The educational sailing yacht Drisar III is due to arrive in Bermuda's waters sometime this weekend, carrying seven young people ranging in age from 12 to 15.

Drisar III is a 54 ft steel cutter 12 berth ketch, a former Dutch school boat. On its fourth trip, the adult permanent crew comprises three adults, two men and a woman, among whom is Jean-Claude Fleuret, skipper-teacher.

The project is called 1000 Sabords and they have been on the yacht for the past six months - travelling from the Azores Porto Santo, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands beginning in November, visiting local schools along the way.

The transatlantic crossing began in December from Cape Verde to Trinidad. They left Trinidad with a freshly painted boat for Venezuela's northern Islands and the Caribbean Sea.

February saw them in Silver Bank for whale watching and a technical stop in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic and also the Turks and Caicos Islands. March took them to many of the Lesser Antilles to see the volcanoes.

It's now April, and they are preparing for their return transatlantic crossing, but with a stopover in Bermuda first.

Their journey will end in the Azores Islands in May. The group and their teacher would have travelled to total 9000 nautical miles or 16000 km.

Jean-Claude Fleuret has devoted his life to education and sailing - having spent 25 years a teacher in Geneva. Mr. Fleuret has been a skipper since 1982. He has spent all his summer holidays on his yacht sailing the Adriatic, the Norwegian and Shetland coasts, and to Spitzbergen - an island inside the Arctic Circle.

1000 Sabords sets out to make use this special educational project to give adolescents the opportunity for personal development and learning through the experience of being together for eight months, sailing the Atlantic.

Specialists have been invited on board for a week or two, according to the particular geographical situation: biologist, a cetologist (whale-expert) on the Silver Bank, vulcanologist for the geology of volcanoes in the Lesser Antilles, also an ornithologist.

A network of established friends will welcome and guide the crew in the main harbours to help with landing formalities. After their arrival home, each pupil will return to school for a month of classes before the summer vacation, to prepare for a test of their work aboard ship. 90 per cent of the pupils, of the four previous trips, were able to continue their studies, often more aware of which direction they wanted to orient their lives as a result.

The aim of 1000 Sabords is to expose children to practical learning experience: Handling and maintaining a boat, navigating the oceans and living in close quarters.

The children enjoyed educational visits at their various ports of call, carrying out study projects, making shore visits to schools and other establishments of historic and scientific interest, and most of all keeping a journal. The yacht serves as transport for an ever-changing environment, dependent upon external climatic and geographical conditions. Successful travel requires a high level of participation - to develop a sense of responsibility and solidarity.

They met with people of other cultures, and discovered new life styles, which enabled students to reflect and consider their own culture with some critical distance. They shared their experiences and discoveries with school friends and family through their own magazine.