Barely a day after we waved off our first crew, certificates in hand and safely on their way home, the boat was scrubbed, reprovisioned, and ready for the next arrivals. Our second trip of summer 2026 was an all-boys crew, and they wasted no time. Within hours of landing they had their first lessons in de-docking and anchoring; by the evening they were swimming off the boat, eating Allen’s fajitas, and getting an early night before the real work began.
Day two was their first full sail, and it opened, as these trips tend to, with man overboard drills. All four boys took turns in the different roles, and let us just say some rescues were more successful than others. Justin took the helm for the sail to Deep Bay and turned out to be a natural, calm and instinctive at the wheel. We anchored up to snorkel and spot turtles, then hiked up to the fort and on across to the neighbouring island. That evening, being Father’s Day, everyone rang home to their dads before devotions, a small thing that meant a great deal so far from home.
The sailing kept testing them, and God kept providing. For several days the mainsail was out of action, torn and only just repairable, so the boys learned to sail on the jib alone. Then, while everyone was ashore at sports camp, the sail came back fixed, an answered prayer, and the next morning Jake skippered us four hours upwind to Pigeon Beach with Andrew as the designated sail-raising monkey, Justin on the main halyard, and Luciano on the main sheet. When that mainsail finally went up, the cheer said everything.
Between the mission days there was room for the boys to simply be boys. Free time at Fryes Beach spent collecting coconuts, climbing rocks, and cracking the coconuts open for dessert. A picnic at Fort St James, exploring the cannons and the abandoned restaurant. An evening ashore to watch England play in the World Cup, the first time some of them had ever seen their national team, and later the USA game to send the crew off on their final night. Kairo cooked a dish from home in Hawaii; Andrew’s birthday was marked with the steak fajitas he chose and a chocolate cake baked on board.
The grand finale was a very early start to beat the waves across to Barbuda, Justin skippering the whole way and loving every minute, then a bonfire on the pink sand beach, marshmallows, and devotions under a sky with nothing else around for miles. After that, the longest sail of the trip: ten hours down to Green Island, the helm passing shift by shift between all the boys, then turtles in the shallows and letters written to their future selves to be opened back home.
Two days later we said our goodbyes. Thank you, boys, for being such a blessing to the boat. The route: Antigua, Barbuda, Green Island, and home to Antigua. Find out more about Teen Summer Camp, or follow the whole journey.