A boat is more than wheels on the water. It’s an office, a classroom, and place to hide when the sea changes its mind. We want our new boat, the Osprey, to be everything our students and researchers deserve at College of the Atlantic. So we’re keeping track. Our blog is updated with the latest developments as the Osprey is built at the Wesmac boatyard in Surry, Maine.
This boat will replace our current research vessel of fifteen years. We were going to buy used. But renovations, complicated by the rigors of Coast Guard inspection, would have been so costly we could build new. So that’s what we’re doing. The details aren’t quite final and the plans we agreed on will likely change. Keep tabs on us as we make decisions about the boat’s layout, electronics, power train, and thousands of smaller components.
This project was inspired by Ed Blair, a long-time supporter of the college and a boating enthusiast. Initially we chose the name Five Friends in grateful recognition of the project’s five original donors. However the pool of contributers has grown beyond this early number, and we hope our new name will reflect our full confidence in the boat’s cutting design.
Mr. Blair, who recently passed away, will be fondly remembered as his vision readies to launch.
See our most recent posts.
Osprey 