Today’s featured segment is Part 1 of a 2 Part interview with Captain Ken Greff, president of the board of Sound Experience. Sound Experience is the caretaker of the 1913 BB Crowninshield designed gaff rigged 101ʹ schooner Adventuress.

Ken spent his early youth in San Francisco and his family settled on Mercer Island, WA when Ken was in grade school. Greff stream fished with his parents and dabbled in sailing small boats on Lake Washington with his high school buddies.

While attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, one of Ken’s professors invited him to crew on a T-Bird sailboat for a Bellingham Bay race. Ken jumped at the chance, and got “hooked” on keel boat sailing which he enjoyed as often as possible during his college years.

During his school teaching years, Ken heard about the bicentennial parade of tall ships in NY Harbor and the sail training programs for youth. At the time, he was working with troubled kids in the school system and was interested in helping these kids build character and leadership skills through an alternative means such as sail training.

Greff began inquiring locally about sail training and eventually was advised to connect with Youth Adventure who owned the historic schooner Adventuress and was using her to train youth. Ken saw Adventuress for the first time at the Seattle waterfront during a tall ship festival and was immediately taken by the youth aboard who were jovially singing and warmly welcoming him. Ken began volunteering that fall of 1978 and has never looked back!

Tune in again next week for Part 2 (Episode 75).

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Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.