...and one you may not have known even existed.
Impress your parents and prospective parents with QBE’s exceptional adventure sailing and experiential learning courses for high school students. For nearly three decades, QBE has inspired teens to see the world in a more nuanced context and themselves in new life-affirming ways. Our classic yachts also have the added benefit of providing your school with its own unique “Outdoor Experience at Sea”—an innovative, eye-catching branding opportunity that sets you apart in your admissions collateral and on social media.
✅ New Skills & Experiences
✅ Life-Elevating Personal Affirmation
✅ Dozens of Winning University Application Essay Ideas
✅ Great Fun
Team sailing on gaff-rig boats: a life-success platform that beats most others hands down.
QBE stands for “Qualified By Experience” and our emphasis is always on providing the kinds of experiences that educate the whole person. Based in Saint-Malo, France, we operate courses that lever exhilarating but safe outdoor adventure to teach teens not only how to sail our traditional boats, but also something about collaboration, resilience, leadership, the area’s maritime ecosystem, and European history and culture.
Do the boats matter? We think they do. But maybe that’s because ours are so special. Students immediately fall in love with them, and our brand of gaff-rig sailing and life-skills mentoring provides dozens of breakthrough experiences that expand personal horizons and add impressive texture to personal statements and university admission essays. Plus, you can’t beat our neighborhood: the culturally rich, postcard coastlines of western France, the Channel Islands, and the south of England.
* Itineraries can vary depending on weather, winds, and tides.
L’art de la voile traditionnelle”
It’s not just the destinations, it’s the extraordinary, life-elevating experience of an old-school sailing expedition
(*And small-yacht sailing expeditions are not just for teens. They’re also a great team-building and personal-development opportunities for faculty and staff.)
The Bottom Line
I regularly hear from teachers that it’s important that children have the chance to try things out, to get a taste of the world around them, to see and do things that they wouldn’t normally do, or go to places they wouldn’t normally go. Experience is a great teacher and can equip children with valuable skills that prepare for any challenges life may throw at them. What’s on the inside—someone’s character, drive, resilience, and the ability to stick to a goal—is just as important as their academic achievements.”
—Damian Hinds, former UK Education Secretary
Making our children interesting through life-changing experiences
In an article published a few years ago in The Atlantic magazine, David A. Graham discussed strategies for gaining admission to such elite universities as Harvard: “We could fill our class twice over with valedictorians,” [former] Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival, sponsored by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic. That means admissions officers rely on intangibles like interesting essays or particularly unusual recommendations to decide who comprises the 5.9 percent of applicants who get in. Faust’s top tip for raising a Harvard man or woman: “Make your children interesting!”
And there’s a growing body of evidence that youngsters who are exposed to numerous, diverse experiences are more likely to excel—in the arts, in athletics, and in academics later in life. In his groundbreaking book Range, Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, writer and researcher David Epstein posits that while “experts” tend to silo themselves as computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive. His advice: sample widely, gain a breadth of experiences, take detours, and experiment relentlessly. That aligns perfectly with the QBE expeditionary learning ethos.
Meet QBE’s Director
QBE was established in 1992 by William Sutherland, a longtime expeditions master at Aiglon College in Chesières-Villars, Switzerland. William was a protégé of the school’s founder, John Corlette, who spent several years working with celebrated educator and outdoorsman Kurt Hahn. Hahn, best known for promoting outdoor life-skills training through his Outward Bound® program, also founded the Schule Schloss Salem in Germany and Gordonstoun in Scotland. William shares the conviction of his mentors that students should be challenged not only academically but physically and emotionally through demanding life-shaping experiences.
William learned to sail at the age of six and annually competed with his father in the Enterprise UK National Championships. He went on to study at St. Luke's College, Exeter, majoring in physical education, mathematics, and education.
While at Aiglon, William kept a 36-foot sailing sloop at Antibes in the Mediterranean. During school breaks, he taught groups of students to sail and took them on yachting expeditions designed to hone their skills and build their self-esteem. He also coached the J24 racing team that competed at Cowes Week for seven years. Aiglon teams won the class five times and came in second on the other two occasions.
William, who once also worked as an instructor at the Royal Yachting Association Sea Schools in the UK, holds RYA Yachtmaster Ocean certificates with a commercial ticket.
* QBE is not affiliated in any way with Outward Bound® or Aiglon College.
Recommended “very highly” by colleagues:
I HAVE KNOWN WILL SUTHERLAND FOR THIRTY YEARS. WE FIRST MET AT AIGLON COLLEGE IN SWITZERLAND WHEN HE WAS AN EXPERIENCED, SUCCESSFUL HOUSEMASTER. I SOON DISCOVERED THE EXCELLENT REPUTATION WILL HAD BOTH AS A HOUSEMASTER OF TWO DIFFERENT BOYS’ HOUSES AND AS HEAD OF SPORTS. HE POSSESSES GREAT EMPATHY, AND THE BOYS COULD ALWAYS COUNT ON HIS SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE TO REMAIN OR GET BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK. HE RAN HIS HOUSE A LITTLE LIKE HE WOULD NOW RUN A CREW, CREATING A SENSE OF COLLABORATION, EFFORT AND COHESION WHICH, IN THE WORDS OF SO MANY OLD BOYS WHOM I MET IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS, PREPARED THEM THOROUGHLY FOR THEIR ADULT LIVES. I AM FULLY CONFIDENT IN RECOMMENDING HIM VERY HIGHLY.”
—Didier Boutroux | Recently Retired Headmaster, Verbier International School, Switzerland
Impactful, multifaceted teen enrichment—the sort of expeditionary-learning experience parents increasingly are coming to demand—that beats most alternatives hands down
QBE runs two- to three-week courses for students from late spring through early October. We normally sail from Saint-Malo around the Breton Peninsula or across the Channel to the southern coast of England and back again. Students handle all the chores. They’re taught to do all the navigating, sailing, and skippering. They’re basically in charge. Schools have the option to add specialized instruction (marine biology, for example) and organize special onshore excursions.
For pricing and additional information—including how you can place your school’s crest on a flag or our sails—contact William Sutherland at ws@qbeglobal.net or on +33 6 78 85 83 02.