Aquarian Quest

Nominated by Peter Seyffert

 
When I was chartering my traditional wooden sailboat in the Mediterranean in the 1980s, inspired by the Live Aid concert at Wembley, I envisioned a tall ship carrying a message of oneness around the globe; with music and education programs that would remind us of the interconnected nature of earth's inhabitants. I feel this oneness with mother earth and the universe when I sail offshore. My passion for sailing is fed by the ecological aspect of harnessing the wind and not polluting our waters. I carried this vision to Florida and met two kindred spirits in Joe Jacobson and Robert Killian. We shared dreams of using traditional sailing vessels as classrooms, teaching people about the precious and fragile ecosystems in our coastal waters and building a sense of community.

 
Joe Jacobson is an accomplished, professional wooden boat builder and dedicated environmentalist working for Sarasota County Environmental Services. He was the first president of Aquarian Quest and instrumental in getting us several grants and the support of Sarasota County. Robert Killian is a talented musician/educator who worked aboard the Sloop Clearwater for Pete Seeger's organization cleaning up the Hudson River. Robert founded the Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater, Inc. as a non-profit educational organization to carry the Clearwater programs into the New Jersey coastal area. Robert is our Education Director creating partnerships with the teachers whose classes we take on our programs.

 
Modeling the Clearwater program with Pete Seeger's permission and encouragement, we formed Aquarian Quest and created a hands-on program for children aboard a traditional sailing vessel for Florida's Gulf Coast. Learning stations cover traditional navigation, water quality testing, fish and invertebrates and plankton. Our program is in alignment with Florida Sunshine State Standard for Science education. With central themes of earth stewardship and community building we are inspiring the environmentalists of our future.

 

"Aquarian Quest Celebrates Community and our Water Resources", is our motto. We have held four Water and Wooden Boat Festivals at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. We invited organizations who support sustainability and have interests in preserving our coastal waters. We participated in E-Fest, Earth Day and the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival.

 
Educators have depended upon books and other media to instruct children in the confines of traditional classrooms. Hands-on, interactive learning experiences are much more memorable. From 2000 to 2005 we leased the schooner Daniel Webster Clements for five months each school year, offering field trips to local schools and other organizations. We took out over 10,000 school children and approximately 2,500 adults. The kids also help us raise the sails. It is a confidence builder for young people to provide a new learning environment to master. We also offer corporate and private sails and collaborative programs with other organizations.

 
In 2005 we purchased our own vessel, the historic ketch Galatea so we can offer programs year-round. She is a very well built gaff-rigged, wooden ketch constructed by the Gamage family of boat builders in Maine. Galatea has been a charter vessel in Boston and New York harbors, Key West, and Puget Sound. Galatea needs some repairs to satisfy US Coast Guard requirements and we need funds. We intend the Galatea to become "Florida's Environmental Flagship".

 
One of the many thank you notes we have received:

"The day was phenomenal. The crew and station leaders were tuned in to the fourth graders' response level. Every child (and parent!) came back announcing to the world that "this was the best field trip I've ever been on!" You provided the perfect extension to our studies. Adding knowledge of oxygen levels in the bay offered even more for us to discuss back in the classroom. Again we lamented the fact that humans are not as careful as they should be. The kids have vowed to make a difference. I believe they will. This will remain with them forever. Thank you." from a Sarasota elementary school science teacher - 2004.

We will continue our programs and offer our community the chance to: remember simpler times, observe the wonders of our local waters and become stewards of our planet. We know that young people are strongly affected by what they experience aboard our tall ship. They carry this positive influence with them and together we have taken another step toward improving the health of our planet.

 
With our president, Jan Kirchner, the board is seeking volunteers and donors to help us "Splash" the Galatea as a full-time, year-round vessel to serve Sarasota and surrounding communities. Please contact us via our website http://www.aquarianquest.org/.

 

 
Editor's note: I was really trying to get nominations of specific people as "our stories". Peter put this forward as a nomination of an outcome of three people's efforts. I think this makes an important point - outcomes and products of our efforts as people (our creations) can become greater than the sum of their parts. This is when it's nice when people don't comply with the guidelines!