A dream project of three Sarasota, Florida sailors last year is now a sailing classroom aboard the seventy-two foot Clements, a gaff-rigged historic Gulf Coast schooner. Collectively, they envisioned a schooner as the platform for serving the mission of the new organization: to work in unifying actions that heal us individually and collectively as we learn to live in balance with our Florida Gulf Coast estuaries, bays and coastlines.

Declared the "official schoolship" of Sarasota county by the Board of Commissioners, the Aquarian Quest project teaches children about ecology, marine life, care of the environment and introduces them to the challenges of sailing. A primary theme in the program is to create an awareness of, and personal relationship with nature and the environment.

large vessel presents an excellent opportunity for personal growth.

The underlying belief of the project is that by integrating these elements we create an environment that combines learning cooperative social skills, community building, teamwork, trust and self-esteem with the challenge of applying and using these skills immediately and seeing the results.

The Aquarian Quest contracts with school districts to introduce the next generation of adults to the physics of sailing, the math of navigation and the biology of the life that lives beneath her planked hull.

The thrust of the program is to instill responsible stewardship in the students for the earth and sea, and let them come to understand that we are responsible for the water and watershed systems of our environment.