Note – I came across this piece when cleaning up some old directories. I wrote it in 2004 and submitted it to at least one sailing magazine, but it was rejected. The sailing trip was in May, 2003.
Think of a school and what comes to mind? Open, airy kindergartens with lots of space for kids to run around; a suburban brick and steel high school named after an astronaut or president; large, impersonal university lecture halls for teaching organic chemistry or polysci 101; cozy, wood paneled rooms for small, intimate seminars, where the professor is as much moderator as teacher. Or maybe, something completely different. I recently experienced a different type of school: a sailboat with class rooms in unexpected places, such as the cockpit, engine room, and galley. Continue Reading