Photo: The brigantines, Pathfinder and Playfair, momentarily peaceful between journeys. On the journeys, each vessel carries a crew of 30.
The Brigantine Society (www.brigs.ca) is a Canadian charity which operates two tall ships, the Pathfinder and the Playfair. The society’s purpose is to provide character building experiences for young Canadians, 13 to 18.
The ships each carry a crew of 30: 18 paying crew who do most of the work, 10 volunteer crew, plus the captain and first mate. The volunteers are people of the same age group as the guests, who have done the paid program in past and have volunteered to teach/help/supervise.
Cruises/journeys vary from 3 to 14 days; generally they start at one port and end at a different port. The two ships spent a few days in Tobermory at the end of July for provisioning and a crew change. This came at the end of a 7-day cruise that began in Midland; it included two days and nights sailing up the middle of Georgian Bay, entirely under sail and out of sight of land.
The brigantines may return to Tobermory later in the summer for another crew change/provisioning stop.
