What is traditional sail training all about? Essentially, our program is experiential learning which involves teenagers in becoming crew members of a working square-rigger. They are not just passengers, or pupils taking academic courses aboard, they actually sail the ship. Adventure and challenge in a unique, unfamiliar, and self-contained environment teaches lessons that go far beyond the traditional sailing skills required to operate a sailing ship at sea. The discipline that the sea imposes on those who would master it develops character and a real sense of responsibility. Crew members must learn about taming the powerful forces of nature and, in doing so, they discover a latent toughness and ability to survive within themselves. They become a valued part of a close-knit, mutually dependent community.