We really don't have any way to know if this is a transmitter problem or something else. The transmitter is supposed to keep pinging for at least two years, but as we all know, batteries can fail before they are predicted to do so.

At this point we have not seen a ping since March 27, one week ago today. At that point she was 200 miles from Spain, 280 miles from England, and 205 miles from France. The winds over the past week have been favorable for pushing her towards a landing on either France or England but because we haven't seen any pings, we don't know where she is exactly.

We are hoping that the pings resume soon and maybe a landfall is in the near future. One month from tomorrow will mark the 1 year anniversary of her launch from the MV Bermuda Islander.

I've learned not to get too excited with a little progress but she is moving in the right direction and the winds are in an excellent pattern at the moment. Check out the track and the winds at the links below. Duane Miller

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/drifter/drift_ep_2016_1.html

https://earth.nullschool.net/ /wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic=-36.51,36.72,440

Educational Passages Boat deployed in Early 2016 Osprey, (ID 166390753, ESN 1367249) "Sheilds_Surfer" Delaware Pilots w/AP3 ESN 565060 Carolina Dreamer from St. Andrews School of Math and Science from Charlestown, SC w/ESN 746258 and 1351495 (originally deployed off South Carolina in 2014)

10 Month Update!

Where is our little boat? That is a question people continue to ask. Tomorrow marks 10 months at sea, she did great for the first few months and then started wandering. Her current location is 301 miles from England, 216 miles from Spain, 264 miles from France, and 3297 miles from home. We still have high hopes that she will eventually reach the European coast but we just don't know when.

The "Florida boat" that we sailed along side of for a time has had even worse luck. Whie the Flame is still pinging consistently twice each day, the SS DCA Eagles has only pinged a few times in the past couple of months. The most recent ping was on Feb 27 and showed the Eagles boat to be about 300 miles behind the Flame from GMS.

Winds continue to change every few days off the coast of Europe, as of this morning they are moderate and from the south. I wish I had actual pictures of the boat to show but for now we will have to settle with tracking pictures.

The Flame continues her wanderings. Currently headed north and as of 8:42 this morning these are the numbers:
Distance to:
England 356 mi
Spain 289 mi
Ireland 346 mi
France 356 mi
home 3179 mi

Making Progress!

In the past week the Flame has moved about 150 miles closer to England. The closest land is the Spanish coast but the winds are quite strong from the south, toward Ireland and England

Current position, 278 miles from Spain, 415 miles from England, 383 miles from Ireland.

The Flame traveled about 40 miles north over the past couple of days. I am really excited about the strong northerly flow of air that it is experiencing at the moment. Maybe............this will result in a chance at a landing when the wind changes, as it always does, and comes from the west. Stay tuned for updates soon.

Current position, 351 miles from Spain, 571 miles from England.

Flame position update:

Distance from:

Spain: 340 miles
England: 608 miles
France: 591 miles
Ireland: 521 miles

Distance from home: 3067 miles

It traveled about 8 miles west overnight last night. The wind is not in her favor.

Update on the Flame for January 12:

The most likely places for the Flame to eventually land are Spain, England, France, or Ireland. Below you will see the current distance to each of them and the distance from home according to the latest ping.

Spain: 313 miles
England: 532 miles
France: 509 miles
Ireland: 454 miles

Distance from home: 3091 miles

Winds are currently out of the north pushing towards Spain or Portugal.

Merry Christmas!

Lots of people have been asking me about "the little GMS boat" and wondering what happened to it, so here are the answers to some FAQs (questions implied):

1. Yes, The Atlantic Flame is still sailing the high seas.
2. No, it hasn't reached land yet.
3. It is now about 200 miles off the coast of Spain.
4. No, it's not been a lot longer than expected. Some boats make it across in a few months, others have been out there for years. I don't know the actual average but would say that anywhere from 4 - 10 months is normal.The Flame was launched on May 5, not quite 8 months ago.
5. It is still pinging every morning and evening.
6. We still have no idea when or where it may land. If the winds remain as they are right now it may hit Spain in the next week or so, but we've thought that before and the winds shifted and back out to sea she went.

Below are a few pictures, one of the boat before launch, one of the track of The Flame for the past month or two (she has been wandering for sure!), and the last is of the winds at this time with the location of The Flame marked with a green circle.

You can follow The Flame for yourself at www.educationalpassages.com or you can get an update about once a week by following the Atlantic Flame page.

Once again, Merry Christmas to everyone!