No more fossil fuels! The Merry Maiden will be outfitted with an electric motor for "powering" and two banks of serious capacity batteries. We will generate all our electrical power form solar cells, wind generator and a prop in the water as we sail along.

CRUISING ROUTE

The plan is to sail throughout Puget Sound during the summer of 2003 and in the fall we will head south to California. In 2004 the plan is to sail to Costa Rica, Galapagos, Easter Island, Pitcairn, Marquesas, Tuamotus and Tahiti. In 2005 We will sail west to Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Santa Cruz and Solomon's. From there, who knows...

PROFESSORS ON SABBATICAL

The ideal goal is to make the Merry Maiden a platform for marine research. We will seek Professors of marine sciences to join us for their sabbaticals. Perhaps they will bring other professors or graduate students. These crew members are bound to create extensive documentation that will likely be published. The research accomplished onboard might help major organizations such as NOAA with remote data collection or at a minimum will help increase international awareness of serious environmental issues such as global warming.

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

Onboard the Merry Maiden will be the latest technology for satellite connectivity so that everyone onboard can stay connected and upload files, photos and video clips to the shore-based web server. We are currently building a Compact Disc that will cover the 56-year history of the Merry Maiden beginning with her construction in 1946, the CD will have at least 1,000 connected pages and will grow dramatically, once we are underway, with the outstanding input from our crew.

SCHOOL OUTREACH

We have just begun gathering names and contact information of teachers who want to know how they can add this exciting adventure to their classroom experience as a structured curriculum. This will be offered as a subscription based service. The subscribed classrooms will be able to track the progress of the sailing adventure and learn about the experiences of the crew. Students will learn about: geography, history, culture, navigation, ship-board life, social issues of close quarters, marine observations, weather, boat maintenance, alternative energy systems, and so much more!

If any of this sounds interesting to you, please let us know how you would like to be involved.

We are interested in receiving innovative proposals for projects that would create content to share with schools.

Proposals

Itinerary