SALTS Newsletter and Blog

During our summer trips, crew members take turns blogging about their adventures while they're at sea. The following are excerpts from the Pacific Swift's blog, written during Trip 4.

During our summer trips, crew members take turns blogging about their adventures while they're at sea. The following is an excerpt from the Pacific Grace's blog, written during Trip 3.

Jump into some of the adventures that happened in Spring 2024, as told through photos taken by trainees and crew!

During our summer trips, crew members take turns blogging about their adventures while they're at sea. The following are excerpts from the Pacific Swift's blog, written during day 8 of Trip 4.

During our summer trips, crew members take turns blogging about their adventures while they're at sea. The following is an excerpt from the Pacific Grace's blog, written during Trip 3.

View some of the best photographic records we have of the construction of the Pacific Grace in this archive gallery. Colin Turner photographed the construction process in the 1990's, and before he passed away he donated those photos to SALTS.

During our spring sailing season this year, a significant challenge turned into a beautiful opportunity to grow a bursary partnership with a local organization: Take a Hike Foundation. Keep reading to hear how these trips impacted the students, leaders, staff, and crew from both organizations

Read more about the projects happening in the SALTS Shop in Spring 2023!

Captain Tony Anderson reflects on the Spring 2023 sailing season.

During our summer trips, crew members take turns blogging about their adventures while they're at sea. Continue reading for an excerpt from the Pacific Grace's blog, written on Day 5 of Trip 2, and pictures from their voyage!

Dear SALTS Community, We are sharing the significant and perhaps unexpected news that the Board of Directors of S.A.L.T.S. Sail and Life Training Society has made the difficult decision to cancel the new schooner/Leonora project. For more details on this decision, please continue reading this post.

Last fall long-time community member Mike Richardson, a professor at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, sailed on his 30th annual voyage with SALTS! Keep reading for his thoughts on his voyages with SALTS (and to learn how many nautical miles he's sailed with us)!

In late March 2022, we achieved a significant regulatory milestone and crossed what we’ve long called the “major project risk reduction threshold” with the design of Leonora. This means that our current hull size/design is viable in terms of meeting the myriad regulatory requirements, but also means many decisions are ahead as our Board considers how to move forward wisely.

The work on the Swift's aft deck was completed in early 2022, ahead of the much-anticipated start of our 2022 sailing season. Read on for details about the project, and watch nine months of work unfold in the project timelapses!

After 35 years of sail training adventures, Pacific Swift is getting a major refit! See how the work on the aft deck has been going by watching our timelapses of the project here.

Summer 2021 was busy with work in full swing rebuilding the afterdeck of the Pacific Swift! A few years ago, many generous donors came together to fund the purchase of the necessary timber. Now that that timber has had time to dry out in our shop over the past few years, we have moved on to the next phase of this massive undertaking: replacing the aft deck.

At the beginning of Summer 2021, the SALTS crew took to the seas for a month-long training voyage in preparation for sailing once again with trainees. Phoebe, one of our Bosuns, reflects on the experience.

From May 30 to June 30, SALTS is conducting a training voyage for our professional crew members.

Musings from Loren Hagerty, Executive Director, on living a life well sailed.

Summer 2020 was certainly not what I was expecting. I was expecting trainees to laugh with, buns to bake, and the occasional bout of unavoidable seasickness...though filled with an uncertainty that could be unsettling at times, and a mourning for the sea and salt air, I was able to find a beauty in the stillness. There was an awe in the quiet on the boat that I had never experienced—a slowness and a feeling of almost being frozen in time...

During this unexpected shoreside summer, we’ve been able to spend large amounts of time on schooner maintenance. With the dedicated work of our crews, we’ve been able to tackle many projects that have been on our wish list for years, and the ships are looking great!

Catch up on what our staff and crew-members have been up to, how SALTS is doing financially, and what's happening with the new schooner Leonora.

Six reasons to add our sail training adventure to your summer!

Opportunity. That is what SALTS and the Tall Ships Canada Youth Council are about. Both work to present new opportunities for youth in Canada and worldwide.

The end of the sailing season means the beginning of winter maintenance and we find ourselves filling every spare inch of shop space with another boat part.

This winter, the aging electrical system aboard Pacific Swift will be overhauled to boost the ship’s power (charging) capacity and lower its diesel emissions. The recent addition of a sewage treatment system aboard the ship has put too much strain on the existing electrical system, and the electric generator (powered by diesel) has been running 6-8 hours per day. Thus, by solving one environmental problem (sewage) we created another (increased diesel emissions)!

“A knot… is either exactly right or it is hopelessly wrong. Make only one change and either an entirely different knot is made or no knot at all may result.” – Clifford W. Ashley

SALTS isn’t only a time to build community, but it is also a time for individuals to reflect and to be vulnerable.

Stepping onto the Pacific Grace or Pacific Swift in warm air while wearing shorts and a t-shirt; relaxing on deck and enjoying the gentle and refreshing evening breeze; raising the sails with vigor, free from the weight of protective layers; sweating in the sun with eager anticipation to plunge into the Pacific Ocean; hiking to a fresh water lake for a refreshing swim and well-needed scrub.

Summer 2019 on the Pacific Swift was full of adventure, rugged wildness, awe-inspiring sea creatures big and small, and countless moments of laughter, learning and joy living in community. Regardless of weather conditions or our surroundings, what really made our summer memorable was the people. We had trainees and volunteers from all over the world, as far as Ireland and Texas! As our spring cook Chloe moved over to the Grace (not too far away!) we welcomed on our new cook, Trinda McNeill, who spared no time in settling in and creating delicious food to fuel our adventures. As we made our way along the coast, we were able to connect with past trainees, volunteers, and crew, as well as connections like Bob Goff, author of ‘Love Does’ which we read nearly every week (in Jervis Inlet he zoomed over in his boat, cheerfully greeted us and shot us with an arsenal of saltwater taffy!).

Every year aboard the Pacific Grace there is a unique meld of experiences and personalities. There are many moments which made summer 2019 memorable. The season began with two ten-day excursions through the Salish Sea and Desolation Sound. A fair number of first-time trainees joined us for these, as well as a few returning to further their adventures with us. On the second trip, we were also excited to welcome several trainees coming through our Type 1 Diabetes bursary program. Together we sailed between forested walls of mountain to reach waterfalls, sang songs on deck while enjoying sunsets, played games on the vast beaches of Savary and Hornby Islands, had rowing races, swam in the warm waters of the Sound, and watched pods of Pacific White-sided dolphins.

Step into the shoes of a summer trainee. While there is no average SALTS trip, there are some elements each of our trips possess.

Once the salt air hits the bloodstream and adrenaline gets going, it’s hard to get it out of the system! For SALTS alumni, it trickles down through the generations. This summer, we welcomed several second-generation trainees on board for their first sail. One trainee, Kaia, especially looked forward to experiencing the adventure her mom told stories of.

Many SALTS trainees come from B.C. and Alberta but, especially in the summer, our community connects new friends from around the globe. Individuals from all backgrounds unite with an appetite for sailing, adventure, and community. One of this year’s international trainees shared her exchange experience.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a SALTS crew-member (either as a volunteer or a professional)?

Greetings from the shipyard. Getting the ships ready for the summer reason and giving new life to old stage rigging.

When I was a kid of perhaps eight-years-old, our next-door neighbor Mr. Schultz was working on his roof when he fell two stories onto the backyard lawn... I wonder: would I be leading SALTS today if not for my neighbor’s momentary imbalance on the roof?

We really enjoyed connecting with trainees and chaperones at the end of our spring sailing trips and hearing what stood out to them:

Photoblog depicting a day in the life of tall ship sail training.

Christmas day started a bit differently for most aboard this year.

In late October the shop quickly filled with gear to be stored, spars to be inspected and oiled, winch parts to be repainted, and dories to be refinished.

Occasionally, leading a charity, an extraordinary gift offer comes along. Sometimes the offer is real, and sometimes it’s fake.

“Through SALTS we think we can change a life or two.” These are the words of Alastair and Lorraine, two of SALTS’ most recent bursary sponsors. The Calgary couple’s donation will support two full bursaries for trainees experiencing challenging life situations.

When shopping, a “50% Off Sale” is a big deal. But when it comes to charitable giving in Canada, there’s a similar “sale” going on every day of the year.

After years of excellent care and maintenance the Swift is now entering an age when major repairs are anticipated—starting with new decks.

Welcome to the world. Though you are one of many humans, you have infinite value and worth. You are small and helpless now but your body will quickly mature following the instructions encoded in your DNA. You live in your body, but you are not your body—you are a soul. These instructions are for you, the soul.

Ordinary life changed forever for SALTS trainee Bayley Gabert (19) just four days after last Christmas. That was the day her family’s beloved farm house in the northern BC Rockies caught fire. Knowing that the nearest fire department was more than 45 minutes away, Bayley's family worked tirelessly to fight the flames. Eventually they had no choice but to escape with the clothes on their backs.

Last month, Cindy Smith, a teacher at College Heights Secondary School in Prince George, BC climbed aboard for her seventeenth and final SALTS sail. She announced her retirement from teaching last June. Thanks to Cindy, the annual SALTS trip has become a core component of the CHSS school culture.

Another summer season has flown by on us, and how to adequately describe the adventure and relationships that unfolded over the past two months?

Our summer trips this year again provided a delightful combination of warm weather, idyllic swimming holes, old favorite anchorages and new unexplored territory.