Special Tabor Boy Shipmates Cruises on Schooner Victory Chimes This Summer

Back in 1996, a very special event took place in the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Tabor threw a party celebrating TABOR BOY'S 90th birthday and 50th year in service of her school's students. It was an extraordinary event because unlike most "reunions," which are limited to your class and others divisible by 5, this one included classmates that spanned the years that you sailed aboard the schooner. For both of us, the highlight of the evening was connecting with former shipmates and meeting new ones who share the incredible experience of sailing Buzzards Bay and beyond on one of the world most amazing tall ships.

This summer we have another extraordinary opportunity to reconnect with shipmates and support TABOR BOY and the Tabor sail training program at the same time. Captain Richard "Kip" Files, captain and co-owner of the historic schooner VICTORY CHIMES, in collaboration with The Tabor Boy Project, has extended a very generous offer of support to the TABOR BOY and the sail training program at Tabor. Captain Files has offered to give 10% of every fare board the “CHIMES” (for the below scheduled trips) to the TABOR BOY, for each passenger that has a Tabor Boy or Tabor Academy connection. Not only is this a terrific initiative to support the TABOR BOY and sail training at Tabor, it is also an great opportunity to sail with former shipmates, classmates, friends and family aboard a National Historic Landmark and one of America’s most majestic tall ships.

Some of us remember Captain Kip Files on the Tabor campus or aboard the TABOR BOY. He instructed Nautical Science for several years and also sailed as relief Captain of the TABOR BOY. We both sailed with him and were always impressed with his skill to make a sail ship “go fast”. In addition to learning from him, we always had a lot of fun being around him. We guarantee that you will have a memorable time sailing aboard the CHIMES and you’ll bring back a collection of new sea stories too. Also, this is a great opportunity to catch up with classmates and shipmates between reunions.

VICTORY CHIMES is a beautiful, traditionally fitted and operated three masted schooner which offers modern comforts, such as hot, freshwater showers a few steps from your cabin; 110-volt electricity for your hair dryer or shaver; push-button toilets and a hot-air furnace. Also, she’s a good feeder as they say aboard merchant ships, “You will feast on lobster and other unique hardy New England fare that our Chef prepares daily”. To learn more about the historic VICTORY CHIMES, visit her home page at: http://www.victorychimes.com/ and watch this video:

Captain Files currently has openings aboard the CHIMES for the following cruises:

• June 5-7
• June 30 - July 3
• Aug 4-7

You can book your passage by calling 800 745-5651 and make sure you mention that you are part of the TABOR BOY program.

We are really looking forward to sailing aboard VICTORY CHIMES this summer for one of these cruises and hope to see many of our shipmates and classmates aboard too! Best of all, we’ll be supporting the long tradition of sail training at Tabor as a result of VICTORY CHIMES very generous donation.
We are working out some of the details with Tabor so check back on The Tabor Boy Project for updates.

Fair Winds,

James Hutton XO‘79 and Peter A.Mello XO’77