The Maritime Museum of San Diego is putting out a call to aspiring sailors, seeking volunteers to help maintain and sail some of its famous, historic tall ships.
The museum – located along scenic Embarcadero at the San Diego Bay – is looking for volunteers to help with the upkeep of tall ships from four different centuries: the 18th century HMS Surprise, a full rigged Frigate; the 19th century Californian, a Tops’l schooner; the 19th century three-masted Bark Star of India, the 20th century steam yacht Medea; and the newly-built 16th century Spanish Galleon, San Salvador.
Volunteers won’t just get to help with the maintenance of the ships – they’ll get to sail them, too.
To that end, the Maritime Museum will host an orientation for crew on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. aboard the Star of India’s orlop deck. To register for the volunteer project, click here.
After orientation, volunteers will be invited back for their first official class on Jan. 24, at 8 a.m. sharp. Classes for this program will continue every Sunday through March 6, according to the Maritime Museum.
At these training classes, volunteers will learn how to sail the museum’s tall ships, including key skills like knot-tying, laying aloft – climbing the rigging – sail setting, sail theory, maintenance of the ships and more.
Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and members of the Maritime Museum. They must also have valid health insurance. The classes are free to volunteers who meet those guidelines.
The new crew will join the museum’s well-established community of volunteer shipmates.
The Maritime Museum of San Diego specializes in restoring, maintaining and operating historic vessels and boasts one of the world’s finest collections of historic ships, including the iconic Star of India. Recently, the museum even hosted reenactments of cannon battles on the bay.
