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Life skills on Tall Ships: The SeaStar Society helps kids
Suzanne Rent

Younsters learn many life and sailing skills as part of The SEASTAR Program
Before she joined The SEASTAR Society program in 2008,
Janelle Dorey’s only boat trip had been on a ferry. That
experience wasn’t nearly enough to prepare her for a week
sailing along the Nova Scotia coast aboard the schooner Peers’
Fancy. Janelle found out about The SEASTAR Society through
the Girl Guides organization and quickly signed up. Last year was
the pilot year for the program and Sheila Brown, the Society’s
chair of the board, says the program, which is the first of its kind
in the region, is not really about sailing at all. She says young
people learn teamwork, a sense of responsibility, self-discipline,
as well as interpersonal and timekeeping skills.




“Really what sail training is all about is learning life skills. It’s
not just about learning sailing skills. You can’t sail one of those
huge vessels without working as a team.”




Janelle says learned those skills and more during her trip. “I learned how to ask people things. You can’t be shy in a situation like that. You have to make your own path.”




The experience wasn’t perfect, of course. Janelle suffered
from seasickness for the first couple of days and she thought the
“freaky healthy food” served in the galley wasn’t anything like the
“teenager food” she loved at home. Still, she survived both to
have an experience she says she’ll never forget.




“The experience will look good on my resume. You’re going out of your comfort zone. I’m not an outdoorsy person, but it was the best experience of my life.”




She loved it so much she signed up again for this year’s
program. There are even more youngsters signed up, too. Brown
says the Tall Ships Festival allows them to get about 50 youth on a
number of ships. As for Janelle, she’ll be sailing on the Unicorn
with an all-female crew for three weeks, and she’s just as hopeful
about that experience as she was with the first.




“Sixteen women on a boat. We’re going to become a big
family.”
______________________________________________________________________
For more information on The SEASTAR Society go to www.seastarsociety.ca

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