BRUNSWICK

Madeline Henderson wasn’t always the adventurous type.

“Out of our three kids, she was the introvert,” said Elizabeth Henderson, Madeline’s mother. “But a year at sea can change people.”

The idea to attend Class Afloat, a program out of Nova Scotia that allows high schoolers to spend either a semester or full school year aboard the schooner Gulden Leeuw, arose during a family trip to the Caribbean.

“Madeline had never sailed before,” said Elizabeth. “But something awakened in her on that trip.”

“I wanted to try something new,” said Madeline. “Sailing looked like fun. But I learned pretty quickly that tall ships are a lot different than normal sailboats.”

Based out of Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Class Afloat invites students from around the world aboard its 230-foot tall ship to learn, work and live upon the Atlantic. After some paperwork and a few phone calls, Madeline was part of the crew.

“Everything happened so fast,” said Madeline, who spent her entire senior year at sea. “On the flight over to Amsterdam (where we boarded the Gulden Leeuw), I started to wonder what I was doing. I started to doubt my decision.”

Her parents, though enthusiastic about Madeline’s endeavor, shared the same trepidations.

“No parent can say they wouldn’t be a nervous about letting their child go to sea,” said Elizabeth. “But being with the other parents in Amsterdam, talking with them, eased my worries.”

Out of the 43 students who boarded the Gulden Leeuw on Aug. 31, 2015, Madeline was the only student from Maine, and one of only four from the United States. Canada, Barbados, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and South Africa were also represented. Language barriers and foreign cultures didn’t stop the students from bonding instantly.

“We hit a storm two nights into our sail,” Madeline said. “We all got sick, and we were scared. But that’s when the friendships began. You’re with the same people every day for an entire year. You don’t make bonds like that at a normal school.”

The students keep in touch daily through a group text chain, and plan to have reunions every year.

“Storms got more fun for us after that first one,” said Madeline. “Once we got our sea legs, we lived for storms. The captain would let us take turns steering through the waves.”

Madeline said waves sometimes breached 20 feet, and would crash over the deck. But seas like that became routine as the students sailed through the English Channel to Portugal, and then south along the coast of Africa. They made their first Atlantic crossing to Argentina in October.

“There was no Internet or cell service during crossings,” said Madeline.

Atlantic transits typically take 20-30 days, depending on weather. “There were times when the closest people to us were the astronauts on the International Space Station,” she said.

The students grew ever closer, however, and daily routine helped fortify these relationships.

“We had a very strict regimen aboard the ship,” said Madeline. “If you were one minute late to your post, you got a strike. Get too many strikes and you had to stay aboard the ship at the next port, sometimes for a whole day.”

A typical day on the Gulden Leeuw included morning announcements at 8 a.m., deck cleaning and upkeep, classes, rigging and a rotational two-hour watch.

“Watch rotated through the night, so a lot of times you had to get up at 2 a.m.,” said Madeline. “But watch was one of the coolest parts of the voyage. It gave me a sense of teamwork, knowing that others were counting on me. I learned how important it was to be there for one another.”

The Class Afloat journey took the students across the Atlantic three more times before returning to Amsterdam on May 20, 2016. Each crossing had its own drawbacks, including loss of showers and a food shortage.

“We ate nothing but bean sandwiches and bean soup for a week,” said Madeline, laughing. “It wasn’t as funny then.”

Now that she’s back on dry land, Madeline appreciates comforts like hot showers, home-cooked meals and soft, plush couches, but part of her yearns for the camaraderie she built at sea.

“A year at sea was plenty,” said Madeline, who will attend Elon University in North Carolina this fall. “But I would do anything to live it all over again.”

Her younger sister, now in eighth grade, plans to take the Class Afloat journey when she is a senior.

“We encourage students to sign up for Class Afloat,” said Elizabeth Henderson. “You don’t have to be from an upper demographic. There are many scholarships and generous donors who support the program. If we can convince even one other student to attend Class Afloat, we’ll know we’ve changed a life.”

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com

Aboard Gulden Leeuw

• Dates onboard: Aug. 21, 2015 to May 20, 2016

• Days at sea: 214

• Days in port: 49

• Total miles sailed: 22,843

• Countries visited (in order): Netherlands, Portugal, Morocco, Canary Islands, Senegal, Brazil, Argentina, Tristan del Cunha, South Africa, Namibia, Ascension Island, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Azores