Sailing Camps in MA & ME region

Ocean Classroom Seafaring Camps:
Ocean Classroom Foundation is an educational organization that provides programs of sea education and adventure for the youth of America. Our headquarters are located in Boothbay Harbour in Maine and our seafaring camps begin and end in Boston MA and / or Portland, ME. Seafaring Camps are one and two-week co-educational learning adventures for middle school and high school students exploring the marine environment of coastal New England and the Western North Atlantic to learn about the sea's rich diversity of life, history and lore. Through investigations led by the ship's education officer, students observe whales in their natural habitat, collect plankton, visit historic sites and museums, and share sea songs and stories. While aboard ship all meals, necessary equipment and education materials are provided. No experience necessary.

Full Participation: all students participate fully in the life and operation of the ship.

Seamanship Training: all students receive continual training in the arts and sciences of traditional seafaring.

Appreciation of the Sea: all students are introduced to the ocean as an environment subject to ecological imperatives, and as a place of natural wonder and profound beauty.

Courses / Programs:
Seafaring Camp is a one-week co-educational learning adventure for teens, age 13 - 16, exploring the marine environment of coastal New England to learn about the sea's rich diversity of life, history and lore. 2010 Summer Voyages begin in Boston and return to Boston or Portland, Maine.

Advanced Seafaring Camp is a two-week co-educational learning adventure for older or returning teens, age 15 -18. Advanced Seafaring Camp is a major sea-voyage exploring the Gulf of Maine and coastal Nova Scotia. 2010 Summer voyage begin in Boston or Portland, Maine and return to Boston.

Students stand watch with the professional crew and learn the time-honored arts of the seafarer - sail handling, steering by compass, knots and splices, and navigation. They discover the life and mystery of the ocean world as only a sailor can, while making fast friends through shared adventure. Twenty-one to twenty-three students sail each session with eight professional crew and an educator, so everyone is fully involved and the instruction is tailored to each camper's skill level.

The guiding principle of Ocean Classroom Foundation is authentic experience. All academic activities are related to the sea.

Ocean Classroom Foundation students live in the ocean world, and interact with its natural and cultural forces every day. Their learning occurs in context, as they explore and test their new knowledge in the real environment. Abstractions of science and math are grasped and tested, and themes of literature and history are made tangible and relevant. Living and working upon the ever-changing sea requires all voyagers to be alert, clear minded, open-eyed and responsive to the environment. This sense of responsive alertness is cultivated as Ocean Classroom Foundation's path to learning.

Ocean Classroom Foundation is an educational organization that provides programs of sea education and adventure for the youth of America aboard the schooners Westward, Spirit of Massachusetts and Harvey Gamage. Ocean Classroom Foundation is a leader in experiential education, with award-winning programs sailing from the Canadian Maritimes to the Caribbean Sea. Programs vary from one-day, to one-week, to semester long adventures for middle school, high school and college students; custom programs for schools, youth and community organizations and continuing education for American history teachers.

Ocean Classroom Foundation is committed to sending students & teachers to sea on voyages in which the traditions, values and adventure of maritime life provide a unique context for education. We strive to create programs in which students grow stronger and more confident socially, intellectually, ethically and physically to take their places among the generations of exceptional men and women that have been transformed by seafaring life.