SSV Tabor Boy

A Most Unique Asset

Part sail training vessel, part classroom, and part lab, the SSV Tabor Boy is a unique educational asset of our school by the sea. The Tabor Boy is a ninety-two foot, gaff-rigged, two-masted schooner that has been a part of the school since 1954. SSV stands for “Sailing School Vessel” and is the U.S. Coast Guard’s designation for the schooner. She is one of two Coast Guard inspected vessels in her class that operate in the northeastern United States. Tabor Boy is inspected and constructed as suitable for off-shore, open ocean passage making.

Team-Building and Character Development

Each fall and spring, the schooner is used as a sail training vessel. The crew is comprised of twenty-two students under the leadership of Captain Jay Amster and a student executive officer (XO). Team-building and character-building are hallmarks of the program in addition to sail training and seamanship. During the summer , the schooner takes groups of 12-15 incoming Tabor students on one of six, week-long cruises off the coast of Massachusetts, combining an ocean ecology and sail-training curriculum. Close to 100 students participate in this orientation program each summer. Tabor Boy has even headed to the Caribbean as students participated in coral reef ecology research.