ALLEN WOLFE, first mate of the schooner Inland Seas, braved chilly winds to install rigging atop the mizzenmast of the 77-foot “schoolship” in its berth at the coal dock in Suttons Bay last Thursday.

INLAND SEAS Education Association volunteers Bob Hagerman, left, and Tom Kastle, prepare rigging on the schooner Inland Seas last week shortly after the “schoolship” returned to Suttons Bay.

Spring has sprung for the Inland Seas Education Association with the return of the “schoolship” Inland Seas to its berth at the old coal dock in Suttons Bay.

The association’s executive director and skipper of the 77-foot schooner, Tom Kelly, said the ice finally disappeared from Suttons Bay on April 5. On April 7, the tall ship motored from its winter berth in Grelickville back to its home port, where crewmembers began re-rigging her for the sailing season.

The first class of students who will embark on an Inland Seas science and history voyage this spring will be a group from Suttons Bay Middle School, on May 1. The day trip will mark the beginning of the 20th “schoolship season.” On May 2, a group of students from the Genesee Area Skill Center will spend the day aboard the schooner Manitou, based in Grelickville.

The schoolship season will end six weeks later with a voyage for students from Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor.

Since its founding in 1989, the Inland Seas Education Association has taken some 75,000 students onto the big lake to learn about Great Lakes ecology and history.

ISEA’s summer season will begin on June 14 with a program for the Great Lakes Lighthouse Association, followed the next week by the association’s first Zonta International-sponsored “Young Women in Science” overnight program. The first “Family Science Sails” of the summer will be held June 27, June 30 and July 1.

Also this summer, ISEA will offer an “Explore Power Island” cruise, a “Maritime History Under Sail” program, an “Astronomy Under Sail” program, and an invasive species research program for teenagers. In addition, a variety sailing adventures will be offered aboard ISEA’s 31-foot sloop Liberty.

The association this spring gained a “Certified Wildlife Habitat” designation from the National Wildlife Federation for the association’s wetland demonstration project on the Suttons Bay shoreline. The project includes a man-made wetland that helps cleanse water runoff from built-up areas of the Village of Suttons Bay before the water flows into the lake. ISEA will offer “Summer Wetland Exploration” programs at its facility and in a nearby marsh in Suttons Bay on Wednesday evenings through much of the summer.

The non-profit association also has displays, a gift shop, a boat shop and other facilities at the Inland Seas Education Center located at 100 Dame Street on the waterfront in the Village of Suttons Bay.
For more information about the Inland Seas Education Association, call 271-3077 or visit www.schoolship.org online.