Thank you

 Sailing Ships Maine receives support from many places enabling most students to experience these programs for free. Thanks to the many who have helped change student perspectives (and careers) with donations of products, boats, gear, time and expertise.

Thank you to Hamilton Marine for their support of youth education at sea and for the amazing support and good humor of their staff in Portland.

Thank you to Bowdoinham Rowing for their support of our new community rowing programs including showing us and our students how to build a 32 foot Cornish gig.

Thank you to the Phineas W. Sprague Memorial Foundation for providing financial aid for our high school sail training programs in 2024.

Thank you to retired board member Willy Ritch-Smith for 9 years of support and leadership. Many of his critical contributions were made quietly and especially during the most interesting moments.

Thank you to Epifanes North America for their support of our sailing and rowing programs. They are always there for youth education and we try to pay it forward by teaching the next generation how to use their great products.

Thank you to Maine Yacht Center and our recent board member Brian Harris for their support of youth education at sea. Maine Yacht Center is where Schooner Sara Jane and Brightside are launched and stepped each year and where our small fleet of Ensigns has been living. Thank you for your steady support of youth education.

Thank you to Darren Wiseman, volunteer, who shows up to help us with our donated boats program while absorbing knowledge and spreading enthusiasm

Thank you to Dave Hoch, volunteer, who is creating a community rowing program in Portland and who also never fails to amaze all volunteers with his patience and sense of humor.

Thank you to James Geil for his donation of a lovely Bullseye in honor of his twin brother Daniel Geil. And also for sharing a copy of his autobiography Sailing A North Sea Pilot Schooner; My Years Aboard Tabor Boy.

Thank you Kevin McManus for your support of youth education at sea and your recent donation of your family’s sailboat Legacy.

Thank you Petit Paint for more than 50 years of sail training support. Your bottom and topside paints have protected literally thousands of students across millions of miles at sea.

Thank you Captain Natasha Salvo for creating our own Women to Women sailing programs this year. These programs were inspired in part by Sharon Greenlaw and we are thankful for her encouragement. And Natasha created the programs and made our first season successful.

Thank you Pete Feeney for showing us the way in fixed seat rowing and for sharing your amazing non-profit marine facilities in Bowdoinham where we repair, build and store boats.

Thank you David Baker for keeping our trailers safe, our bearings cool and our lights flashing.

Thank you Will Gerstmyer, volunteer, for helping with our donated boats program, an important source of inspiration and revenue for the organization

Thank you Linda Woodruff for helping recruit students from Sanford, Maine and working with the school to develop winter programs.

Thank you Steven Hayworth, volunteer, for leading our scouting programs - including our new Explorer program - and for picking up donated boats and trailers from all over the Northeast.

Thank you Andy Nash, volunteer, for your tireless work with Sea Cadets and for putting the salt water back into Sea Cadets.

Thank you Willo Scott for the amazing and very hard work you do advocating for kids who need support and for educating us on ways to help prevent kids from falling through the cracks.

Thank you Penny Sparacino for reaching out to us from Durham, NC and sending foul weather gear and sailing gloves. This gear is already in use by students from the MET school sailing the last week of September along the Maine Coast in a program sponsored by the Geiger Foundation. And the gear will see plenty of usage in the future.