Sail School Bahamas

[ramstron]

I took a crew of scouts from our troop in Houston to Sail School Bahamas in March of 2009 after we had been to Philmont in 2008 and highly recommend them to any troop or VC looking for great high adventure trip that combines sailing, snorkleing or scuba in an amazing location. Sail School Bahamas is run as a High Adventure scouting program and our scouts gained in experience and took on extra responsibilites on board our vessel as the week flew by.

 

http://www.sailschoolbahamas.com/

[Eagle92]

The Pamlico Sea Base, East Carolina Council, is a nationally accredited BSA high adventure outdoor program developed to provide Sea Scout Ships, Venture Crews, and old Boy Scouts with an exciting opportunity to experience challenging and rewarding high adventure aquatic programs on the coastal waters of Eastern North Carolina.

 

http://www.pamlicoseabase.org/

 

 

Ok had to put in a plug form my local council.

[reynolds.connor]

Im a boy scout from atlanta, georgia, and went on sail school bahamas over the summer. it was a fun, high adventure trip, and my troop went two years ago too. it's sort of like sea base, you learn to sail, catch fish, snorkel, scuba dive and much more. i would definitley reccommend this program to other scouts. the bahamas is a great location for this trip. want to come back as a volunteer staff member next summer.

[Reiels]

Our troop sailed with Sail School Bahamas last summer (2009) and had a great time. The crew did an outstanding job of teaching our scouts to sail and snorkel. We had sailed with Sea Base a couple of years earlier and this was more enjoyable and the scouts learned much more about sailing.

[cheeseman]

Troop 342 from Eden Prairie, MN (#1 best place to live in the nation) went down to Sail School Bahamas just recently in April of 2010! As our week of fun blew by we had so much fun fishing (someone caught a barracuda) , snorkeling, eating, and sailing to great spots like islands and coral reef! It is a very well organized program with so much to learn. The location of it is phenomenal, you cant ask for a better week of your life! Our troop has been there before and hopes to go in years and years to come!!!!! The Sail School crew did a great job of teaching us to sail! I wanna go back already!

 

 

[ScoutOne]

Note how everyone to post in this thread (except for Eagle92) has only posted once and registered the day they posted. Obviously, this is the business Sail School Bahamas SPAMMING the forums. In addition, I've discovered they have been spamming Facebook pages and groups.

 

Sail School Bahamas's Web site claims you can earn the Triple Crown of High Adventure award by using their services. This DOES NOT quality for the Triple Crown Award. You may only earn it by participating in a high adventure program operated by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The programs are: Florida Sea Base, Northern Tier, and Philmont.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Mike,

You only got 2 more years to earn the Triple Crown Award, then you got to add the Summit to the mix for the Quad Crown

 

Yep I've seen them spam before, hence why I added PSB's info. They are a nationally accredited HA base run by the East Carolina Council

[Sail School Bahamas]

Dear 'ScoutMKE' & 'Eagle92' - these are postings by bonafide Scouts or Scout Leaders, for the benefit of other Scouts. They had an outstanding time sailing with us and simply want other Scouts to know what they experienced! Sail School Bahamas has not 'Spammed' anyone, we have been operating since 2005, have advertised with scouter.com since 2006 and have not posted anything here previously. Also, we see other private organizations featured here or referred to on a regular basis by Scouts for other Scouts. Although we are not nationally accredited our trips are run in line with BSA policy regarding leadership requirements and trip guidelines. We have taught hundreds and hundreds of Scouts to sail from across the US and as anyone in Scouting knows there are insufficient High Adventure options and as we have been told by numerous Scoutmasters and Adult Leaders that they wanted to do everything possible to spread awareness of our programs these postings provide folks in Scouting with an additional option if they need to book a specific week, are unsuccessful with the Lottery Draw or simply want to focus on actually learning how to sail. We have enough support from Scouts, Scoutmasters and Scout Councils throughout the US without having to resort to spamming, these postings are by BSA Scouts who have actually sailed with us and know what they are talking about - why don't you contact them! They probably thought this was a website/forum for Scouts to help other Scouts with information, ideas and feedback.

We previously spent 3yrs working with BSA High Adventure Bahamas SeaBase and continued to help them out with a trip this year when they needed our support to avoid letting down Scout Troop 20 from Birmingham, AL as the SeaBase boat was inoperable. As this is not a 'BSA only' site but as stated below 'This is a private community provided by SCOUTER Network and reserved for Scouting related discussions' we feel your comments are unfair and unfounded and we are certain the 'Scouts' who posted these comments will agree!

Surely, since SeaBase in the Bahamas is consistently fully booked, more Scouts sailing and experiencing a professionally run HA trip in line with BSA policy is a good thing for Scouting, good for retention and good for increasing membership...? Have you even seen the website or read the testimonials?

Regarding Facebook, we receive postings from BSA 2010, Venturing, Double HH Ranch, and numerous Scout Councils etc, on a regular basis. 'We' fully support the BSA and Scouting in general, that is why we focus on working with Scouts! You may not be aware but Facebook offers a mutually advantageous reciprocity that is good for Scouting, otherwise they would prevent non-BSA organizations from posting on their own walls.

Finally, we would not have noted that our trips would count towards the 'Triple Crown' if that was untrue - a GA Troop who sailed with us this summer bothered to actually check with their Council and were told that as far as they were concerned it was a local Scout Council decision and they would accredit their trip, so, if that information is incorrect surely your time would be better spent speaking with them or your local Scout Council instead of us.

In order to be fair, impartial and objective we'll highlight this issue to everyone who has sailed with us, if they're not already registered here they can register as new members (which is surely a good thing for scouter.com too!) so they can let other Scouts know what they think and everyone else reading this topic can make up their own minds.

Thanks for your interest in our programs.

 

[ramstron]

My original post is a recommendation for SSB and is NOT spam. SSB is a great HA for troops that want to experience the Bahamas with a program that is targeted for scouts!

 

In our case we are a small troop that cannot "plan ahead" 3 to 5 years for all HA. Our scouts wanted to get wet and enjoy some sunshine after Philmont, Sea Base was booked solid and SSB was a GREAT alternative.

 

Send me a provate msg if you need more info!

 

R Armstrong ASM Troop 952 Seabrook TX

[BrentAllen]

Sail School Bahamas,

I'm sure you offer a great program, and am glad you are doing so for Scouts. As far as the Triple Crown Award goes, local councils have nothing to do with it. The award program is run by the Charles L. Sommers Alumni Association in conjunction with the BSA. I invite you to visit http://www.holry.org/triplecrownaward.php so that you may be fully knowledgeable about the subject should you be asked again. Unless you receive confirmation directly from them approving your program for the Triple Crown Award, you will be doing Scouts a great disservice in telling them their trip with you will count towards the award.

 

That GA council that said your program counted may have confused your trip with the Sea Base Bahamas Sailing Adventure. Councils employ lots of people, and many of them are not familiar with the High Adventure programs, and even fewer are up to speed on the Triple Crown Award.

[Sail School Bahamas]

Hi Brent,

Many thanks for your post. As it happens we were just in contact with Florida National High Adventure Sea Base and received clarification on this matter. We are extremely proud of our programs for Scouts, we would not knowingly mislead Scouts and as I noted regrettably this confusion arose due to our belief that it was a Council matter. We are taking steps to ensure that everyone visiting our website will be clearly aware that our sailing adventure programs, although outstanding in value and content, do not provide accreditation for 'Triple Crown'. We will also ensure that anyone inquiring about our trips is also made aware of this.

We only made a note of this on our website a few weeks ago as this information came to us in June from a BSA Scoutmaster who we regard as an extremely reliable and professional individual. He will be disappointed to discover that after all his inquiries within the BSA the advice he was given on this issue was incorrect although he will also appreciate your point that many Councils do have large staff numbers. He and his Troop had a wonderful time with and us did not choose our program for the purpose of accreditation.

As in any pursuit in life, erroneous beliefs can arise, however, I am sure you will agree that it is the manner and speed with which they are rectified that is important!

We are grateful to you for your input and wish you well in Scouting.

 

[AlamanceScouter]

The only thing I am worried about regarding this matter is....

 

1) How do I keep my 8 year old interested in Scouting so that he has an opportunity to do something like this and..

 

2) How do I finagle myself on this types of trips when they occur in the future.

[Sail School Bahamas]

That's the challenge! Having been there (a while ago), as well as working with hundreds of Scouts each year, I reckon it all comes down to speaking to them to find out what they are interested in along with a bit of education so they know all the exciting activities and interests that are out there. The next challenge is incorporating those activities with what the Pack can do with their resources. Keeping the interest alive is surely about teambuilding, reinforcing the value and importance of the skills and morals being imparted by Scouting & absorbed by the youngsters as well as making it all FUN.

We love speaking with Scouts on our trips and finding out all their friends back home are sitting inside playing video games all summer while they are learning to sail in the tropics. This provides great ammunition for them and the Adult Leaders to boost membership and trips like ours (or any other HA trips) are the best for retention!!!

btw - we always encourage Dads and Mums to get involved (on a temporary basis) in leadership for our trips.

[ScoutOne]

AlamanceScouter:

 

I encourage you focus on actively delivering the program and finding new age appropriate activities. It's also important parents be involved, but just on a temporary basis. When parents are not involved either as a leader or just encouraging participation we find the youth will eventually become uninvolved.

 

Speaking of high adventure, one of the National high adventure programs called Northern Tier offers a great OKPIK program for 1st and 2nd year Webelos: http://bit.ly/bhTLeh

[londeen]

For my 2 cents worth on this topic-- having had the opportunity to take two trips with SSB over the last 3 years- I can wholeheartedly endorse the program and the entire experieince. As was noted above, this is another viable option for those Troops or Crews wishing to take advantage of a sailing adventure, and having difficulty getting a spot in the "Offical BSA" program. The chance to make a foreign trip with all of the various logistic challenges is a leaning experieince for all, not to mention experiencing another location of the world and the history surrounding the area. For those Troops wanting to obtain the Triple Crown, maybe this is not the right choice- but for those wishing to have the experience, SSB is a terrific choice. Seemingly what we are striving for is to give our Scouts as many options and opportunities for adventures that we can. Some may be other than BSA programs, but that does not make them any less valuable or exciting for the participants. We followed prescribed BSA procedures when doing our trips, and SSB does adhere to BSA guidelines. Really all I can say is that for our Troop, this is a very viable option. The captains were all wonderful and the Scouts had great times, learned how to sail, snorkled and had interesting sigtseeing visits.

 

Troop #342

Eden Prairie, Minnesota