Gloucester City Sail

To do our All Hands on Deck Program, we'll be using Gloucester City Sail's Schooner:

The "North Wind" is a steel two-masted schooner. The vessel is U.S. Coast Guard registered and inspected to carry up to 49 passengers on board. She is berthed at "Freedom Pier" (the old Coast Guard Station) at the foot of Cumberland Street in Gloucester City, NJ. She is available for charters.

The Mission of Gloucester City Sail:

Gloucester City Sail, Inc. (GCS) is a non-profit agency whose main mission is to serve the youth of the area through a maritime training program. The schooner "North Wind" will serve as the flagship for the city and will be utilized as an educational schoolship. Students from local schools will have the opportunity to learn about the maritime world, with educational and job opportunities.

In addition, the students will learn teamwork, trust and respect for themselves, others and the environment. The GCS program will reach out to youth in the area, especially those less fortunate and under-privileged. The GCS program will also serve adults who are veterans and/or handicapped.

 

Our new Partner!

All Hands On Deck (AHOD) is the anchor program for a comprehensive, constantly evolving education initiative at the NJ Marine Sciences Consortium/NJ Sea Grant dedicated to ports, harbors and estuaries. 

Originally a field trip program for middle-school students that interpreted the natural and commercial inner-workings of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary from the deck of a chartered passenger ferry, NJMSC/NJSG’s AHOD program now includes in-school presentations, teacher workshops and a wealth of ports-related lesson plans and other educational materials. 

AHOD trips continue to take students on interactive, fully guided tours of the Harbor Estuary that include presentations and activities that help them explore the economic and ecologic importance of this waterway. 

Explore these pages to learn all about this exciting field trip as well as our entire AHOD program. 

Since 2004, this program has served over 750 New Jersey and New York City students, offering them the opportunity to better understand and appreciate the human and natural dimensions of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. In spring 2010, the NJMSC/NJSG looks forward to bringing its AHOD program to Delaware Bay. 

The Next Chapter in Urban Boatworks!

Friends, UrbanTrekkers BoatWorks is ready to reopen shop at the Camden Shipyard & Maritime Museum (CS&MM) with a new after school program (3:30 - 6:00 PM) for twelve middle schoolers from our Camden ForwardSchool (CFS). We now have the materials/supplies to begin construction of two 15' Skerrys; a real beauty of a wooden sailboat designed by Chesapeake Light Craft. The program will include swimming, sailing and boat building throughout the 2009/10 school year. We have contracted with the Boys & Girls Club for a swimming module and the Cooper River Yacht Club will provide the sailing component to our students. Through this initiative the program brings together four Camden non-profit organizations who are dedicated to building community and improving the lives of our Camden youth; that's exciting for all of us. We plan to get underway the first week in October with swim lessons and begin actual boat building on Monday October 12. Throughout the school year students will learn about the maritime history and the importance the river and ship building have played in Camden's history. We will explore the significance of the city's rivers and their importance to the environment and the future of our region. We will embrace Camden, its history and its resources! Things will look like this; twelve students will be hand picked by the staff of CFS, six boys and six girls from the 6 - 8 grade. From the group of twelve, six students will work on boat building on Monday, all twelve will take part in swim lessons on Tuesday and the other six students will work in the shop on Wednesdays. Both groups of six will work progressively on the same two boats from week to week. The sailing component will take place in the spring of 2010. Two members of the CFS teaching staff will work with us throughout the year. They will oversee the swimming module in the fall and each one will take a day to be with the two boat building teams during the week. This will help the boatwrights to stay on task and schedule from week to week by insuring the students stay focused to your teaching and supervision. We learned from this summer that the tangible and intangible benefits to our kids from this program are huge...another benefit that does not go unnoticed by me is the impact you guys have on the kids. Next week I'll be sending out the boat building calendar and schedule for you to sign up for your boat shop days. Thanks to all...hoist the sails!

The Launch