Sea-Fever blog

Here’s the latest graphic that was used in an internal Microsoft conference about the upcoming $500 million Windows Vista marketing campaign as reported by the NY Times Bits blog this afternoon (Microsoft Tries to Polish Vista) and ZDNET last night. (First hints of Microsoft’s “fight back” ads appear)

Of course, we love the maritime theme and can only wonder if it was in someway influenced by the American Sail Training Association’s TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE Series which recently made several ports of call in their neighborhood. Probably not but it’s cool anyway. Too bad they didn’t use a photograph of an actual tall ship like the USCG Barque EAGLE or the more local Lady Washington or Adventuress. That could have brought some much appreciated attention to the good work that these vessels do in preserving our country’s rich maritime heritage. And wouldn’t it be great if Microsoft took a few bucks from the $500 million earmarked for this campaign and used it to support the youth programs of these and other Pacific Northwest tall ships.  Now that would be super corporate social responsibility. Okay, I know I’m dreaming but what the heck, it’s worth blogging about.

Like they say, “At one point, everyone thought the Earth was flat.” But then they got on a tall ship and the rest is history (or maybe science).

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Stunning photo!

“People look at fireworks with the Russian tall ship Mir illuminated in the background, on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Saturday, June 21, 2008. The tall ship Mir participated in festivities marking school graduation. Graduation ceremonies are held all over Russia now as students of elementary and high schools and military academies finish their education.”

via commercialappeal.com “Day in Pictures – June 21, 2008”

Photo: AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

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The Tabor Boy Project is one year old!

It all start after attending a Headmaster’s Council meeting at Tabor Academy on April 14, 2007. I have always felt incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to go to Tabor but that day really brought it home for me. While It is great to catch up with a few of the Council members that I went to school with or which I knew from living locally, the real inspiration came from the camaraderie and fellowship that spanned across the decades represented that day.

Last April Drs. John Crosby and Karl Kistler made a great presentation during the Headmaster’s Council meeting that became the inspiration for the first post on The Tabor Boy Project. Teaching Ocean Science at Tabor. Last Friday, April 11th, Dr. Crosby, this time with 5 Tabor students, made another fascinating presentation about the Caribbean studies program that took place aboard SSV Tabor Boy this winter. Clearly for me the highlight was listening to the animated young students tell stories that will stay with them for a lifetime. It’s great to know that at her advanced age, Tabor Boy still has it in her to excite young people, foster real learning and transform adventurous adolescents into young adults. Check out the Caribbean Studies section of Tabor’s website.

My mother found the these two photos in a shoe box last week. In the top one, that’s me on the left handing Captain George Glaeser a present. To the right of Capt. is Billy Rose, also Class of 1977 and First Lieutenant on Tabor Boy. For a little spooky foreshadowing, I’m wearing a t-shirt from the American Sail Training Association, an organization that I would go on to lead 24 years later. (2001-2006)

To me the above picture really captures the essence of my experience at Tabor. There’s Capt. and Mrs. G. sitting around with us boys and a couple of dogs: one big happy family. Of course, we all had our families at home but this was our Tabor family all brought closer by our shared experiences aboard Tabor Boy. For me The Tabor Boy Project has extended that family even farther.

I started using Google Analytics to track activity on The Tabor Boy Project in August 2007 and thought you may be interested in some of these statistics:

• 109 Crew members
• 425+ photographs
• 2,812 visitors
• 1,783 absolute unique visitors
• 19,144 page views
• 53 countries
• Dozens of blog and forum posts and replies,
• Countless messages between members

More important than any of these numbers is that The Tabor Boy Project, through words and pictures, tells the incredible story of this amazing ship that has changed so many young lives over the years. It has reconnected lost shipmates and been the catalyst for new friendships.

I had very few expectations when I launched The Tabor Boy Project on April 15, 2007. It was simply an experiment in using web 2.0 / social networking tools. One of the exciting things about it is you just don’t know what somebody will contribute. I sincerely thank all who have done so over the first year and I look forward to welcoming aboard more new members, reading more sea stories and viewing more old photographs over the next year. The Tabor Boy Project comes to life through your amazing contributions. Let’s keep telling the story together.  

Cross posted in The Tabor Boy Project and Sea-Fever blog.

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Nearly a year ago I launched a website called The Tabor Boy Project. From the Welcome Aboard:

For over 50 years, the schooner Tabor Boy has taken young Tabor Academy students to sea under sail. This remarkable ship has played a significant role in helping Tabor Academy transform adventurous teenagers into confident young adults.

The Tabor Boy Project is a living history project and social network by and for Tabor Boy sailors and supporters. While it will help create and preserve the rich stories that make up the schooner’s history, it will also connect shipmates that have been “lost” for years.

On April 1, 2008, The Tabor Boy Project welcomed it’s 100th member, a 2007 Tabor Academy graduate. Members span 6 decades: from the 1950’s to current students. There are hundreds of wonderful photographs and sea stories that tell this amazing ship’s history.

None of this would have been possible just a few short years ago. Photos that languished in shoe boxes in the back of alumni closets have experienced a new life on the website gallery and long lost shipmates have been able to reconnect through the member pages.

Web 2.0 social media tools allow us to build communities around common causes, interests and passions. They allow us to reconnect and have meaningful conversations about things that are important to us. They also allow us to collaborate to capture history, experience and knowledge in ways previously unimaginable. The Tabor Boy Project utilizes the Ning social networking platform which is powerful, flexible, easy to use and inexpensive.

I believe that the most important part of these types of projects is setting a strategy and having a few catalysts who can help build excitement. I was lucky to enlist 2 of my shipmates, Captain Bob Glover and Jamie Hutton (pictured below) from the beginning to jump aboard and work hard to spread the word. It’s all part of that teamwork ethic that was integral to the sail training experience and which has been a major part of each one of our lives since the days we first stepped aboard the Tabor Boy.

The Tabor Boy Project is an independent project and not something created, authorized or maintained by Tabor Academy. It’s content is generated by its members all of whom lives were touched by positive experiences at the School by the Sea and the schooner. Despite this, The Tabor Boy Project has been incredibly fortunate to have received interest and support from Tabor Academy leadership. Interim Development Director Kerry Saltonstall has been a huge advocate for The Project. We really appreciate and benefit from her frequent mentions in the Tabor Alumni and Friends e-newsletter Currents. Each time it appear, there is a nice uptick in new members. Thanks Kerry!

On April 14th, The Tabor Boy Project will celebrate it’s first anniversary. If you are reading this and have any connection what so ever to the schooner Tabor Boy, please join us. The Tabor Boy Project is a website for everyone who has ever sailed or who just is interested in the great work this ship (and school) has done to transform adventurous adolescents into young adults.

All-A-Taut-O!

Related posts:

The Tabor Boy Project - Storytelling and Living History

Flash Back - 31 Years Ago Today

The Privilege of Sailing

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I’m currently at the Ship Operators Cooperative Program’s (SOCP) conference on maritime education for primary and secondary schools at MITAGS and couldn’t find a more appropriate video.

I had the great fortune to spend my 4 years of high school sailing on a tall ship. If there was one educational sailing experience I could be jealous of, this would be it.

Check out the Class Afloat website for more info.

Last month the tall ship Roald Amundsen experienced severe weather. Here’s a video that will give you an idea of what it was like.

Related post: Fighting the Sea and Living to Tell About It

Here’s a short video to launch your high performance week.

If you are ever in Erie, PA, make sure you visit the amazing Erie Maritime Museum and the beautiful US Brig Niagara which offers one of the most authentic sail training experiences in America.

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Earlier today The Old Blog Cabin posted Sail training ship in Cobh after hurricane which included these photos of the damage sustained by the German sail training vessel Roald Amundsen.

The Irish Independent posted this story as well.  Crew safe after ship survives savage storm.

Former US Navy official Bob Harkins was a crew member aboard was quoted:

“This was the worst storm that I had ever heard of people sailing through and living to talk about it,”

European weather has been wicked over the past week wreaking all kinds of havoc with maritime interests. (see Robin Storm: In Search of Severe Weather) From the above quote and these pictures, it sounds like the Roald Amundsen and her crew were lucky to have made it to port without injury or worse.

Related post: Fine French food, great views, ample parking

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James Pearce of the BBC reported yesterday that:

Plans to promote the 2012 Olympics using a ship sailing around the world advertising Britain’s “cultural riches” have been ditched, the BBC has learned.

London’s successful bid team promised that the ship - named the Olympic Friend-ship - would spend four years traveling around the world.

The full-size ocean-going clipper had been due to set sail this August.

Crewed by young people, artists, philosophers and students, the ship was to be run by professional officers.

London 2012 to Shelve Ship Idea - BBC Sport - Olympics March 11, 2008

What a shame! Back on January 4, 2008, Hugh Muir wrote an article in the Guardian entitled Olympic ship plan drifts into troubled waters which highlighted that the sailing ship plan was an integral part of London’s winning bid and that environmental advocates were upset by this significant change.

In may years as executive director of the American Sail Training Association I witnessed dozens of similar grandiose ship plans never get launched. This one is really too bad because a tall ship sailing ambassador on a youth sail training mission celebrating the spirit of the Olympics would have been something special.

Frankly, I think that London 2012 would be better served to jettison their ugly logo and not abandon their majestic ship plan.

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Messing About In Ships podcast episode #14 has launched.

(38 minutes)

Download MP3 file: Messing About In Ships Episode # 14

Show Notes over at Messing About In Ships blog

Subscribe Via iTunes HERE

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It seemed entirely appropriate earlier this week when the tall ship Spirit of New Zealand spread the ashes of explorer Sir Edmund Hillary across the Hauraki Gulf in a small private ceremony. The Spirit, owned and operated by The Spirit of Adventure Trust, is a youth sail training / experiential education organization for which Sir Edmund served as a patron.

Hillary, the first person to conquer Mt. Everest with his climbing partner Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, was a national hero and international icon who epitomized the spirit of adventure to several generations since his incredible feat in 1953. He passed away at the age of 88.

In his book View From the Summit, published nearly 10 years ago, Hillary said he wanted to die peacefully and would

“like my ashes spread on the beautiful waters of Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf to be washed gently ashore maybe on the many pleasant beaches near the place where I was born. Then the full circle of my life will be complete.”

Sir Edmund Hillary Ashes Cast Into Sea (Associated Press)

Service at sea farewells Sir Ed (New Zealand Herald)

Some of my favorite Hillary quotes:

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.”

“People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.”

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

The Spirit of Adventure Trust is an organization adept at generating buzz. In 2006, the Trust gained international attention when they attempted to auction off a piece of the famed America’s Cup as a fundraiser. This was all a result of vandalism that took place in 1997 when an activist protesting the plight of Aboriginal people in New Zealand attacked it with a sledgehammer. The Cup had been long repaired but a stray piece surfaced nearly 10 years later. There was vigorous opposition from the Cup holder, Switzerland, and many others throughout the sailing world. In the end, the auction never took place; however, the publicity received was probably worth it all.

Above right photo is of special built gangway for Hillary ceremony which in the future will be used for embarking and disembarking handicapped sailors.

 Swiss fume over possible auction of remnants of Cup (Boston Globe 10/13/06)

Storm brews over salvaged cup piece (The Telegraph 10/20/06)

America’s Cup piece returned (TVNZ 11/06/06)

Here’s funky YouTube video of the Spirit of New Zealand.

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Messing About In Ships podcast #9 has launched.

Listen:

Show Notes Can Be Found HERE

Download the MP3 file HERE

Subscribe Via iTunes HERE

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Here’s a link to an article entitled Young Bermudians get chance for careers at sea written by Tari Trott of the The Royal Gazette. It’s a great recap of what we were working on all last week in Bermuda.

This is a very exciting program which has strong support from both government and maritime interests on the island. As with all at risk youth programs, one of the biggest challenges could be recruiting participants. But, we are fortunate to be aligned with the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, the owners and operator of the beautiful new sail training vessel, Spirit of Bermuda.

Stay tuned for regular reports about what’s new with Northeast Maritime Institute’s new Maritime Apprentice Training and Employment (MATE) program which will be offered to youth locally and internationally.

Here’s an informative video about the Spirit of Bermuda and the Bermuda Sloop Foundation.