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Running Free - Member News October 2025
We are barrelling through October and y'all have been busy! Birthday shoutouts, sailing for a good cause in the Caribbean, and racing around the Chesapeake Bay.
Only Three More Musters Left!
Our staff is travelling the country to connect with our members and we invite you to join us at one of the next musters. Community Musters serve as vital gathering points that strenghten the bonds within the Tall Ships and Sail Training Community. These collaborative events bring together diverse voices from across our maritime network, creating meaningful opportunities for connection and shared learning.
Next up, we are in Sausalito, CA, November 7-8, hosted by Bay Model/Call of the Sea.
📸Schooner Race 2025 Group shot with Baltimore City College HS students, courtesy of Living Classrooms
As we continue celebrating our 40th year at Living Classrooms, we’re thrilled to share that 6,516 participants have already come aboard our three historic ships this season! This fall has been especially active, with each vessel bringing our programs to cities across the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay regions.
MILDRED BELLE spent the fall in Washington, D.C. and National Harbor, and is now running War of 1812 programs at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum on the Patuxent River in Calvert County, MD.
SIGSBEE ran numerous programs in Baltimore and is now in Philadelphia offering educational sails from the Independence Seaport Museum. A highlight from this fall was attending the Skipjack Heritage Days event at Sandy Point State Park—a gathering of 15 skipjacks from around the Bay featuring deck tours, public sails and a skipjack race. The organizers are planning to make this an annual event and the dates for next year are September 12 and 13, 2026.
LADY MARYLAND placed 2nd in the AA-class of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race—her first race since our major 40-year refit. Ten Baltimore City College students joined our crew on the voyage, earning the Norfolk Rebel Education Trophy, and student Salaar Stevenson received the Young Mariner Award. We are proud to continue our tradition of hands-on learning under sail during the Schooner Race!
55th Annual Parade of Lights at Maritime Museum of San Diego
Maritime Museum of San Diego invites visitors to enjoy the 55th Annual Parade of Lights Dinner staged aboard the elegant Victorian-era 1898 steam ferryboat Berkeley Sundays, December 14 and 21, 2025. Parade judges will be nested at the Maritime Museum as the brightly decorated boats cruise by the Museum fleet located at Star of India Wharf between Grape and Ash Street.
A delicious holiday dinner buffet and no-host bar will be open on the Victorian-era steam ferryboat Berkeley at 5:00 p.m. Dinner guest check is at 4:30 p.m. The buffet will be open through 6:30 p.m. Guests will enjoy a scrumptious and festive catered buffet before relaxing and enjoying the waterfront views as the skies darken and the holiday boat parade preparations unfold and transition into a delightful holiday waterfront show.
Sea Education Association (SEA) in Falmouth, MA is offering the following courses: Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and WFR Recertification, Leadership and Managerial Skills (LMS), and Bridge Resource Management (BRM).
Please see the flyer for details, prices, and dates. These are USCG approved courses (minus WFR) and housing is available on our campus.
Tall Ships America members receive 10% discount on all of these courses.
This fall, the Sea|mester fleet continues to sail far and wide across the world’s oceans. STV Vela is currently midway across the Indian Ocean on passage between Cocos Keeling and Mauritius, crewed by students participating in the 90-day Fall semester voyage from Bali to Cape Town. This voyage starts Vela’s third circumnavigation, while sister ship STV Argo works toward her seventh trip around the globe. Argo and her crew are presently in Morocco, partway through their 90-day voyage from Rome to Antigua.
After completing a winter refit,STVOcean Star returned to service this past summer with a full complement of students. She is now alongside in English Harbour, Antigua, as Sea|mester seeks to find a new owner for her following 25 remarkable years of student voyages. Originally launched in 1991 in Norfolk, Virginia, and joining the Sea|mester fleet in 1999 after her early years sailing under the Ocean Navigator flag out of Maine, Ocean Star has very capablyhostednearly 2,000 students and staff on Sea|mester voyages, in addition to the hundreds who sailed and learned aboard with Ocean Navigator. As she enters her next chapter, Sea|mester hopes her legacy as a platform for teaching seamanship and nautical science will continue under new stewardship.
Set Sail for a Cause: Join the 2026 Class Afloat Winter Alumni (& Friends) Sail in the Caribbean
📸Class Afloat - West Island College International
Join Class Afloat for their annual Winter Alumni & Friends Sail taking place in January. Each dollar raised during the Alumni & Friends Sail contributes to funding multiple Class Afloat Foundation Scholarships, opening the gangway for the next generation of students to learn, explore, and grow through a unique educational journey at sea.
Days at sea will be filled with laughter, storytelling, learning, and hands-on sailing. Participants will have opportunities to participate in shipboard life, take in the Caribbean breeze, and enjoy the company of people who understand what it means to live and learn at sea.
This year’s journey will begin and end in beautiful Bridgetown, Barbados, departing January 11th, 2026 and returning on January 17th, 2026. Ports of call include Barbados, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
Cost for Alumni and friends 25+: $2,000 CAD Cost for Alumni and friends 24 years (and under): $1,500 CAD
Reach out to info@classafloat.com for full details on how to reserve your berth. Spots are limited — don’t miss the boat!
20 years ago, Schooner Seaward sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge to her new home with Call of the Sea, at the Bay Model Visitors Center’s pier in Sausalito. Founder Alan Olson and co-founder Ken Neal-Boyd made a very good call in choosing the schooner, previously named Edna, to be the educational platform for Call of the Sea.
MM-SEAS USCG Licensing Software provides free lifetime access to step-by-step USCG licensing guidance and electronic sea service form generation, while MM-SEAS Expert Access, for $99, unlocks live expert advice, career mentorship, and prioritized support from our team of USCG licensed captains, engineers and credentialing experts.
Members recieve access to MM-Seas Pro and discounted stress-free applications.
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