VIRGINIA Opens Youth Summer Sailing Adventure and Week-Long Voyages for Students 13 to 17

Norfolk, Va. (PRWEB) June 09, 2014

The beautiful topsail schooner VIRGINIA, a re-creation of the last Virginia pilot schooner that sailed the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1900s, is offering week long youth sailing adventures this summer.

Aboard the 126’ floating classroom, students from 13 to 17-years-old are fully immersed in all aspects of sailing the ship.

This year VIRGINIA is also offering an introductory program for students 11 to 15.

Working side-by-side with the professional crew, youth trainees practice seamanship, sailing skills and navigation while learning to live by the motto of the sea — Ship, Shipmates, Self.

There is also ample time for shore excursions to explore museums and cultural events in ports of call.

Programs emphasize teamwork, character development, and leadership skills.

2014 Voyage Dates and Locations:

June 30-July 4—Norfolk, VA to Norfolk, VA
July 15-July 21—New London, CT to Portland, ME
July 24-30—Portland, ME to Newport, RI
August 18-August 24—Newport, RI to Boston, MA

For more details on how students can experience the learning opportunity of a lifetime, please call 757-627-7400 or visit http://www.schoonervirginia.org and The Pilot Schooner VIRGINIA on Facebook.

About Virginia:
VIRGINIA is a two-masted, gaff-topsail knockabout schooner that is 126 feet long, 24 feet wide and weighs 157 tons: her mainmast towers 112 feet off the water. Home ported in Norfolk, Virginia, she is a re-creation of her namesake vessel and the last all-sail vessel built for the Virginia Pilot Association. The pilots relied on fast, seaworthy, and easily handled vessels that could operate in all kinds of weather. The pilot schooners of Virginia became world renowned for these traits and stayed in service long after other vessels had turned to steam. The original VIRGINIA was built to serve as a floating home and training vessel for the pilots. The Virginia Pilot Association worked the schooner from 1917 to 1926, when a steam ship replaced her. Today’s re-created vessel links hundreds of years of tradition to modern times. VIRGINIA is owned and operated by the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation (VMHF), a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization established to promote the maritime heritage of the Commonwealth.

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