Youth Sail Training Program
 


        Beals Island Lobster Bake

 

The Toughest Fun
you'll ever have!

 It takes a lot of work to sail a traditional schooner. During their week aboard the Virginia, these young sail trainees learn to work together for a common purpose. From hauling sails aloft to cleaning the galley, students learn their individual efforts contribute to a larger team. A week of sail training is a once in a life-time experience that combines adventure with real-life lessons in a team building, self discipline, and leadership.                  


 

Voyages and Pricing for 2008

 

View the Youth Sail Schedule

Pricing for open enrollment trips do not include transportation to and from the vessel or airfare.

>Physicals are required for all students

>Some trips may require a passport as indicated in the schedule

>All trips include meals

>All trips include blankets & pillows

>Students are responsible for their own sheets and towels, see Parent/Student Guide for details

>No electronic devices will be allowed on the vessel with the exception of limited cell phone use, which will be allowed during shore excursions

 
            Fashionably Safe

 

Education and Program:
Orientation Schedule
First Day Aboard
Educational "Cargo" List

Things to learn before you come aboard:
Nautical Terminology (2 pages)
Nautical Knots (7 pages)

 
What is Sail Training?

 Each summer, dozens of students come together aboard schooner Virginia for week long sailing summer adventures. The Youth Sail Training program offers boys and girls between the ages of 13-17 the opportunity to explore the maritime world in a unique manner. Working side by side with Virginia's ten professional mariners, these teenagers help set over 6000 square feet of sail, steer a 126 ft traditional schooner and navigate using many of the same techniques used at the beginning of the twentieth century.

 

 


Aloft for the first time

 

Sailing from ports in New England, each trip combines a mix of shipboard lessons in seamanship/navigation with shore-side visits to museums and cultural events. There is no set schedule beyond an arrival and departure time. Like the historic sailing ships, Virginia will go where wind and weather allow. Family and friends can keep track of student's adventures with daily online blogs written by the crew and students. Our 2007 Youth Sail Training season saw visits to the New Bedford Whaling Museum; Mystic Seaport; South Street Seaport, New York; the Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Maine Maritime Academy. In addition, students had cookouts on remote islands in Maine, saw hundreds of whales and experienced a true Maine lobster bake on Beals Island.

 

 
                            Staying On Course

 

Forms and Information

Registration and Administrative forms:
Please have the Registration forms filled out, signed, and returned with a 50% deposit to hold a position aboard the vessel.

All Students are required to have an up-to-date physical.  The Physical Exam portion, on page 5 of the Registration Packet, or a copy of a current Sports or School Physical, needs to be sent no later than 20 days prior to the Scheduled Sail.

Registration Packet      

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Student Transportation Form  

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Parent / Student Information Guide

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      Mail or fax completed forms to:

      Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation
      500 E. Main St, Ste 600
      Norfolk VA 23510
             Fax : (757)-627-8300
           Office: (757) 627-7400