PHILOSOPHY

Empowering and transforming the lives of youth.

On a WILD Expedition, expect more than an adventure aboard an authentic Viking ship. Expect more than learning how to sail among the coast and beautiful islands of Puget Sound where Orca whales spend their summers feeding on wild salmon and bald eagles soar against a backdrop of snow capped mountains. Expect more than making life long friends.

Expect a life changing opportunity.

Sailing an authentic Viking ship offers the perfect blend of fun, adventure, challenge, consequences, community, friendship and support. It is an opportunity for learning how to live life in the present, how to handle conflict, how to listen to one's own inner voices and not necessarily to the voices of the culture.  Exchanging judgment, greed and comparing ones self to others for consciousness, integrity, kindness and cooperation is just the beginning of the experience.

Personal Power and Responsibility   Teenagers know that they have personal power and they know that we know we can't control them even though we're supposed to because we are legally responsible for them until they are 18. And they know, that we know, that they know it!

Ultimately, we want our young people to have personal power and to use it responsibly. This is the balance of adulthood. In our culture today, teenagers are often given power without responsibility. Or, they are deprived of their power, and therefore deprived of the opportunity to learn responsibility. Either situation, power with no responsibility, or no power with dependency, often results in negative outcomes.

On the ship, we are committed to young people learning about the relationship between personal power and responsibility. From the first moment they step foot on board, they begin working towards understanding, through experience, the responsibility and power that is implied in the words, "It's your ship". The youth on board learn to run the ship, teaching them both power and responsibility.

Aboard the ship, everyone earns their power through tests of responsibility.  Responsibilities include staying alert on night anchor watch, keeping the ship and gear "shipshape", following through on their port or starboard team assignments, being good shipmates, navigating, sailing the ship, learning seamanship lessons so they can do their jobs safely, cooking and cleaning meals, earning the trust of their shipmates and getting ASTA (American Sail Training Association) certification.

When someone falls, there are mentors beside them to help them get back up and do it again. When they succeed, there is a community to celebrate and honor them.

The Viking ship expedition is a metaphor for life's never ending "inner" journey. The expedition, filled with uncertainty and opportunity, personal challenges and life lessons, failure and success, relationships and solitude, hard work, courage, play, fun and celebration, is symbolic of life.  The adventure itself is a metaphor for living life, for "following one's bliss", for having the courage to follow one's heart and make life an adventure. Often, young people on the expedition feel more alive than in their "real life" at home.

Everything we do on the ship is a teacher. Life becomes a positive experience when we learn to understand that each experience is a teacher, an opportunity, offering only information that can help one grow.

One simple example: When we catch a large salmon on the trip there is often a feeling of power that comes with that experience. Have you ever noticed how people take pictures of themselves with the big fish they caught?

After the excitement of landing a big one, comes the responsibility of taking the life of the fish in a respectful way. Followed by the responsibility of cleaning it and disposing of what isn't used. Then the fish is cooked and served to the shipmates and finally, there is the clean up.

This may seem like a simple task, but when a simple task like this is done with intention, it becomes a teacher. It teaches respect for the fish itself. It teaches understanding of the fish's environment and the ecological system that allows the fish (and us) to survive and prosper. It teaches self sufficiency; cooking and cleaning for ones food. It teaches connection to the sea. It teaches what it means to be interdependent, working together in order to live and thrive. Everyone has a part in catching the fish, from those who plan the day, to all hands sailing the ship, to those setting up the galley in the camp and all hands again loading up the ship again for the next days adventure.

Everything on board the ship has this kind of opportunity. Man overboard drills teach that our lives are interdependent on each other. Sailing the ship teaches communication, team work, leadership, physics, discernment, patience and much more.

The expedition teaches us how to live as a community. How do we take into account the needs and desires of everyone? How do we deal with conflict? How are we communicating, what is being said and what is not being said that needs to be said? What do we need to do to build trust? What are our goals as individuals and as a group? These are often the topics of discussions by the campfire. When there is a situation that presents a learning opportunity, a specific design is implemented for learning purposes.

Can you imagine a greater adventure for a young person than sailing an authentic open decked Viking ship along the majestic coast of Puget Sound and living in the land of whales, sea lions, dolphins, bald eagles and snow capped mountains?

It is a rare experience for most people to live, for an extended time, in a situation that intentionally creates  a "family", a community based on trust. It is a rare opportunity to live in a group that uses open and clean communication, respects each individual's needs and emotions, challenges the individual and group to live up to there higher potential, doesn't let each other of the hook, where people do what they say they will do and their word is kept sacred, where people confront and deal with their own shadows (challenges), and people act with integrity and with an open heart.

Our mission is to give our greatest gift to young people: an experience of knowing they can be powerful and responsible people with open hearts. Knowing there is a way of being that makes one feel alive, in integrity with one's inner self and on an adventure with the external world. It's not easy; it takes courage and determination and yet it is possible. 

The Viking ship is a powerful way to give young people this gift by providing an unforgettable, life changing experience.