ATLANTIC CHALLENGE USA
Photo: Kai Yamamoto, Spirit of Sailors, July 2024
ATLANTIC CHALLENGE USA, a nonprofit based in Belfast, and on Greens Island, Maine promotes personal growth, and community building through traditional seamanship programs.
Our program offerings include:
Through our programs, we aim to strengthen the bonds of our local and international communities, and keep traditional maritime skills alive and relevant as tools to create an inspiring life.
Our program offerings include:
- Rowing in Belfast, Maine,
- Multi-day to two-week island camping programs on Greens Island and throughout Penobscot Bay,
- Traditional craft making,
- Music on the water,
- Boatbuilding, boat maintenance and oar-building,
- Participation in the biennial Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship.
Through our programs, we aim to strengthen the bonds of our local and international communities, and keep traditional maritime skills alive and relevant as tools to create an inspiring life.
Photos: Dylan Ladds
We are members of Atlantic Challenge International, a global network that is dedicated to the development of young adults, furthering global understanding and building friendly ties internationally. Every two years, a dozen nations convene in a new host location for the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship, a weeklong gathering and friendly competition which showcases seamanship skills in a series of rowing, sailing, docking, knot-tying and navigation events.
This Contest is one small way we can help move quarreling humanity toward a path of cooperation and peace. We believe getting young people together in boats, learning difficult manual skills, and living and eating together for a week has the power to transcend cultural, political and linguistic barriers. This is the basis for the development of trust, connection and friendship.
The Contest was envisioned by Lance Lee and Bernard Cadoret and first hosted with first two gigs in 1986, and has expanded to include more than 16 nations every two years until 2018. After a six year pause, AC USA organized and hosted the 2024 Contest with young adults from 10 nations.
The boats we primarily use in our summer programs and for the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship are Bantry Bay gigs, which are copies of 18th-century French Navy Captain's gigs once used to transport admirals in style. These vessels are 38-feet long and are powered by three, dipping-lug sails and ten oars. Sailing and rowing a gig demands high levels of cooperation and communication among crew members.
This Contest is one small way we can help move quarreling humanity toward a path of cooperation and peace. We believe getting young people together in boats, learning difficult manual skills, and living and eating together for a week has the power to transcend cultural, political and linguistic barriers. This is the basis for the development of trust, connection and friendship.
The Contest was envisioned by Lance Lee and Bernard Cadoret and first hosted with first two gigs in 1986, and has expanded to include more than 16 nations every two years until 2018. After a six year pause, AC USA organized and hosted the 2024 Contest with young adults from 10 nations.
The boats we primarily use in our summer programs and for the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship are Bantry Bay gigs, which are copies of 18th-century French Navy Captain's gigs once used to transport admirals in style. These vessels are 38-feet long and are powered by three, dipping-lug sails and ten oars. Sailing and rowing a gig demands high levels of cooperation and communication among crew members.
Photos: Kai Yamamoto
Atlantic Challenge USA is committed to creating a culture of respect, equality, listening, learning, healing, and growth in all our programs. We are committed to creating a safe space for LGTBQ+, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color to participate in our programs. The outdoors, and boating should be for all people to access and enjoy.
Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the ancestral, unceded land and waters of the Penobscot Nation, which was cared for thousands of years, which we now gather and benefit from for all of our programs. We recognize our responsibility to continue to educate ourselves and work to change public policy towards justice for the indigenous people who still live here.
If you have feedback, suggestions, or ideas to help us create a more just and equitable AC USA program and community, we are listening. Please contact us.
Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the ancestral, unceded land and waters of the Penobscot Nation, which was cared for thousands of years, which we now gather and benefit from for all of our programs. We recognize our responsibility to continue to educate ourselves and work to change public policy towards justice for the indigenous people who still live here.
If you have feedback, suggestions, or ideas to help us create a more just and equitable AC USA program and community, we are listening. Please contact us.
Atlantic Challenge USA
c/o Arista Holden, Executive Director
PO Box 481
Belfast, Maine 04915
+1 (207) 610-9554
[email protected]
c/o Arista Holden, Executive Director
PO Box 481
Belfast, Maine 04915
+1 (207) 610-9554
[email protected]
