“There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” (Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows)

So the famous children’s story goes, enticing generations of young minds to stretch their imagination to the horizon, to take on the challenges of travel, change, and excitement that comes with an uncertain leap into the wide blue ocean, where the horizon changes hour by hour, day by day. An old-fashioned romantic dream, perhaps? Overtaken by the cumbersome realities and financial burdens of big research vessels, operated by professional crews? But what if I told you that this kind of dream has now come full circle, in this age of miniaturised and low-cost oceanographic sensing systems, with all that the romantic vision offers and more?