During the summer of 2006, the Gulf of Maine Sailing Expedition set out for the first time on Grand Chat, a 46 feet by 24 feet catamaran owned by the The Chewonki Foundation, a nonprofit education organization in Wiscasset, ME. The journey combined the best of Maine Coast sailing with scientific monitoring. The expedition was sponsored by the Chewonki Foundation and supported by the Gulf of Maine Expedition Institute. Grand Chat departed on June 28, 2006, from Portsmouth, NH, and sailed up the coast of Maine during the sailing season, ending in Passamaquoddy Bay in mid-August. Maine Sea Grant MET member and Gulf of Maine Expedition Institute team leader, Natalie Springuel , worked (and sailed for part of the journey) with Grand Chat, helping the crew design an environmental monitoring program that enables passengers to engage more fully in the places they explore. The goal of this program is to run an annual sailing expedition that highlights important Gulf of Maine issues and provides passengers with meaningful travel experiences.

For more information about this program, contact Natalie Springuel. For information on the Grand Chat and other Chewonki sailing programs, please visit The Chewonki Foundation Web site.