The Schooner RUTH Youth Seamanship Skills Training Programme
A classroom with no walls and a following sea.
Operated by S V RUTH Ltd, the programme gives Barbadian young people a berth aboard a working tallship — and with it, skills, discipline and a route into the island's maritime trades.
Vision
That the Barbados built tallship Schooner RUTH will be used to provide young Barbadians with a powerful tool to develop themselves in the virtues of self confidence, responsibility, freedom, teamwork, independence, respect, solidarity, conservation and seamanship.
In plain terms: a new generation carrying Barbados’ seafaring knowledge forward, creating livelihoods at sea and sustaining the island schooner tradition for years to come.
Mission
That S V RUTH Limited – Blue Star Navigation may provide seamanship skills training to the highest standards and requirements of the IMO SCV Code for Small Commercial Vessels operating in the Caribbean Trading area, and the Barbados Maritime Transport Administration.
Through practical voyages aboard RUTH, we teach seamanship, navigation, safety, teamwork and responsible cargo handling while preserving Barbados’ maritime heritage and opening pathways into the maritime trades.
Seamanship from the deck up
Knots, splices, sail handling, helm and lookout — taught by doing, on a vessel that needs the work done.
Coastal navigation
Chartwork, buoyage, tides and weather reading along the Barbados leeward coast.
Safety and responsibility
Man-overboard drills, lifejacket discipline, firefighting basics and emergency muster.
Teamwork and character
Watch rotations build punctuality, communication and trust that carry ashore.
Heritage
The last of the island schooners
Sailing schooners were once the arteries of the Eastern Caribbean, built on Caribbean beaches and on the foreshores of the Canadian Maritime provinces and crewed by families who knew every reef between here and Trinidad. RUTH keeps that shipwrightry and that seamanship alive, not in a museum, but at sea, working — her steel decks and bronze fittings maintained to the same standard as the day they were fitted.
Guests sailing with us are part of it. Take the helm, haul on a halyard, or simply sit in the shade of the mainsail and watch the coast go by.
Safety briefing
- RUTH is a dry ship. As a youth training vessel she carries no alcohol, and none may be brought aboard by guests.
- Every guest receives a mandatory safety briefing on the jetty 15 minutes before departure. Boarding closes at the briefing.
- Lifejackets are issued to all guests and must be worn as directed by the crew.
- Wear flat, non-marking shoes. Move about the deck with one hand for the ship.
- Guests under 16 must sail with a responsible adult; children under 7 are not carried.
- Advise us of mobility needs, pregnancy or medical conditions when booking so the crew can prepare.
- The Master may reschedule any sailing for weather or sea state. Affected guests are offered an alternative departure.
Anything the crew should know before you sail, or a question about the programme — write to schoonerruth@gmail.com.