COURSE OVERVIEW

Florida Keys Sailing

Florida Keys sailing expeditions explore the subtropical marine wilderness of Florida Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and may venture as far as the remote reaches of the Everglades. This is an opportunity for those seeking a fresh challenge in a unique marine environment and an intense team setting. Our 30-foot open sailboat serves as both home and classroom. In a phased teaching progression, instructors will introduce beginning, intermediate and advanced skills in chart and compass navigation, small boat seamanship, weather observation, and anchoring. Regular group discussions allow for reflection on each day’s progress, and ensure that leadership and onboard responsibilities are shared so that every crew member is integral to planning the next day. Through living and working closely together, students learn far more than seamanship. The habits learned and strengthened through this sailing expedition will serve students for life, and for whatever challenge is next.

Your course will begin at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. You and your watch mates will travel by shuttle to Big Pine Key. Here you will meet your instructors and get a basic introduction to your boat and briefings on emergency procedures. You will soon cast off lines and begin your adventure on the water. All courses are “expedition-based,” which means that you will leave the dock on the first day of your course and not return to it until the end of your course. You will travel with all you need to conduct your expedition: stoves, shelters, food, and water, etc. You will row or sail nearly every day, developing skills as you travel along your planned route. Bathing occurs daily with an ocean swim. There are no showers, no bathrooms, no telephones, no television, nor many other modern luxuries that you may be accustomed to. You should come to your course physically and emotionally prepared for and excited about devoting all of your time and energy to your expedition, your group, and your Outward Bound experience.

Arriving physically fit will enhance your experience and ability to do well on the course and ultimately allow you to take full advantage of the expedition. We will teach you everything you need to know: sail handling, steering, anchoring, navigating using chart and compass, and living comfortably aboard a small open boat.

Course Skills

Expedition Skills

  • Emergency preparedness
  • Safety management and basic first aid
  • Campsite selection & Route finding
  • Shelter construction
  • Outdoor cooking
  • Conservation practices
  • Ropes and knots
  • Stove use and maintenance
  • Recreate Responsibly wilderness ethics
  • Nutrition and ration planning
  • Navigation using map/chart & compass

Group Dynamics

  • Leadership and decision making
  • Followership and expedition behavior
  • Communication & Conflict Resolution
  • Individual and group goal setting

Open Boat Sailing Skills

  • Boat handling skills, sailing and seamanship  
  • Live aboard skills
  • Tides, currents, and weather forecasting 
  • Anchoring 
  • Marlinespike seamanship
Course Area

Your course area in the Florida Keys is home to numerous birds and abundant marine life, is rich with the confluence of water flowing out of the Everglades into inner Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The waterways are shallow and intricate, providing an exciting cruising area for Outward Bound’s nimble shallow-draft sailboats.

Sailing courses cruise in three general areas. The backcountry offers challenging shoal draft navigation and the opportunity to explore mangrove keys, tidal flats and coral patch reefs. The Atlantic side offers excellent snorkeling at the outer reefs and open water sailing. The Everglades has beautiful sand beaches and a maze of rivers and bays to explore. Throughout the region, the turquoise waters, warm temperatures and prevailing easterly winds provide exceptional sailing, both day and night! Actual itineraries are based on weather, currents and length of course. 

In Florida the HIOBS course area regions are the ancestral lands of the Seminole, Matecumbe, Cuchiyaga and Guarungumbe nations.

Course Progression

The essential goal of any Outward Bound course is for the students to learn autonomy. Our expedition curriculum supports this happening in a progressive way.

During the first third of a course (a phase called “training expedition”), the instructors are very present in the group. They teach outdoor skills, the technical aspects of the activities and guide the students as they form a team.

In the middle third of the course (what we call the “main expedition”), the instructors take a step back so students may step forward. Students begin to teach what they’ve already learned to each other, and experiment with applying basic skills to bigger challenges. The instructors continue to coach and support as the students practice leadership roles. When the group meets a particular situation, environment or activity they haven’t learned about before, the instructors jump back in and teach. Each time this happens, the group reaches competency more quickly.

By the last third of the course (the “final expedition”), students are the stars of the show. They are applying what they know, leading each other, setting goals, and solving problems collaboratively. The instructors are close by and ready to step back in to prevent a safety issue from occurring but will let students find their own resiliency when they make mistakes, and ensure they feel the full spotlight of success when they meet their goals.

Course Activities
Sailing

The 30-foot open sailboat is your home and classroom. Our boats are very seaworthy, fun to operate, and perfect for a team adventure. The boats are rigged to take full advantage of the power of the subtropical trade winds, and when the winds do not cooperate, the boats can be rowed by two or four people pulling on oars. At night the boat can be configured as a sleeping platform and you and your watch mates will take turns doing anchor watch under brilliant night skies. Underway, you will learn to adjust sails properly for sailing at different angles to the wind and execute sailing maneuvers like tacking and gybing, which turn the boat through the wind. As you practice rowing, you will discover that by coordinating all of the rower’s movements so that the oars splash as one, you halve the effort it takes to travel on windless days. You will learn to navigate using a chart and compass and among the thick and similar-looking mangrove islands, precision in plotting your course and concentration on the environment around you will prove essential in arriving accurately at your destination. It takes an entire crew to sail or row the boat well; the whole crew must participate mentally and physically. In addition to the challenges of moving the boat, living together aboard this small vessel requires commitment to the support of your crew-mates, and your community as a whole. As your expedition progresses, your accomplishments in all these areas result in a truly memorable journey.

Solo

The solo experience is a standard element of Outward Bound courses. With sufficient food and equipment, you will set up camp at a site on your own. The solo will last anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the length of your course. Your solo site is chosen to offer as much solitude as possible, yet be within hearing distance of other group members. You will not travel during this time alone, and your instructors will check on you occasionally. The solitude and break from the fast pace of your expedition allows for rest and personal reflection, which is necessary to make the most of your experience.

Service

Service projects are often incorporated into Outward Bound courses through coordination with local land managers, conservation groups, government agencies or social service agencies. While in the wilderness, students are encouraged to practice service to the environment and their team by sharing responsibilities and following Recreate Responsibly ethics throughout the expedition.

Personal Challenge Event 

Our courses end with a Personal Challenge Event, an individual final physical push. These events might take the form of a running, rowing or swimming activity, or it may be a combination of the three.  This event is a chance to finish your Outward Bound Experience with a true personal challenge where you can own all of your decisions and efforts in contrast to the time you have spent operating within an expedition team.

Program Outcomes

On your HIOBS program, you will learn four important Outward Bound Core Values:

  • Compassion
  • Integrity
  • Excellence
  • Inclusion and Diversity

Some of the most important lessons you take home are learning about yourself and your community while acquiring backcountry skills and having an adventure. As you will be traveling through wild places on your expedition, you’ll also learn to protect and appreciate the unique, unspoiled environments through which you travel.

High School Courses

High school is a time of transition, developing learning and life skills while preparing for what’s next, be it college, a career or a gap year adventure. To get ready for increased independence, teens must be impelled to step up and make choices that have real consequences for themselves and others, with the support and supervision of knowledgeable and compassionate adults. Outward Bound instructors on Teen Courses specialize in coaching students to meet challenges and make good decisions, independently and as a group. Teen Courses are designed to be the perfect expedition classroom for this stage of life. 

Students need only to be physically fit and motivated to learn and work together. No previous wilderness experience is necessary—all travel and leadership skills are taught from the beginning, and each phase of the expedition builds on the previous one. By land or by sea, an expedition requires initiative, teamwork and problem solving, skills that will take them to any horizons they strive for.