Students will bring all gear and food to the island and sleep in tents. Instructors will guide students through the basics of remote camp living, turning over responsibility to students as the course progresses Throughout the days, students and instructors use the island as a base for activities like sailing and rowing in a 30’ open pulling boat, rock climbing and rappelling a sea-cliff rising out of the ocean, island hikes, service work, and other outdoor activities that will challenge students to hone leadership skills, collaborate, communicate, solve problems, resolve conflicts while helping students feel a sense of belonging.
Group Dynamics
Rock Climbing (dependent on various factors)
Open Boat Sailing Skills
Island Camping Skills
Your course is based on Burnt Island, a 265-acre, private island 4 miles from shore along the coast of Maine. With an intricate shoreline, the Maine coast is a unique segment of the North Atlantic seaboard. It is renowned among sailors for its picturesque beauty, iconic lighthouses, abundant bays and harbors, rocky islands, and quiet coves. Our potential cruising area covers nearly 200 miles of the Maine coast, with countless rivers, bays, and islands to explore. The rocky, spruce-covered islands are the summits of a prehistoric mountain range. Many generations of inhabitants have made their livelihoods here. Evidence left behind on the islands reveals the historic presence of indigenous Abenaki camps, pre-colonial fishing communities, post-colonial timber and farming operations, and early 20th-century granite quarries. Cold, nutrient-rich waters flow from the Canadian Maritimes and make the Gulf of Maine home to a wide range of sea birds, seals, porpoises, and whales.
During your course you may have the opportunity to do some rock climbing on one of this area’s many granite cliffs or on our ropes course at the Outward Bound basecamp. You will learn to use climbing equipment, tie knots, climb and belay each other, while instructors provide overall supervision of the site. Climbing gives you a chance to practice your balance, coordination, and flexibility as well as the group’s ability to trust and encourage each other.
It is important to keep in mind that being able to climb is dependent on a variety of factors such as weather, course route/length, and staffing availability. We intend to have this be an element of your course, but it is not guaranteed.
Service projects are often incorporated into Outward Bound courses through coordination with local land managers, conservation groups, government agencies or social service agencies. While in the wilderness, students are encouraged to practice service to the environment and their team by sharing responsibilities and following Recreate Responsibly ethics throughout the expedition.
Our courses end with a Personal Challenge Event, an individual final physical push. These events typically take the form of a running and/or swimming activity, though may include another element that you learned during your course. This event is a chance to finish your Outward Bound Experience with a true personal challenge where you can own all of your decisions and efforts in contrast to the time you have spent operating within an expedition team.
You will spend time aboard our 30-foot open sailboat. These seaworthy boats are sailed and rowed, depending on weather and destination. Underway, you will learn to set your sails properly for sailing at different angles to the wind and to anticipate and respond to changes in weather and navigation needs. As you practice rowing, two to six of you at one time, you will discover that by coordinating all rowers’ movements so that the oars work as one, you halve the effort it takes to travel on windless days.
For the one or two nights spent sleeping on the pulling boat, the deck will be configured as a sleeping platform. Through the night you and your watch mates will take turns at anchor watch under brilliant night skies.