For generations, Nova Scotians have traveled the coast in small boats, learning wisdom and courage from the sea. Today, the Nova Scotia Sea School continues this tradition with youth, building wooden boats and taking crews to sea in them for fun and personal challenge. Young people high school through university age build wooden boats and/or venture to sea on voyages as short as a day or as long as three weeks. Educators and adults who work with youth are also welcome.
We start by selecting wood from the forest at a local eco-forestry woodlot. The wood is milled, the oars and spars are shaped, the hull is built, launched and sailed.
With experienced guidance our crews take command of these well-crafted and seaworthy vessels in open water, building confidence and teamwork together, discovering the magic of the Nova Scotia coast and discovering themselves. Our core programs of boat building and seamanship are housed on the Lunenburg waterfront, a World Heritage Site.
Camps, schools, universities and other groups can join the Nova Scotia Sea School in custom-designed boat building and sailing programs at our facilities in Lunenburg. Partner group staff work closely with Sea School staff to ensure that programs fit their needs, and partner staff often accompany participants on the course.
Crews of 8 to 20 participants can take part in our programs, which vary in length from 5 days to several weeks. Sailing trips are offered June through September, and boat building courses are offered year round.
Partner groups can even combine the two in an intensive program of 3 weeks spent building a small sailboat they can take home for their own use, followed by a sailing voyage in our 30’ expedition boats.
The Sea School also offers professional enrichment training for leaders, educators and trainers. Please contact us to discuss a program for your group.
“We offer people a chance to discover what it is to form themselves into a true ship’s crew; a group that can build a boat together; that can take a boat to sea together. It’s about taking responsibility for our actions, and for each other, all the time.”
Crane W. Stookey, Sea School Founder