Educational Passages Podcast
Educational Passages Podcast
A Ray of Hope: The Crimson Current
Season 4 of the Educational Passages Podcast is kicking off with our “Imagine This” series - Where the magic of miniboats come alive through the voices and visions of those who make it all possible.
Each episode will paint a vivid picture of discovery, connection, and curiosity — not just tracking the voyages, but exploring the challenges and unexpected outcomes behind them.
Now press play, close your eyes, and imagine this:
The Crimson Current is built by students in New Jersey, USA in 2022, and first travels to Ireland. Classrooms are connected and the boat is relaunched, but unexpected things happen… and the adventure continues through 2025. Listen in for the full story and to find out the latest most exciting update from a far away place.
Visit https://educationalpassages.org/boats/crimsoncurrent/ for more information about the boat and project.
Educational Passages is a non-profit organization that seeks to connect people around the world to the ocean and each other through unique global experiences.
Welcome to the Educational Passages Podcast. Educational Passages is a nonprofit organization that seeks to connect people around the world to the ocean and each other through unique global experiences. I'm your host, Cassie Stymiest.
Cassie:Welcome everybody to season four! Get ready to set sail on a brand new adventure as we launch our Imagine this series where the magic of mini boats come alive through the voices and visions of those who make it all possible.
Cassie:In this series, each episode will paint a vivid picture of discovery, connection and curiosity not just tracking the voyages, but exploring the challenges and unexpected outcomes behind them. Now press play. Close your eyes and imagine this:
Cassie:A Ray of Hope: The Crimson Current.
Cassie:Imagine your mini boat sailing across the open ocean, battling wind and waves. Each day you check its location. Where will it go? You do this for 66 days and find that it lands in Ireland. This is over 3,000 miles from your school in Morristown, New Jersey, an entire ocean basin away. It lands in a cave, but we don't know that right away, as the GPS is pinging all around Barry's Cove in Cork. I contact my friend in Galway who recommends we call Rory Jackson. Rory contacts his friend, Billy McCarthy. And sure enough, Billy knows exactly where the boat is without even looking..
Cassie:Billy takes his kayak into the cave and there it is surprisingly intact, other than a worn-out sail. Billy brings it to his old school, Barryr oe National School just up the road. The miniboat rests in a classroom for a year. The American treasures from the cargo hold cover the bulletin board, letters, mementos, stories shared across the sea. You and your classmates back in the US get to Zoom with the students almost monthly and start exchanging letters, getting to know your pen pals. You send them a new sail, half decorated with the Morristown Beard School logo. They decorate the other half. You work on repairing your school's very first ever mini boat, the Crimson Tide, which already went to France once. While the students in Ireland repair the Crimson Current.
Cassie:The boats are put on the same cargo ship that first launched the Crimson Current, the Independent Horizon. The Crimson Tide is loaded on May 23, 2023 in Port Chester, USA usa. The Crimson Current joins it on June 10 in Cork, Ireland ireland. They travel together west across the Atlantic, this time safe and , aboard the cargo ship. Two weeks later, on June 25, after departing Wilmington, North north Carolina, Captain captain Bebenek Babenik and crew launch both boats together into the gulf stream. They We stay together riding the stream for a couple days but are suddenly pushed north after only six days at sea. Both are picked up near Nantucket nantucket, Massachusetts massachusetts, on July july 1st.
Cassie:By February 2024 your teacher and mini boat Captain is on sabbatical, so Ms Swanson takes a trip to repair the boats herself. I get to join her and we had an amazing adventure. We open the boat and see all the treasures that the students put inside from Ireland: Letters, a horseshoe for good luck, a school badge commemorating their 50th anniversary and other mementos. Ms Swanson takes pictures and brings it back to share with you. Then we reseal the boats for another adventure.
Cassie:Captain Greg and his fishing crew on the Constance Sea take the boats out south towards the continental shelf break. They're launched together once more on March 9th 2024, the same day that Miss Swanson and I are heading to Ireland to meet the Barryroe National School students in person. We didn't plan this. It's all part of the magic.
Cassie:The boats travel together, but only for a few days this time, until they find the Gulf Stream. Then they take off in different directions. The Crimson Tide heads south for the Atlantic Gyre while the Crimson Current follows the Gulf Stream and into the North Atlantic Drift. For 196 days you're tracking the Crimson Current every single day. It keeps going north while the Crimson Tide seems to be going in circles. September 21st it finally makes landfall and you can't believe it, Norway.
Cassie:We all go to social media and try to get it recovered, reaching out to all of our contacts, but it's in a small little fjord, 69.58 degrees north: the Arctic. And while it is by far the northernmost miniboat ever, we just can't find someone to help pick it up. The GPS keeps on pinging. We try our research connections and discover that a mission is happening nearby in October, but the weather was too rough for an approach. The GPS keeps on pinging, but the battery stops to drop. Over the winter, presumably the boat is covered in snow and ice. In March, Rory discovered that Tom McSweeney, one of our favorite podcast producers in Ireland, has a son working in Norway. Rowan attempts to visit the beach. We see the picture, but the conditions are too rough Snow and ice, no recovery. But the GPS keeps on pinging and the battery level continues to drop. When springtime came, the battery started increasing. Sunshine. A ray of hope. The battery even increased to full. What does this mean? Is the boat still okay? Is everything still inside?
Cassie:In July, Rory connects with brothers Per and Stein who are ready for an adventure. They approach the beach on July 16th. They get to 75 meters from shore, but the fog rolled in so they could not continue. They returned for one last attempt on July 21st, exactly 10 months to the day that it landed there. They approached by an inflatable zodiac but could not see the miniboat right away. They walked up to the highest tide mark and blended right in with the sun-bleached rocks was the crimson current sitting pretty and patient. A bit battered and torn, but the sail still had the crest of the Barryroe National School and the distinct MB from the Morristown Beard logo that you and your students had on two years ago. The faded design is a reminder of all the students, young and old, who have been waiting for this day to come.
Cassie:Now, with the Crimson Current successfully recovered, we await the next part of the adventure, one that connects the students in the US and Ireland to those in Norway, reminding us of our one shared ocean. And to never give up hope.
Cassie:as consider making a donation to Educational Passages to help keep the miniboot magic and student dreams alive and thriving.
Cassie:You have been listening to the Educational Passages Podcast. Educational Passages is a nonprofit organization. Please consider making a donation to help us continue our work, bringing people together to learn more about the ocean. To donate, head over to educationalpassages. org/support. If you're enjoying this program, please consider subscribing to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, spotify, Google Podcasts or from wherever you download your podcasts. Thanks or listening.