The educational sailing miniboat “El Hierro-Mar Salitre y Lava” of the IES Garoé and the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) has reached the mid-Atlantic ridge after 107 days of journey, heading so far towards the Northeast coast of South America in the development zone of hurricanes that affect the Caribbean and Central America.
“El Hierro-Mar Salitre y Lava” was launched by students from IES Garoé of Valverde (El Hierro, Canary Islands) on May 19th in waters Southwards La Restinga, with the aim of crossing the Atlantic Ocean within the framework of the iFADO project (Interreg Atlantic program) and the international educational program Educational Passages.
The educational boat has sailed 2,400 nautical miles and on its journey initially followed a Southerly course parallel to the Northwestern African coast and later turned West to the North of the Cape Verde archipelago.
Pushed by the trade winds and sea currents of the Subtropical Gyre, “El Hierro-Mar Salitre y Lava” is currently sailing into waters of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), where tropical cyclones form and 700 nautical miles off the Northeast coast of South America.
The miniboat is equipped with GPS and a temperature sensor powered by a small solar panel installed on its main deck. In a cellar of about twenty centimeters, the students have housed work carried out at the IES in which they give information of the place of origin of the boat so that it can be identified if collected.
The journey can be tracked in real time through the Educational Passages website, so students can learn about the main features of sailing routes, learning under and interactive way about, among others, the dynamics of ocean-currents and winds.
The main goal of this educational program is to introduce students to the world of sailing and engage them in collaborative learning through international cultural experiences, and increase understanding of the value of the hydrosphere as a shared resource through knowledge about the ocean environment. The program allows you to bring the ocean into the classroom, whether on the coast or inland.
