Our gig Loyauté sailing across Penobscot Bay, summer 2025. Photo: Dylan Ladds
Sail the Schooner Bowdoin and Our Bantry Bay Gig
Belfast Harbor - Castine - Belfast Harbor
Saturday September 12 - 13, 2026
Ages 15 and up, all experience levels.
This is a collaborative expedition with Maine Maritime Academy and Atlantic Challenge USA. We will mix crews with the Maine Maritime Academy students aboard the gig and the schooner and sail from Belfast to Castine. Then our crew will say goodbye to theirs, and we will proceed to seek an anchorage nearby to Castine, and camp on an island managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. We will row and sail our gig back to Belfast the next day, arriving in the afternoon.
September 12, 2026
Meet in Belfast at 12pm at our slip at Front Street Shipyard/Safe Harbor, closest to the Harbor Walk and the Footbridge (base of Pierce Street, in Belfast, Maine). From there we will meet the crew nearby aboard the schooner Bowdoin, decide our crews - some of ours will go on the schooner, some of theirs will go on the gig, and set sail or in our case, maybe row depending on the winds, towards Castine. Once at the dock in Castine, we will take our gig and all of our crew and row to a nearby island managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust to make dinner and camp overnight.
September 13, 2026
We will have breakfast the next morning on the island together, pack up our tents, and head back to Belfast, eating lunch underway or stopping on an island midway to eat together. We will arrive in Belfast, back to our slip at Front Street Shipyard (also known as Safe Harbor) in the afternoon.
Read more about the Schooner Bowdoin here.
Sliding Scale Tuition:
Supportive Rate: $180
Baseline Rate: $150
Reduced Rate: $120
Tuition covers: Insurance, Instruction, Safety Equipment, Provisions including: Dinner on 9/12, Breakfast and Lunch on 9/13.
You will bring: a lunch on Saturday 9/12 and other gear on the packing list, including layers, a rain jacket, a water bottle, a bowl and spoon, a tent, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag.
Belfast Harbor - Castine - Belfast Harbor
Saturday September 12 - 13, 2026
Ages 15 and up, all experience levels.
This is a collaborative expedition with Maine Maritime Academy and Atlantic Challenge USA. We will mix crews with the Maine Maritime Academy students aboard the gig and the schooner and sail from Belfast to Castine. Then our crew will say goodbye to theirs, and we will proceed to seek an anchorage nearby to Castine, and camp on an island managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. We will row and sail our gig back to Belfast the next day, arriving in the afternoon.
September 12, 2026
Meet in Belfast at 12pm at our slip at Front Street Shipyard/Safe Harbor, closest to the Harbor Walk and the Footbridge (base of Pierce Street, in Belfast, Maine). From there we will meet the crew nearby aboard the schooner Bowdoin, decide our crews - some of ours will go on the schooner, some of theirs will go on the gig, and set sail or in our case, maybe row depending on the winds, towards Castine. Once at the dock in Castine, we will take our gig and all of our crew and row to a nearby island managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust to make dinner and camp overnight.
September 13, 2026
We will have breakfast the next morning on the island together, pack up our tents, and head back to Belfast, eating lunch underway or stopping on an island midway to eat together. We will arrive in Belfast, back to our slip at Front Street Shipyard (also known as Safe Harbor) in the afternoon.
Read more about the Schooner Bowdoin here.
Sliding Scale Tuition:
Supportive Rate: $180
Baseline Rate: $150
Reduced Rate: $120
Tuition covers: Insurance, Instruction, Safety Equipment, Provisions including: Dinner on 9/12, Breakfast and Lunch on 9/13.
You will bring: a lunch on Saturday 9/12 and other gear on the packing list, including layers, a rain jacket, a water bottle, a bowl and spoon, a tent, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag.
The Schooner Bowdoin in Greenland, summer 2024. Photo: Graham McKay