— Day 3 —

First Youth Program

BEN BOOTH

Voyager was the first boat built by Dharma Voyage, back in 2011 (9 years old now, and many, many miles!). The Voyager project really launched our efforts to reach young people within a platform that they could connect to. While we started Dharma Voyage with Tai Chi classes, the introduction of the Voyager was a way to reach youth and to teach them the same essential life changing skills that we were teaching within the Tai Chi classes in a “package” that would translate well for teens. Our first young people reached were, appropriately, a group of rowdy young men.

Andrew Avault is a good friend of mine, works as a social worker, and had been employed by the Penikese Island School. The Penikese school was a residential program for troubled boys. All these young men were “in the system” and had one or many challenges that ranged from repeated incarcerations, drug abuse, etc. Most had little or no home support, and had cycled through youth shelters and other programs.

When we started building Voyager, we were given some space at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in central MA as a building location, and Andrew rounded up a few Penikese alum to put their hands to constructive use.

One young man, Nelson, stands out in particular. We’d round up Nelson from whatever digs he had happened to land in the evening before, and truck him out to the woods to build this gig. It was amazing to see this total city kid trekking through the overgrown field in the middle of nowhere to build a boat. Once he got the simple rules of no making knives out of the boatbuilding tools, Nelson settled into a routine of quite productive work. The redundancy of laying plank after plank allowed us to talk, and for Nelson to open up a bit from his protective shell. An artistic creativity emerged from his mind and hands, and the vision of a truly kind and beautiful person emerged. I think that is really all we were trying to do – create a space for these young folks to just Be, without pressure or expectations.

A few days after launch, Voyager went out to Penikese Island for her first rowing program. Andrew rounded up our crew of “lost Penikese boys” and out we went. These guys have lived a life of conflict and opposition. They’ve been cycled through programs and institutions. Our goal was to let them be on the island without a rule-heavy structure or institutionalized schedule, and give them the opportunity to mess around in the boat at their own pace. They wanted to go fishing, to jump off the boat. They had to learn how to row to get the boat out to the fish, so we met their motivation with instruction. At first, they all wanted to row their own way, so the boat didn’t go any way. They came together as a team, because they saw the benefit of teamwork (not because we told them “team building will be good for you”). “Guys, I’m here to help, so let me know when you want to do this better!”

They would challenge me as the authority figure to say “no” and I would only tell them “yes, you can.” You want to try to row in the middle of the night? Yes. You want to try to swim out to that offshore rock? Yes, you can. I believe in you. Here’s what you need to think about and the challenges you might face if you want to take that on. Here’s a few things you can try first to make it possible.

The crowning moment of this first excursion for Voyager was the last day we were on the island. It was blowing like crazy. 40 knots plus, straight into the little bay on Penikese. Whitecaps were charging into shore.

“Hey guys, want to try to take the boat out?” They were up for it.

For those who have been in Voyager, you know how that boat can be blown around in a wind. These guys were jumping. We had to launch from the beach, with the wind coming directly on shore (this is why it was essentially a safe venture, as any loss of control would result in us being washed on to a sandy beach rather than out to sea). It was a challenge to even get into the boat.

“You two, hold the boat off the beach, then jump in the boat when we start rowing! Everyone else, get in the boat and ready to row. Ok. Start rowing, now!”

Response time was mere seconds. The crew was on it.

I had no steerage of the boat, as we were too shallow and the wind was too strong, so the challenge was just beginning. It all came down to the Penikese boys’ ability to respond to the boat’s needs.

“Starboard side PULL!” “Now Port! Ok, port hold water, starboard go go go. Ahh shoot, getting blown back to the beach. Bow pair, jump out of the boat now and push the bow off the beach! Be ready to hop back in…ok now!”

It was a rapid fire of commands as the wind whipped us back and forth. There were no words except the occasional “yes sir!” from the crew as we moved through our paces. It was a brilliant display of listening and response; teamwork and individual responsibility; trust and courage. We even managed to get the boat afloat and get enough strokes in to call it success. Yeah man, you guys did the impossible! In a life history of confrontation and defiance, given the chance to display their own hearts resulted in a breathtaking experience.

From that first program I thought surely we are on to something! It’s amazing what the simple act of pulling on an oar with the freedom to be yourself can unlock.

Slideshow - First Youth Program

Please click below to view a collection of photos from the early days of Youth Rowing.