Maine Sailing & Backpacking
Explore rocky shoreline, spruce-covered islands, and rugged peaks during this 22-day journey in Maine.
Maine sailing and backpacking expeditions traverse a variety of wild and rugged environments—from granite shores, intricate rivers and dense islands of the Maine Coast to the peaks of the northern Appalachian Mountain range. At sea, a 30-foot open sailboat serves as both home and classroom. In the mountains, you’ll learn to camp and travel across the wilderness, relying on your group, the supplies you have on hand and the skills you learn as you go. With both sailing and backpacking on the agenda, you’ll learn coastal navigation, small boat seamanship, woods craftsmanship, weather observation, anchoring and campsite selection. Leadership and responsibilities become shared during the journey, and group communication grows as each day’s plan is decided and challenges are discussed. Every crew member is integral and by living and working closely together trusted bonds are formed alongside independent accomplishments.
UPCOMING COURSES
Course # HWTT-2551
Age 16 - 18
Days 22
Cost $7,540
Dates 6/24/2025 - 7/15/2025
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
Course # HWYT-2551
Age 14 - 16
Days 22
Cost $7,540
Dates 7/24/2025 - 8/14/2025
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW – Almost Full
This means there are three or fewer currently available spots left on a course. To secure your spot click Apply Now to begin an application!
JOIN WAITLIST
Once a course has reached capacity, three waitlist positions become available. To join a course’s waitlist, click “Join Waitlist” to begin the application process. A $500 deposit is required. This $500 deposit includes a $150 non-refundable application fee and a $350 tuition payment. The $350 tuition payment is refundable only if you cancel your waitlist application or if an open position does not become available. If a position does become available, the applicant will be applied to the open position and the Application and Cancellation Policies of the Regional Outward Bound School will be followed, including forfeiture of the $500 deposit if you cancel 90 days or less prior to the course start date.
Waitlist applicants are encouraged to complete all required admissions documents while awaiting an open position. Positions may become available up to two weeks prior to the course start date. Applicants may only apply to one course. We recommend applying to a course with open positions instead of a course that is accepting waitlist applications. If you have questions, please call 866-467-7651 to speak with one of our Admissions Advisors.
CALL TO APPLY
This means a course is very close to its start date. Although it is unlikely to secure a spot this late, you can call the National Admissions office at 866-467-7651 to discuss your options.
COURSE IS FULL
When a course has reached maximum capacity, meaning all spots and the three waitlist spots are occupied, a course will read “Course Is Full.” This means applications are no longer being accepted.
CLOSED
As a course nears its start date, the availability status may read “Closed.” In this event, a course roster has been finalized and applications are no longer being accepted or processed.
This trip was an experience of a lifetime that I will not take for granted. I met lifelong friends and we all developed a strong and trusting friendship. I overcame so many obstacles like my fear of spiders, heights, and large bodies of water. I can say I feel like a brand-new person. There were many times where I felt like giving up because things got so difficult, but my group held me up and helped me get through it. Honestly, when I finished the hiking portion, it felt like the greatest accomplishment and now I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to.
Traditional 30-foot sailboats encourage teamwork and leadership like no other classroom. On an open boat with no cabin and no engine, the group will live closely together using only wind and oars to power their way. As they rotate responsibilities during this expedition, students learn the crafts of maneuvering under sail, coastal navigation, rowing and living aboard a small open boat. At night, students sleep on deck under a tarp, taking turns at anchor watch under brilliant night skies.
On this course, students:
- Learn to navigate using a map or a chart and a compass to arrive accurately at the day’s destination across open water.
- Adjust sails properly for sailing at different angles to the wind, and execute sailing maneuvers like tacking and gybing, which turn the boat through the wind.
- Move the boat under oar power, coordinating all of the rowers' movements so that the oars splash as one, precisely maneuvering in and out of secluded anchorages.
- Live (cook, eat, sleep, work and learn) with the group in the backcountry, contributing energy and ideas, sharing tasks and responsibilities and relying on each other.
Backpacking is an ideal combination of team and individual elements. The mountains of Maine are jagged and densely wooded, and the trails are remote, narrow and often steep. Students travel on wilderness footpaths, navigating on and off trails throughout the journey. From atop the mountain peaks, if the weather cooperates, the group’s hard work is rewarded with spectacular views. Living and traveling with just a backpack is a simple existence, in which small choices can make deceptively great differences. To live well in the wilderness, all crew members must share the chores that turn a camp into a home, including setting up tents and tarps, creating a kitchen area, taking turns fetching water and cooking satisfying meals.
Service projects are often incorporated into Outward Bound courses through coordination with local land managers, conservation groups, and government 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.
The Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students quiet time to reflect on the Outward Bound experience. With the basics of food and equipment, and with safety a top priority, students will take some time away from the group to be alone at sites of their own, using the wilderness skills learned during the first parts of the course. Often located along beautiful lake shorelines or peaceful rivers, Solo sites are chosen to offer as much solitude as possible (yet be within emergency whistle-signaling distance of other group members). Most students spend their Solo time journaling, drawing, or just thinking and resting as they process lessons learned and focus on their goals for the future. Instructors check on each participant at regular intervals. The time students spend on Solo depends on the length of the course. On courses of 15-22 days, Solo will include at least one overnight.
The coast of Maine, with its intricate and indented shoreline, 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 sailboat 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, and 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, making the Gulf of Maine home to a wide range of sea birds, seals, porpoises and whales.
The mountains of western Maine and northern New Hampshire comprise the northern end of the Appalachian mountain range. Within this region, the White Mountain National Forest, the Appalachian Trail, the Carter-Mahoosuc Range, the Grafton Loop Trail and the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness all offer classic backpacking terrain. These spruce, fir and hardwood forests are home to hundreds of species of birds as well as moose, deer and black bear. Rushing waterfalls, clear twisting streams and spectacular views from rocky summits reward backpackers ready for adventure. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, which includes the Abenaki/Abénaquis, W∂last∂kwiyik (Maliseet), Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy nations.
Course Stories
This trip was an experience of a lifetime that I will not take for granted. I met lifelong friends and we all developed a strong and trusting friendship. I overcame so many obstacles like my fear of spiders, heights, and large bodies of water. I can say I feel like a brand-new person. There were many times where I felt like giving up because things got so difficult, but my group held me up and helped me get through it. Honestly, when I finished the hiking portion, it felt like the greatest accomplishment and now I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to.
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Getting Started
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.