Lucky Fifth-Graders get Hands-On Sailing Lessons

By Aaron Dalley

Photos: Aaron Dalley

There was just enough of a breeze to get the boats sailing on Palma Sola Bay.

On a warm, calm Saturday morning 11 fifth-graders set sail from Palma Sola Causeway near Bradenton to learn the basics of sailing and explore the aquatic environment. The student sailors from G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School were the first participants in the Turner Maritime Challenge Program. Developed by Challenge Director Jamie Canfield, the program offers a chance for children to learn about sailing, navigation, and watercraft maintenance. This was their opportunity to test those skills out on the water.

"The whole thing is really trying to indoctrinate kids in a harmonious relationship with the water," Canfield said. "I'm hoping to develop a core of students and members of the museum who can collectively enjoy the water on beautiful, traditional boats."

The program begins with a brief overview of maritime history and traditional boating methods. Classroom instruction continues with lessons about ecology and the environment to give students a better appreciation of the coasts and waterways. Then hands-on learning teaches "hard skills" like sailing and caring for the boats. Finally, Canfield hopes to teach "soft skills" such as self-reliance, trust and teamwork. These less tangible lessons are a challenging part of Canfield's vision.

"One of the things I want to do is quantify those soft skills," he said. "I'm trying to get specific guidelines on how you can actually teach accountability and responsibility instead of just talking about them."

Program Director Jamie Canfield gives last-minute instructions before the kids set sail.

Saturday's sail was the final event of the challenge and a test of the skills the students learned and developed during the program. Canfield traveled to the school for three separate sessions – one classroom and two "dry runs" in the parking lot. In the first dry run, Canfield demonstrated the rigging of a sailboat, hoisting the sail and tying off all of the ropes. On the second run he guided students who did the rigging themselves. Kindergarten teacher Jenny Camacho didn't have any students present but was on-site because she wrote the Splash! grant that allowed students to participate. She described the program as a successful example of the gradual release model of learning.

"The teacher gives classroom instructions and models, then he works together with the kids and eventually he lets them do independent work, actually sailing and using the terminology," Camacho said. "They've built that background knowledge with the vocabulary and working at school with Jamie as well as the outside training. This is the culmination of all that work."

The Splash! grant, awarded by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, is an annual offering meant to encourage student awareness about the importance of the state's water resources. Camacho said applying for the Splash! grant was an obvious choice because Rogers Elementary is the first "green school" in Manatee County. Along with environmentally friendly building materials and an energy-efficient design, environmental stewardship and "green" habits are emphasized to the students.

"I really want to encourage the kids to be green, recycle, and use what God provides us," Camacho said.

Canfield's impetus for developing the program is his commitment to teaching and preserving traditional boating methods like sailing and rowing. Funding for the Turner Challenge was provided through a bequest from Jay Turner, a naturalist/folksinger free-spirited eccentric, whose family made their fortune in real estate in New York. "Jay played with many of the great folk singers in the country including Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger," Canfield said. "He had a tremendous love for all types of wildlife."

Turner visualized a youth maritime program which would provide personal growth and self awareness to its participants by exposing them to conditions that call upon and develop their inner strengths, self-reliance, and interdependence with those other participants in the program.

Working in conjunction with the Florida Maritime Museum was a natural partnership. The museum is located just across Palma Sola Bay from the launch site in the village of Cortez and offers a variety of hands-on programs that build and restore historic watercraft as well as classes on Florida's marine ecosystems.

For fifth-grade teacher Luke Grady, seeing his students enjoying the outdoor experience is as important as the knowledge and skills they developed.

"Some of the kids don't have many experiences outside their neighborhoods or outdoors," Grady said. "For me it's just a sense of getting out and doing something different, to broaden their horizons a little bit."

Fifth grader Dasani Wade said her favorite part was the big waves out in the ocean.

"I thought it was going to be scary at first," Dasani said. "But then it turned out pretty fun. I learned that there are more plants in the water than I thought there were."

As the sailing wound down, Canfield and the teachers were already planning how to get more involvement. Camacho is already working on getting sponsors for the summer camp Canfield offers and is hoping to expand enrollment next year. She sees the experience as a great celebration for the kids' last year before middle school.

"Maybe we can put in a grant request for fourth- and fifth-graders next year, to get everybody out and included," Camacho said. "Maybe even have the fifth-graders teach the little kids. They can have a reflection time and say 'this is what you're going to do when you get to fifth grade.' "

Canfield hopes that through programs like this and by being more involved in the community, he will be able to spread his message about living more harmoniously with the environment.

"When you think about the health of the environment," Canfield said, "we are part of the environment too."

Aaron Dalley is pursuing a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He is a science communication intern working with the U.S. Geological Survey in St. Petersburg, Florida.