“National Maritime Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing lives and inspiring young minds through maritime adventures,” so reads their Web site. Intriguing, innit matey? Read on then, lubber!

NMHF was founded in April 2000 to develop the knowledge of maritime heritage of our community, whose roots are tied to the local waterways. Kevin Traver, the executive director of NMHF and Capitol Hill resident, “got involved with NMHF by volunteering to teach inner-city youth to sail in 2003 and 2004...I have been a lifelong sailor, and my family has owned and operated Crocker’s Boatyard in New London, Connecticut, for over 125 years,” he explains. “We have sailing programs for all ages! Seniors – [Ward 6 Councilmember] Tommy Wells is especially interested in developing this type of project – adults, high school students, kids and families,” Traver effuses. “Every other Friday night this summer we will be doing our Members and Friends Cruise onboard American Spirit. This is a great sunset cruise.”

SAILING PROGRAMS

Kids Set Sail
A big part of the heart of NMHF is Kids Set Sail, a life-skills-building boating course for area youth. Children ages 8 to 14 learn teamwork and respect for the environment while having fun and learning how to handle a small boat.
KSS is why Traver is doing what he does. “Just a couple of months ago,” he begins, “I was introduced to a young man who has been through our Kids Set Sail program. He was in a great program at the Washington Jesuit Academy, who NMHF partners with every summer to give WJA students a good week on the water. This young man has his choice of schools to attend in the area. He specifically choose a school that had a sailing program. It was one of those moments that you know you are making a difference in young people’s lives.”
At the end of the one-week sessions, children will have the opportunity to become US Sailing Level One certified. NMHF offers beginner, intermediate and racing week-long programs and is currently still open for new students.

National Capital High School Sailing
The National Capital High School Sailing, located at the Gangplank Marina on the Southwest Waterfront, provides technical instruction for high school sailing teams. Beginners are taught to sail, and the knowledge of experienced young sailors is fine-tuned to include topics such as weather and boating safety. Students are taught to be respectful, responsible and sporting while learning a competitive skill that is fast-growing among Mid-Atlantic high schools. NMHF encourages its National Capitol High School Sailing alumni to pursue sailing at one of the 154 US colleges and universities that offer sailing programs.

DC Sail
District Community Sailing is an exciting and affordable membership-based community sailing program for everyone. Benefits include boat rentals, Tuesday night races and lessons for every sailing skill level. You can even hold a group-sailing event with friends or as an exercise in office teambuilding. DC Sail seeks to get the community familiar with and involved in the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Money raised through membership supports the Kids Set Sail program.

Maritime Education
Our nation's capital was built on a system of waterways. The little stone structures that we drive past on Constitution Avenue were once canal locks. NMHF maritime education programs make history a real and tactile experience, while learning math, science, physics and geography. “We are creating original ways of viewing and encouraging new patterns of behavior by placing students on the water in a hands-on learning environment. For example,” Traver explains, “if the learning area is geography we look at charts of the Chesapeake Bay and plot how students could sail from Washington to Baltimore or Norfolk. If the learning area is physics we work on how sails are air foils or how the water interacts with the hull of a sailing vessel.”

The Schooner American Spirit Education Program takes a real boat – a restored 65-foot schooner – and makes it a living classroom. Students are immersed in the maritime 1800s for a three-hour tour. They help raise the sails on the vessel then move among learning stations while traveling to area ports along the Chesapeake.

Spirit-in-School is a 16-foot-tall replica of a ship that visits local schools and community events. It houses an interactive educational curriculum designed to teach fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders about DC’s maritime history through a hands-on experience. Over 3,000 kids in three years have taken part in the program, learning from volunteers dressed in 19th-century costume.

The Future of NMHF
In 1799, a US Navy schooner named Enterprize (sometimes known as Enterprise) was built in St. Michaels, Md. It served during the Quasi-War with France, it was here during the War of 1812, it defended trade against marauders, and it was as revered then as an able vessel as it is now to fans of maritime history. NMHF has plans to replicate it in the form of the Spirit of Enterprize. The ship will be not only a piece of Naval history come to life, but also of Washington history, as it was stationed in the area and restored after battle at the Washington Naval Yard.

The tall ship will be a working, sailable ship to be forged by skilled craftsmen. The building process will be as much as an educational experience for area youth as the finished product. Once constructed, the ship will be available for special events, acting as a source of income for Kids Set Sail and other NMHF programs, as well as being a draw to the waterfront.

NMHF plans to create The Washington Maritime Center on the Southwest Waterfront to serve as a base for its community sailing and maritime education programs, as well as a permanent home for American Spirit and the future Spirit of Enterprize. “The most unbelievably exciting thing that has happened to NMHF is our inclusion in the Southwest Waterfront redevelopment project,” says Traver. “For a growing organization to be included in this type of project with great partners like the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and P.N. Hoffman is almost not believable.”

Come Aboard
“We are working to dispel [the preconception] that sailing is an elitist activity for only the very rich,” says Traver. “We are also working hard to dispel the notion that sailing is only a ‘sport’ and not a true educational experience for our students. Last year, 67 percent of the students NMHF put on the water had never been on the Anacostia or Potomac rivers. This is real change, this is opening up a new world to students and introducing them to a new environment, this is reconnecting people to the water here in DC.”

There are maritime events on the NMHF calendar to appeal to the whole family. In March, they hosted Captain Bill Pinkney, who discussed with children his voyage around the world on the Freedom Schooner Amistad. The next big racing event is the BIG Team Regatta in September.