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.

Support the show

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.

Episode Transcript

Cassie (00:15):
Welcome to the Educational Passages Podcast.
Educational Passages is anonprofit organization that
seeks to connect people aroundthe world to the ocean and each
other through unique globalexperiences.
I'm your host, Cassie Stymiest.
Welcome everybody to season four! Get ready to set sail on a

(00:36):
brand new adventure as we launchour Imagine this series where
the magic of mini boats comealive through the voices and
visions of those who make it allpossible.
In this series, each episodewill paint a vivid picture of
discovery, connection andcuriosity not just tracking the
voyages, but exploring thechallenges and unexpected
outcomes behind them.

(00:57):
Now press play.
Close your eyes and imaginethis:

A Ray of Hope (01:02):
The Crimson Current.
Imagine your mini boat sailingacross the open ocean, battling
wind and waves.
Each day you check its location.
Where will it go?
You do this for 66 days andfind that it lands in Ireland.
This is over 3,000 miles fromyour school in Morristown, New

(01:24):
Jersey, an entire ocean basinaway.
It lands in a cave, but wedon't know that right away, as
the GPS is pinging all aroundBarry's Cove in Cork.
I contact my friend in Galwaywho recommends we call Rory
Jackson.
Rory contacts his friend, BillyMcCarthy.
And sure enough, Billy knowsexactly where the boat is
without even looking.

(01:44):
.
Billy takes his kayak into thecave and there it is
surprisingly intact, other thana worn-out sail.
Billy brings it to his oldschool, Barryr oe National
School just up the road.
The miniboat rests in aclassroom for a year.
The American treasures from thecargo hold cover the bulletin
board, letters, mementos,stories shared across the sea.

(02:06):
You and your classmates back inthe US get to Zoom with the
students almost monthly andstart exchanging letters,
getting to know your pen pals.
You send them a new sail, halfdecorated with the Morristown
Beard School logo.
They decorate the other half.
You work on repairing yourschool's very first ever mini
boat, the Crimson Tide, whichalready went to France once.

(02:29):
While the students in Irelandrepair the Crimson Current.
The boats are put on the samecargo ship that first launched
the Crimson Current, theIndependent Horizon.
The Crimson Tide is loaded onMay 23, 2023 in Port Chester,
USA usa.
The Crimson Current joins it onJune 10 in Cork, Ireland
ireland.
They travel together westacross the Atlantic, this time

(02:53):
safe and , aboard the cargo ship.
Two weeks later, on June 25,after departing Wilmington,
North north Carolina, Captaincaptain Bebenek Babenik and crew
launch both boats togetherinto the gulf stream.
They We stay together riding thestream for a couple days but
are suddenly pushed north afteronly six days at sea.
Both are picked up nearNantucket nantucket,

(03:14):
Massachusetts massachusetts, onJuly july 1st.
By February 2024 your teacherand mini boat Captain is on
sabbatical, so Ms Swanson takesa trip to repair the boats
herself.
I get to join her and we had anamazing adventure.
We open the boat and see allthe treasures that the students

put inside from Ireland (03:31):
Letters , a horseshoe for good luck, a
school badge commemorating their50th anniversary and other
mementos.
Ms Swanson takes pictures andbrings it back to share with you
.
Then we reseal the boats foranother adventure.
Captain Greg and his fishingcrew on the Constance Sea take
the boats out south towards thecontinental shelf break.

(03:52):
They're launched together oncemore on March 9th 2024, the same
day that Miss Swanson and I areheading to Ireland to meet the
Barryroe National Schoolstudents in person.
We didn't plan this.
It's all part of the magic.
The boats travel together, butonly for a few days this time,
until they find the Gulf Stream.
Then they take off in differentdirections.

(04:13):
The Crimson Tide heads southfor the Atlantic Gyre while the
Crimson Current follows the GulfStream and into the North
Atlantic Drift.
For 196 days you're trackingthe Crimson Current every single
day.
It keeps going north while theCrimson Tide seems to be going
in circles.
September 21st it finally makeslandfall and you can't believe

(04:38):
it, Norway.
We all go to social media andtry to get it recovered,
reaching out to all of ourcontacts, but it's in a small
little fjord, 69.58 degreesnorth: the Arctic.
And while it is by far thenorthernmost miniboat ever, we
just can't find someone to helppick it up.

(04:59):
The GPS keeps on pinging.
We try our research connectionsand discover that a mission is
happening nearby in October, butthe weather was too rough for
an approach.
The GPS keeps on pinging, butthe battery stops to drop.
Over the winter, presumably theboat is covered in snow and ice
.
In March, Rory discovered thatTom McSweeney, one of our

(05:20):
favorite podcast producers inIreland, has a son working in
Norway.
Rowan attempts to visit thebeach.
We see the picture, but theconditions are too rough Snow
and ice, no recovery.
But the GPS keeps on pingingand the battery level continues
to drop.
When springtime came, thebattery started increasing.
Sunshine.

(05:41):
A ray of hope.
The battery even increased tofull.
What does this mean?
Is the boat still okay?
Is everything still inside?
In July, Rory connects withbrothers Per and Stein who are
ready for an adventure.
They approach the beach on July16th.
They get to 75 meters fromshore, but the fog rolled in so

(06:02):
they could not continue.
They returned for one lastattempt on July 21st, exactly 10
months to the day that itlanded there.
They approached by aninflatable zodiac but could not
see the miniboat right away.
They walked up to the highesttide mark and blended right in
with the sun-bleached rocks wasthe crimson current sitting

(06:23):
pretty and patient.
A bit battered and torn, butthe sail still had the crest of
the Barryroe National School andthe distinct MB from the
Morristown Beard logo that youand your students had on two
years ago.
The faded design is a reminderof all the students, young and
old, who have been waiting forthis day to come.

(06:44):
Now, with the Crimson Currentsuccessfully recovered, we await
the next part of the adventure,one that connects the students
in the US and Ireland to thosein Norway, reminding us of our
one shared ocean.
And to never give up hope.
as consider making a donation toEducational Passages to help
keep the miniboot magic andstudent dreams alive and

(07:06):
thriving.
You have been listening to theEducational Passages Podcast.

(07:27):
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Thanks or listening.