After modified with a ‘Made in San Pedro’ heavy-duty keel, the now record-breaker Scottish toy pirate ship, Adventure II (A2), is closer to its destination in Scotland after as respite in Miami.
On Tuesday, March 2nd, Ellie Alvarez and her father Ulises from Miami tracked down the Playmobil toy pirate ship and rescued it near the Florida coast. The toy boat has been in the spotlight, appearing in TV networks like Telemundo and NBC Miami. A2 will get an overhaul for its next leg of the trip across the Atlantic to Europe. Its tracker will be re-charged, and a solar panel installed to keep its GPS charged while monitored across the Atlantic for an estimated 143 days. This is the number of days calculated if it picks up the Atlantic current into Europe.
The Belizean touch before heading north
At the end of January, A2 was rescued off the coast of Ambergris Caye by a group of islanders led by Cindy Vigna of the Belize Sailing Center, Lara Goldman, and Captain Elito Arceo. The little Playmobil had been drifting from Honduras and needed modifications before continuing its journey. Captain Shark’s boatyard took care of A2 and made the necessary repairs, equipping the little boat with a sturdy keel.
From Ambergris Caye, A2 was taken to Belize City, from where it received a lift aboard a private catamaran (Sailing Lost) to the Mexican Caribbean coast in early February. A2 was released off Cozumel, Mexico, and intercepted the Loop current, a clockwise flow that extends northward into the Gulf of Mexico, joining the Yucatan current to the Florida one.
For days, the little ship weaved its way through the Gulf of Mexico, then along the Cuban north coast, and finally shooting past the busy Florida Keys shipping lane at an average speed of 1.6 knots. As it approached Miami’s coast, appeals were made to recover the boat before reaching the Atlantic currents. The Alvarez family answered the call and, aboard a fast boat, tracked A2 and rescued it. The little Playmobil featured messages from those who had found him in other countries, including from Belize with Belizean souvenirs.
Second world record
By the time it was picked up near Miami, A2 had proved to be a record-breaker for the farthest distance traveled at sea by a toy boat- 6,088 kilometers (3,783 miles). This is a greater distance covered by its predecessor, Adventure, which was released from Scotland in 2017.
The adventurous project is the brainchild of Scottish brothers, 8-year-old Ollie and 11-year-old Harry Ferguson, who saw Adventure sailing from Scotland to Scandinavia to Barbados in the Caribbean. However, its tracker died, and the toy ship was lost at sea. The Ferguson brothers later launched Adventure II off the coast of Guyana in South America.
As soon as A2 goes through its necessary modifications and the weather permits, it will be launched from the Florida coast.
We will continue following this adventure project, which is being followed by adults and children from several countries around the world. To follow A2’s Adventure, like and follow their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tdajp.
