An iconic vessel used for youth education will welcome young people on board after a two-year hiatus.

Spirit of Bermuda will restart its student voyages in two weeks, with the aim of having 12 trips by the end of the school year.

The move comes after years of financial instability, which John-Paul “JP” Doughty, the head of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, sought to correct with a new business strategy.

Mr Doughty said it was “tremendously rewarding” to restart the programme and added: “I knew this was going to be a challenge, but a hugely worthwhile one.

“This is a rite of passage and an institution in Bermuda that I wanted to see have longevity for the future, and create experiences for the next generation of Bermudians that would come on board.”

The foundation’s voyage programme offers youngsters a chance to sail on board Spirit for five days and four nights.

Teenagers pick up sailing and maritime skills on the ship and take part in experiential classes that teach them science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Mr Doughty said the programme was deeply popular and impacted many children on the island — but was not without its challenges.

He said: “As you can imagine, as a non-profit with a boat and highly skilled crew, that is an operationally challenging thing to run on a year-to-year basis without significant backing.”

The foundation was caught in rough financial waters for three years and even considered selling the vessel if problems did not abate.

The charity mothballed Spirit’s five-day residential voyages after its last sail in June 2024, letting the entire crew go in the process.

Though the ship was kept afloat by charitable donations, the charity suffered greatly from a combination of dwindling donations and a recession on government donations.

The Government instead urged the private sector to help the foundation with costs for Spirit’s American Bureau of Shipping certification.

Mr Doughty, who joined the foundation last October, was tasked with relaunching the entire organisation, which included onboarding new staff and crew as well as charting a new course of action.

The director said the new approach prioritised efficiency and would rely more on use of technology to track funds and charter opportunities to raise cash.

He added that the charity would lean into using the boat for charters and overseas event participation.

These events, Mr Doughty said, would allow the foundation to engage older trainees to give them more experiential training.

The BSF will also launch a new website next week with a new donor portal assisted by artificial intelligence.

Regarding the overhaul, Mr Doughty said: “We still plan to serve our core mission and our core delivery, but we also aim to serve a broader set of stakeholders.

“That diversity in who we serve translates into financial stability.”

The BSF’s next priority, according to Mr Doughty, was ensuring that maintenance and safety on Spirit was up to date.

The vessel will have an all-Bermudian crew for the first time in her history, with the captain and first officer being some of the programme’s first alumni.

Spirit also has an “on-board system” to manage her logistics and repairs, as well as track the costs of repairs.

Mr Doughty said: “The boat is a living, breathing asset that has to be stewarded and taken care of, and for us to deliver our programmes, we have to prioritise that.”

He added: “Having Bermudian crew on Bermuda’s national ship and teaching Bermudian students, I think, is who we are and what we should be doing.”

Mr Doughty reminded the public that Spirit’s youth voyages had been around for 20 years and assisted more than 8,000 young people on island.

He added that because of her legacy, schools and other stakeholders were “overjoyed” to see her return.

Mr Doughty said: “I think there was a real feeling that we may have lost the programmes and the boat itself due to financial reasons.

“Sometimes when you lose something you realise how important it is.”

He added: “I think the community and everybody who is impacted by the Spirit of Bermuda and the foundation realised that we’re not just nice to have — we’ve pretty much become a central part of Bermuda’s educational fabric for young people on the island.”

Mario Swainson, the new captain of Spirit, said he felt a sense of pride to help bring the programme back.

He added that the programme was good for character-building and testing a person’s limits.

Mr Swainson said: “It teaches kids teamwork, trust and how to work outside of their comfort zone.

“For some of the kids, this is their first time being on a boat, so this is a big thing for them.

“Some kids don’t even know they want to work at sea, so it has that impact for them as well.”

Mr Swainson said he had been involved with the ship since the beginning when he and others designed her navigation room in 2004 while at CedarBridge Academy.

He joined as a trainee two years later and worked his way up to the position of chief officer before leaving in 2012.

Mr Swainson, who rejoined in January, said he was happy to be back and looked forward to getting youngsters back on board to sail.