Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Bring the kids to the Strictly Sail St. Pete Boat Show and not only do they get in free, they can build a boat while they are there! Parents can relax and visit the Show while their kids are safe and having a good time, enjoying a fun, educational activity at the Kids Aboard Academic Boat Building Workshop. During the four days of the show, the Kids Aboard crew will be leading the children & teens attending the show in building, painting, launching, paddling & sailing two 10 ft. wooden sailboats.
The Workshop is totally free, so bring your kids and grandkids, children & teenagers. They’ll have a blast! Sponsored in part by SailTime Fractional Sailing, the workshop will be conducted from 12 pm to closing each day of the show. Each kid gets a free t-shirt for participating, although parents may have the kids wear some clothes that don’t mind getting paint on them. What better way to introduce boating to kids than by teaching them to build their own boat?

Curtis & MaggiLu Tucker, the captain & first mate of the Kids Aboard crew, publish the watersports magazines AtlanticCoastBoating.com, SailMiami.com and KidsAboard.com. The Tuckers are U.S. certified and bilingual teachers with international experience as well. They are also the parents of three young boaters. As educators, they believe that there is no better learning opportunity than practical experience through hands-on projects. The Kids Aboard Academic Boat Building Workshop is an educational workshop for schools & homeschools, where children and teens learn art, math, science, language arts, music and history, throughout the hands-on project of building a boat.
"One of the best parts of the Workshop is seeing how kids of all ages work together," said Curtis Tucker, who also holds his US Coast Guard 50 Ton Master's license. "The teenagers help the younger kids and become the instructors themselves, to a certain extent...That, and seeing the kids' faces when they finish the boats, launch them, and paddle or sail the craft they've helped build is a real joy to be a part of."