Sometimes it’s the tiniest boat that makes it the farthest, regardless of how hard the hurricane winds hit it.

Science, a group of New Hampshire students found out, often finds a way even in the wildest of circumstances.

Even if that boat is only 5 feet long and no bigger than a small area rug. 

The whole experiment started in 2020, right before the pandemic hit the United States. A group of students at Rye Jr. High School in Rye, N.H., became making a sea-worthy boat as a science project. The goal, the school said, was for the students to learn about water currents, as well as science and math. 

The students joined forces with Educational Passages, a nonprofit that teaches school kids about the ocean.

Just as the students finished their ship, the Rye Riptides, Covid-19 caused their school to shut down for the rest of the school year.

Devastating. The kids were devastated, too, so it was kind of difficult,” science teacher Sheila Adams said.

The students pushed forward, though, finishing the artwork virtually, sending it to their teacher for it to be laminated on the boat’s deck.

Next up, find a way to get the tiny ship to finally sail. But Covid-19 meant traveling, even for miniature boats, was more difficult.

“Over the summer, we worked together to try and find a deployer for the vessel that could take the boat out to sea beyond the Gulf of Maine, but found it challenging with all of the restrictions in place,” Cassie Stymiest, the director of Educational Passages, said. “So we waited until fall and introduced the new 5th-grade class to the project virtually.”

The new class added messages for the inside of the boat, and colored it. They included pictures of themselves, as well as fall leaves, acorns and state quarters.

Finally, on Oct. 25, 2020, the boat was launched. It carried a GPS which, for 10 months, sent back its location to the students who marked it on a map. But, after hurricane season came through, GPS began having issues, and then after its last location on Sept. 30, 2021, it stopped working.

Or so they thought. In Feb. 2022, the boat sent another location hit – from an island in Smøla, Norway. Educational Passages reached out to a school near the island, to see if anyone could get it. 

Karel Nuncic and his family located the ‘Rye Riptide’ on an island not far from their home. Photo courtesy of the Nuncic family

A student’s mom saw the post, so Karel Nuncic, his parents and their puppy traveled by boat to the small island and retrieved Rye Riptides. 

The boat was covered in barnacles, missing its mast, hull and keel. But the small ship’s precious cargo was still inside. 

“I was going crazy,” Rye sixth-grader Jack Facella said. “I was very excited and happy.” 

In mid-February, the students from Norway and New Hampshire met over Zoom, thanks to Educational Passages.

“It was really cool, because now, our little fifth-grade project that meant so much to us, now it means a lot to everyone else,” seventh grader Molly Flynn said

It’s just like, this little boat has changed our lives so much.”

Educational Passages agreed.

“After 462 days and 13,412 km of traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, the deck and cargo hold were the only remaining pieces of the boat, but the messages inside have sparked a new friendship between schools,” the organization said.

For a look at this amazing little ship’s big adventures, watch below!

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine | NPR