Cruising adventure camp for kids

[TrentePieds]

I would imagine that Boston, MA, like Vancouver BC, has a "sailing centre" in some form. At Vancouver's Jericho Sailing Centre there are activities specifically for teen agers who often prefer to "be taught" by their contemporaries rather than by their parents. Boats of many kinds are available at the Centre. I think that at this time the 420 dinghy is probably the boat they use for instructing teenagers. The boat is tremendous fun to sail and makes good sailors of those who are taught on it.

I would think that for a girl of 14, i.e. one transitioning from being a "teeny-bobber" to being a young woman, it would be crucially important, psychologically, to be with "her own kind", so that the learning to sail becomes something that sort of sneaks in through the back door and then becomes a lasting component in her life because it is what her new friends do.

I also think you have a two-part problem on your hands: Learning to sail is one thing. Learning to love camping is quite another, and cruising is, for most people, a special kind of camping. For a teenager learning to love camping in a boat is more difficult than learning to love camping on land because it is so much more restrictive. When camping in a boat a teenager obviously cannot wander though the anchorage and strike up new acquaintances as she would be able to do from a camp site in, say, a national park.

Sea cadets and sea scouts are excellent organizations that by their very structure and MO take cognizance of those aspects of being a teenager.

Enquiries at one of two of the sailing clubs around Boston should lead you to several sailing programmes for teenagers, I would think. You can be sure that such programmes are led by competent people.

Bonne chance :-)!

TrentePieds

[johnn33]

In the UK we have Ocean Youth Trust and The Tall Ships; in the USA you have https://www.ussailing.org/education/youth/
Have you made contact?
John