Central Coast Ocean Adventures Foundation

Schooner Mystic Whaler:

The Heart of Central Coast Ocean Adventures Foundation

Mystic Whaler was built in 1967 in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and designed by V.B. Crockett. She is a representation of a late 19th-century cargo two-masted schooner. In 1995, she went through a significant overhaul. Mystic Whaler then operated on the East Coast for the next 26 years, conducting educational programs and charters throughout Long Island Sound, Connecticut, and the Chesapeake Bay. She started her three-month journey to California in October 2021 and was donated to CCOAF in January 2022. Mystic Whaler is Coast Guard-certified to carry a maximum of 50 passengers on day sails.

Central Coast Ocean Adventures Foundation (CCOAF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to delivering uniquely immersive ocean-based educational experiences along California’s Central Coast and the Channel Islands. CCOAF believes that to adventure is to discover and learn from the excitement of experiencing the unfamiliar.

CCOAF’s Mission is to utilize adventure through sailing and the sea to promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) comprehension, environmental stewardship, teamwork, self-confidence, and nautical skills for the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties with a special focus on youth. 

Roger and Sarah Chrisman founded CCOAF in 2021, acting on long-standing wisdom that the Santa Barbara Channel- and its ocean, islands, and coastline- are educational treasures from which everyone should benefit.

The organization’s flagship resource, the 110-ft schooner Mystic Whaler, is the perfect medium for exploring adventure-inspired learning through sailing and the sea. CCOAF’s hands-on, activity-based programs develop and strengthen STEM academic comprehension, social/emotional maturity, environmental stewardship, nautical skills, and historical lessons. CCOAF is committed to making engaging experiential education and the Santa Barbara Channel more accessible to the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

CCOAF works with communities to provide programs relevant to their needs. While many of CCOAF’s programs are for 10-18-year-old youth, some are intergenerational and family-oriented, where parents and their children can grow and learn side by side and from one another.

Volunteers and volunteer opportunities are especially important to CCOAF, seen as essential in remaining not just a resource for the community but a part of it. CCOAF offers educational programs year-round, from half-day to multi-day voyages, adaptable to the needs of the group served, be it a school, community-based organization, or programs open to the public.

CCOAF provides financial assistance for access to programs based on needs through funding from private foundations, corporate and government grants, individual donations, and fundraising program revenue. CCOAF also offers Mystic Whaler for fundraising events, multi-day adult educational trips to the Islands, corporate team-building, and fundraising public day sails focused on local wildlife and ocean conservation.