Testing The Satellite Tracking Device

 This is a picture of about 50 balloons carrying a satellite tracking device somewhere into the mountains.Yes. We found the place where all the balloons end their way. We are going to use the same technology to track our boat.

The Rig

Here are the approximate dimensions of the rig. The rig will be made from 6061 aluminum bars, and fiber carbon tubes bamboo for spars (the mast and boom).

The Hull

For the hull we will use a 6 feet Liquid Shredder foam surfboard. The volume of the surf board is around 1.5 cubic feet, and deck area around 7.5 square feet.

2,000 Nautical Miles To Go

When we are finished with the sailboat it will travel from Santa Barbra to Hawaii. We will meet it at the destination and will send it on another adventure.

The surfboard needs a few modifications

We will turn a simple surfboard into a sailboat that will withstand storms and hurricanes. Our mission is to modify it so that it will travel with an autopilot robot maneuvering the sail following a GPS to its destination in Hawaii. It will be recording every step along the way. 

We will add:

• Mast
• Sail
• Keel
• Rudder
• Autopilot
• Batteries 
• Solar panels
• GPS homing device

Let's send this surfboard to Hawaii

This surfboard may be too small for us but maybe it is big enough for a small robot to travel big distances.