La Saga Tahiti ~ Sometimes A Saga Has A Happy Ending.

During out travels on board Ticket to Ride and Let It Be, Frank and I occasionally saw sailing schools/camps for children. This was especially true in the US and Mexico. TTR even boasts two tiny scratches from young dinghy sailors who weren’t quite capable of directing their sailboats. One is from an incident in San Diego while we were on anchor. The other scratch occurred while we were in a marina in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Sadly, since arriving in French Polynesia, we have seen very few recreational sailors and even fewer children on small sailboats unless they were from a cruising boat with a sailing dinghy.

So imagine our surprise and delight when we rounded the corner toward Motu Murmahora, Huahine and saw dozens of small sailboats cruising around the bay!

Of course Frank and I had to learn more about this anomaly and determine if this was a yacht club, a sailing school, a camp or a place where we could go sail small boats!

What we found was so much more than we expected. We had stumbled across La Saga Tahiti!

La Saga Tahiti was founded in 1990 by Henri Cornette de Saint-Cyr and his “Sailing School of Arue”, Tahiti. This 30 year old program is designed to afford an opportunity for underprivileged or at risk children to learn to sail and connect with the sea. Children are usually chosen by social workers familiar with their circumstances, targeting those in foster care, under judicial orders or those from families of very modest income.

The goal of the program is to reconnect children with their own abilities and confidence, reconnect them with the community and connect them to the sea that is so vital to their heritage.

In 2022 between June 26 and July 31st, 720 children attended La Saga and all of them were hosted in private, voluntary homes around the island. This equates to 144 children per week attending the La Saga camp. In Huahine this year, 50 different homes hosted the children, which means each household hosted 2-3 kids per week. In addition, the 110 instructors, social workers, counselors, cooks and medical staff who attended these children were also housed locally. (I don’t have the exact numbers for 2023.)

While Frank and I were anchored near the camp, we watched kids who were just beginning their experience and we observed those who were completing their week. It certainly appeared that by the end of the week there was much improvement in the movement and management of the sailboats. Kids sure learn fast!!

It was especially interesting to watch the show when the wind really kicked up. I counted 41 sailboats on the water and those instructors were super busy motoring from one capsized sailboat to another! For the most part, the upendings were cause for laughter and then teamwork to right the boat. Only once did we see an equipment failure which required a sailboat to be towed. We did see several instances where a string of boats was pulled back up wind by the instructor boat.

Throughout the weeks, it was very evident that the instructors were experienced and, with all of the kids wearing lifejackets, safety was not a concern.

Strictly by the numbers, during its first 29 years, La Saga sailing camp has welcomed 19,554 children. 1297 host families have opened their homes and 130 sailboats have been used. I do not know the total number of volunteers or workers involved in this initiative during the first 29 years.

What an amazing and heartwarming program!

All through the weeks, the laughter and shrieks of joy could be heard from the camp. One day that was devoid of wind, Frank and I dinghied over to the camp waters where the kids were maximizing their non-sailing water time. Activity abounded with some swimming, others playing water volleyball, some attempting to SUP, and others calling out and playing games. A couple of kids came over to our dinghy and we tried to chat with them in our broken French and their mostly Polynesian language. Not a ton was communicated except that we were happy to see them having fun and they were thrilled with their camp experience.

Honestly, it was joyous to hear the sounds of kids playing with abandon – and without electronics.

One interesting aspect to La Saga is that every year the location of the camp is changed from one island to another. Camp has been held in Tahiti, Bora Bora, Huahine, Maupiti, Raiatea, Moorea and other islands. Which means the organizers must move all of the sailboats, find host families on different islands, arrange transportation from the homes to the school, provision and cook food for a bunch of hungry kids, and many other logistics. Amazing.

On Huahine, the camp was on a motu, a small island on the surrounding coral reef, so every morning and afternoon, all of those kids had to be shuttled from the island, across the water to the motu where camp was staged. That is a huge amount of coordination.

All in all, observing La Saga was great fun for Frank and me. While we were industriously polishing the hulls of TTR, we could listen to the sounds of the kids and instructors and watch the little sailboats cruise by or get dragged like a string of pearls back up wind.

After researching La Saga, Frank and I have looked into ways to support the camp. (The donation page was a little glitchy.) If you have any interest in supporting La Saga or learning more about it, please follow the link above or this link to their Facebook page.

These days we hear so much negative news about selfishness and disagreements, that learning about this ongoing program targeting less fortunate children was extremely welcome. Perhaps you agree and will consider making a donation to support this low profile and worthwhile camp.

According to the La Saga Tahiti website, these are the official objectives of La Saga summer camp:

– (Re)create the link between the suffering child and society
– Train young people and lead them to become autonomous beings with a sense of respect, education
– Offer a serious, motivated and professional framework at the service of children
– Help young people regain confidence in themselves, in their abilities and give them the right to be heard, recognized, respected for their own merit
– Transmit and inculcate human values: a taste for effort, courage , the spirit of initiative, the sense of anticipation, balance, mutual aid through sport, sailing.

Frank and I have NO affiliation with La Saga Tahiti. We only know what we have read about online and observed. However, we were so happy to see the joy of these kids and learn about the goals and methods of the program that we wanted to share the story. Regardless of whether you make a donation or not, we hope learning about La Saga and the positive difference they are making has brightened you day.

As always, thank you for stopping by to read our blog. We hope this positive outreach program brings a smile to your face and lifts your spirits. As alway, we wish you good health and happy adventures. If you would like to hear from us more often, please see our Facebook or Instagram pages.