Blue Moon Sailing Challenge Adventure Robert Teuwen

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I am very excited at the prospect of offering a sailing adventure to high school students. This brings together two great passions of mine - sailing and working with youth.

I began sailing at the age of 9 while living on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. By the age of 12, I had built a plywood dinghy and was sailing it on St. Anne's Bay. Throughout my high school years, I spent summers racing lasers and Olympic Class 470's. During university summers, I taught sailing to adults on J 24's here in Toronto. By my graduation from the University of Toronto I was professionally managing sailboats up to 43' in length out of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, racing afar a field as Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and Long Island Sound. In 1991 and 1992, I was part of a six-person team that won 2 consecutive World Championships in the 8-Metre class.

I began my career as a Waldorf Teacher in 1993. It was only a matter of months before I was leading students on annual canoe trips in Algonquin, Killarney, Temagami Parks. These adventures were the highlight of the school year for all of us.

In our summer holidays my wife and I would often travel out to Nova Scotia to visit her relatives in the Lunenburg area where I discovered the less competitive pleasures of cruising the South Shore aboard her uncle's 37' wooden schooner, the Harmona. Yes, we also won a great deal of silverware during the annual schooner race week!

In 2000 the obvious took shape: I took a group of former students of mine sailing for two weeks in Nova Scotia. Thus the Sail Challenge Programme was born.

This August, I am offering a sailing experience aboard an authentic Tancook whaler, Son of a Gun, built by David Westergard of Lobster Bay Nova Scotia.This beautiful craft is ideally suited to group programmes because of its large open cockpit and easily handled rig.

The sail challenge programme is primarily run in the sheltered sailing waters of beautiful Mahone Bay, an area rich in maritime history and living culture. We will visit islands whose many snug coves have provided refuge for pirates, rumrunners, and fishing communities since the 17th century. We will explore the notorious Oak Island, where many believe the treasures of Captain Kidd are buried. We will stay overnight on historic Cross Island and hike out to the haunted lighthouse, where the tales of the former keeper, George are kept alive.

Aboard the schooner, the crew will receive instruction on all the fundamentals of sailing and seamanship, including the following topics:

We will be also studying the local geology and ecology, marine wildlife, and cultural history. At sea and on the islands, we can expect to see Minke whales, porpoises and dolphins, grey and harbour seals, sea otters, gannets, eider ducks, cormrants, bald and osprey eagles, and deer.

As a part of our standard safety practice, each day's activities will be planned around the expected weather. At night we will be anchored or tied up at a dock or wharf. The crew will sleep on deck under the stars or in tents ashore. We also will have the use of a snug cabin on Cross Island.