The View from Shore

By: Loren Hagerty, Executive Director - October 2020

“A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for.” - John A. Shedd

Our views have looked very different this summer than in previous years, with our schooners tied to the dock in Victoria. We thought you might be wondering what our staff and crew-members have been up to, how SALTS is doing financially, and what's happening with the new schooner Leonora.

What are the staff and crew-members up to during the closure? Crew-members and shop staff have been getting to ship maintenance projects that we otherwise would not have had the time to attend to, and the ships are being renewed and refreshed to a level not seen in decades. Crew members are also updating our sail training curriculum materials and conducting additional risk management assessments for many locations we visit during our program. Office staff members have been processing cancellations, credits, and refunds for almost 1700 trainees and are now preparing to promote and book our tentative 2021 sailings. Our boat donations and sales team has had a busy year with strong demand for boats amid physical distancing guidelines.  We’re all planning  out how best

to protect and use our resources to  accomplish our mission in the months ahead, including looking at how we can bring some aspects of our program to schools and students where they are through online means.

How is SALTS doing financially during the COVID crisis?

From January to August 2020 we’ve incurred net losses in our general fund of $491K. All of these losses happened before the COVID shut down in mid-March as a result of our typical spending as we ramped up for sail training programs to begin. In other years we eliminate such losses in the second quarter, but this year we had little program revenue to cover them. Remarkably, despite high fixed costs we’ve managed not to incur any additional losses since the shut-down began, and have been blessed to avoid staff and crew layoffs thus far.  A combination of cost cutting, strong boat donations and sales, and federal financial supports have helped enable this. We may have a

long road ahead, with the timing of resuming our programs dependent on restrictions from the governing health authorities and Transport Canada. However, our survival is not in jeopardy. Our hope is to get through this crisis with as minimal financial losses as possible so we’re in a healthy position to restart our programs and lay the keel of Leonora, in order to make these life-changing voyages available to as many trainees as possible. If you’d like to make a donation toward our financial well-being, please visit salts.ca/donate.

What's happening with the new schooner Leonora?

Captain Tony Anderson has been working on the project close to full-time this year. He is sourcing and costing out equipment for the ship to plan the fit-out of the hull and rig and to allow us to update our project cost estimates. He is working with local electrical and mechanical contractors to aid in systems design. Stephen Duff has been working with Lloyds Register and seeking to resolve the remaining regulatory questions regarding the ship’s design. We’ve recently hired Robert Allan Ltd. Naval Architects and Engineers of Vancouver to consult for us on this and any remaining Marine Technical Review Board applications that may be required. We have not yet commenced detailed design and engineering, which will be conducted by two naval architecture firms in the Netherlands, because the remaining regulatory issues must be resolved before we finalize ship design. Detailed design and engineering is expected to take 7-9 months. While we wish we could be sailing, we have been able to use this unexpected shoreside season to put more time into this project.  We remain hopeful that we can lay the keel in 2021 and launch the hull in 2023. The fit out of the hull and rig will happen as quickly as fundraising allows, as we don’t yet have the millions of dollars those phases will require. We are not breaking speed records with this project but we should probably get some sort of trophy for endurance.  Although this process is taking longer than we would wish, we continue pushing forward and are encouraged by the progress made this year.

Thank you for your interest in how SALTS has been doing this season. Through good times and challenging times, we are grateful for your support of our mission, and your belief in the potential of young people and the importance of youth mentorship.