Rising to the Adventure

From Group Trip to Summer Trip

Stepping onto the Pacific Grace or Pacific Swift in warm air while wearing shorts and a t-shirt; relaxing on deck and enjoying the gentle and refreshing evening breeze; raising the sails with vigor, free from the weight of protective layers; sweating in the sun with eager anticipation to plunge into the Pacific Ocean; hiking to a fresh water lake for a refreshing swim and well-needed scrub. The makings of a summer trip.  For a few trainees like Maren, age 16, this summer marked their first step from group trip to summer trip. Maren was grateful that she could look forward to the prospect of meeting new people and ease away from the stress of school.
 

On her first trip with classmates, she learned to navigate, steered the ship, and raised and lowered sails off the coast of Victoria and through the Gulf Islands, a group of over 200 islets and islands. Among the islands, they found anchorages by South Pender Island, Montague Harbour on Galiano Island, and in Saanich Inlet. Sandy beaches and diverse rock formations line the shores of these sheltered waters, which are home to a variety of marine life. Small island communities remind you of the peacefulness of the suburbs and the break from city life. In comparison, in Desolation Sound, “The walks we did were also very different…” says Maren, “[I] felt almost like I was walking through a rain forest.” It’s no doubt that it felt like a rainforest – at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, sparsely populated Desolation Sound is an area over 6,000 acres, featuring islets and bays, inlets, coves, fjords, and waterfalls. It’s North America’s equivalent of a tropical paradise!

A couple of friends who had sailed on a previous SALTS summer trip joined her, but for Maren, a summer trip was a new experience. She expected that it would be more fun getting to know some new people – an option that she didn’t have on her first trip, when she knew everyone on board. “I still talked to [my friends] and stuff,” she says, “but I feel like you’re really connected with the people on your watch.” Watch groups are organized in advance of every trip and for school groups they can encourage students to connect more deeply with classmates they already know. On summer trips, many trainees don’t know anybody else when they come on board, but they are not alone – they have a group with which to eat meals, have in-depth conversations, and operate the ship whenever their watch is on duty. Friendships develop quickly through time spent with the watch and in the ship’s broader company.

Group trips can be intense with rich learning material filling a 5-day school trip.  A 10-day summer trip provides more time to learn the sail training curriculum. “It was a lot more relaxing,” says Maren, “I came on expecting to be studying for tests and constantly either hauling anchor or setting up sails, but I found myself relaxing a lot of the time and talking with people... and in that case, it was more fun.” While each trip varies and sailing is dependent on the weather, trainees aboard summer trips do have longer to build onboard community.


Boarding a group trip, trainees all technically know each other, but when we welcome them back, it’s clear that class unity has been found and a new sense of knowing has been reached. Boarding a summer trip starts out differently, however. A host of backgrounds come together, but before long a new sense of community is established and new friends from all over are made! That’s what makes Mug Up extra special and memorable in the summer. Despite the backgrounds of all onboard, “The singing really brings people together,” says Maren, “and especially afterwards, just being able to have normal conversations with people and getting to know them better is special.” Not to mention, the sugary snacks and warm drinks are amazing.

After taking a 5-day group trip, Maren says “I really think people should give it a go. Even though 10 days seems like a lot of time, by the end of it you really don’t want to get off the boat.”