George Kaola, a teacher in the Solomon Islands, and some of his students pose with
the Jackalope, a small sailboat built by UW Lab School students. The boat washed ashore
at Ontong-Java Atoll in August 2017, and its GPS stripped by local fishermen. Barbara
John, a UW professor of geology and geophysics, recently sent a new GPS and sail to
Kaola so that he and his students can rebuild the vessel and launch it back to sea.
(George Kaola Photo)
The Jackalope may soon have some new hop in its sails. It just needs a little work
and spit polish first.
Nearly two years ago, Michael Cheadle, a University of Wyoming associate professor
in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and his wife, fellow Professor Barbara John, launched a small sailboat, dubbed “The
Jackalope,” in the Pacific Ocean with the hope it would wash up on some distant shore
and be discovered.
Approximately 5 feet long and outfitted with a small sail and keel, the tiny vessel
was built by UW Lab School students in Theresa Williams’ class. The Jackalope was
one component of a multipronged community outreach effort related to the National Science Foundation-funded voyage of the U.S. Research Vessel Atlantis and two small submarines tasked
to explore and sample the sea floor at Pito Deep in the Pacific Ocean in February
2017.
The Jackalope traveled about 7,600 miles, which is equivalent to 30 percent of the
way around the Earth, during its 190-day voyage. The sailboat eventually found its
way to the shores just north of the Solomon Islands and east of Papua New Guinea.
Equipped with a GPS that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) monitored, the craft contained a time capsule of Laramie and writing in nearly 20
languages, including Cantonese, English, French, Mandarin, Papua New Guinea, Portuguese
and Spanish.
The hope was that whoever found the Jackalope would correspond with students from
the UW Lab School after discovering its contents. However, that scenario did not initially
play out.
The Jackalope washed ashore on Ontong-Java Atoll -- one of the most remote atolls
in the world -- and was discovered by local islanders Aug. 21, 2017. However, the
fishermen, not knowing the purpose of the vessel, stripped it of its GPS system and
left it dry-docked.
“We heard a ping from the GPS for two weeks after it washed ashore, and then nothing,”
Cheadle says. “Only 2,000 people live on the entire atoll, and its only contact with
the outside world is a supply ship visit once a month.”
Unbeknown to Cheadle and John, the Jackalope was being followed by George Kaola, who
had grown up on the atoll but now lives in the Solomon Islands. Kaola is a teacher
at the Kukum Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School in Honiara, the capital city
of the Solomon Islands. Apparently, he had been tracking the Jackalope’s journey online,
as it was available to follow through extensive outreach efforts provided by Educational Passages, an organization whose mission it is to provide hands-on, multidisciplinary learning
experiences for students of all ages.
Kaola traveled to the atoll and collected the Jackalope during Christmas 2017.
“George says the fishermen took out the GPS. They didn’t know any better,” Cheadle
says of an email he received from Kaola in early 2018.
“I suspected such a thing would happen, because most of the population on the island
are poorly educated,” Kaola wrote in his email. “Also, they usually dismantle tracking
devices with solar that were attached to fishing nets from big fishing boats whenever
they found it.”
These islanders, who live on Ontong-Java Atoll north of the Solomon Islands, pose
with the Jackalope, which was found by local fishermen in August 2017. (George Kaola
Photo)
From pictures Cheadle has seen, the Jackalope was weather-beaten, but fairly intact,
sans a broken brace on the mast and some paint chipped away from the hull, no doubt
from frequent storms the small craft encountered on its long journey.
John and Cheadle say they received further correspondence, in which Kaola indicated
he and his students would rebuild the Jackalope provided John and Cheadle could send
replacement parts, including a new GPS and sail.
John purchased an Iridium GPS, meaning it can be tracked by satellite, and a new sail
from Educational Passages, a company that sells mini-boats and related equipment.
“We had to have that type of GPS for the Pacific. We needed truly global coverage
because of the sheer size of the Pacific Ocean,” Cheadle explains. “This new GPS has
solar cells. In principle, if the Jackalope goes a long, long ways, the GPS will be
able to run without batteries.”
Students at the Lab School have painted the new sail, and they sent a number of trinkets
and gifts with it to the Solomon Islands. The Lab School students are now ready to
Skype with Kaola’s students in Honiara and build a lasting relationship.
The project received a boost when John contacted representatives of the Nature Conservancy in Australia, who said that, if she and Cheadle mailed the parts to them, they would hand-deliver
the equipment to Kaola and help him install the GPS.
“They have the skills to help George and his students put it back together,” Cheadle
says. “Where we sit today, they have all the equipment to rebuild the Jackalope, and
George has said he will organize taking her back out to sea so that she can continue
her journey.”
Although the craft is at the mercy of the wind and ocean currents, Cheadle hopes the
next chapter in the Jackalope will take it to the Philippines or even China. Cheadle
admits the chances are slim that he or the Lab School students will ever see the Jackalope
again. But, he holds out hope.
“If it gets to the Philippines, maybe another school teacher or students will find
her, and they will contact the UW Lab School and find a way to send her off on another
journey,” Cheadle says. “The chances of it coming back here are pretty slim, but wouldn’t
it be cool if it could get passed along -- school by school -- and made its way back
to the East Coast of the United States?”
