Tall Ships Who's Who 

VICTORIA TALL SHIPS SOCIETY

The Victoria Tall Ships® Society is a non-profit organization established in Victoria, British Columbia in May 2003 for the purpose of hosting the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) Tall Ships Challenge® Race during its 2005 visit of west coast ports.  The Society, after hosting the tall ships again in 2008, is now busy planning for the return of the Tall Ships Challenge® from June 9 to 12, 2011. 

SAIL AND LIFE TRAINING SOCIETY (S.A.L.T.S.)

S.A.L.T.S is the proud owner of two Victoria-based tall ships -- the Pacific Grace and the Pacific Swift.  As a non-profit Christian society founded in 1974, S.A.L.T.S. is dedicated to youth training within the atmosphere found onboard tall ships.  Trainees learn to live and work as a team despite differing social and economic backgrounds.  Each year approximately two thousand young people between the ages of 13 and 25 participate in every facet of shipboard life from bosun's chores to helmsmanship.  For more information on S.A.L.T.S., visit www.salts.ca.

MARITIME MUSEUM OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (MMBC)

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia, with the sponsorship of Coast Capital Savings, will once again bring the popular pirate school to life during the Victoria 2008 Tall Ships Festival. Pirate School is open daily during the festival for children 4-9 years old.

The Maritime Museum opened to the public in 1955 and was established as a non-profit society in 1957.  It is housed in the historic 1889 Provincial Law Courts building located in Victoria's Bastion Square - an appropriate setting for the visitor's journey back through history.  The museum tells the colourful story of British Columbia's maritime history, from early Pacific exploration, shipwrecks and whaling, to the days of coastal steamships and the rich tradition of the Royal Canadian Navy.  For more information on the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, visit www.mmbc.bc.ca

AMERICAN SAIL TRAINING ASSOCATION (ASTA)

The American Sail Training Association (ASTA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage character building through sail training, promote sail training in North America, and support education under sail.  The ASTA, in conjunction with Canadian and U.S. ports on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts of North America and in the Great Lakes, organizes the Tall Ships Challenge® Race.  The series of sailing races, cruises, crew rallies and maritime festivals promotes traditionally rigged sailing vessels crewed by young people (either civilians or cadets) ages 13 to 25.  For more information on ASTA, visit www.tallships.sailtraining.org