Mid-morning.

With a light wind and good weather the SSV Tabor Boy sits in Sippican Harbor, awaiting her captain so that she may begin her fourth cruise this summer as part of Tabor Academy's Orientation at Sea program.

Now in its 22nd year, the program takes new students aboard the School by the Sea's 92-foot schooner for a week-long cruise with stops in Woods Hole, Marthas Vineyard and elsewhere.

"We do seven cruises a year," said Captain James Geil, the Tabor Boy's captain since 1986. "We used to do it in Maine but for the second year we're doing it in Buzzards Bay."

With over a dozen new students onboard for this cruise, the Tabor Boy sets sail around 11:45 a.m. for its first stop, Mattapoisett Harbor.

Incoming students are hurried around the deck, herded by the student crew to assist in setting the sails. After several frenzied minutes of heaving, hoisting and coiling, the sails are set and the new students are far less tense.

"It has a certain "rite of passage" element to it," said Tabor Academy Headmaster Jay Stroud. "The kids are experiencing something of their 'own' - a start to a new life on campus; not a 'break' but a change. The sea voyage, as much as anything, symbolizes that."

"They form a tight bond within their watch," says Scott Lauermann, a recently-graduated senior from the class of 2011 and executive officer of the Tabor Boy. "The crew being student-based allows them to bring questions they might not have otherwise asked."

The crew of the Tabor Boy, with the exception of Captain Geil and Relief Captain Casey Charkowick, is comprised entirely of students.

"It takes about seven people, minimum, to run the ship," said Will Sweetser, another recent graduate and Watch Officer.

By 12:10 p.m. the hum of the Tabor Boy's engine is gone, replaced by the sounds of water and wind.

"It's a new adventure," says incoming freshman Samantha Chan, of New Bedford. "I'm excited."

"We look at where they went to middle school and make sure they aren't in the same watch," said Sweetser, explaining how the new students are divided up.

With the wind light and the program director absent for a day, the new students spend their time reading, comparing favorite fast food restaurants and learning various things about the ship such as how to steer, taught by the student crew of course.

The wind picks up in the afternoon and Mattapoisett is clearly visible in no time.

"It's much closer than it seems when you drive from Mattapoisett to Marion," said David Griffin, class of '12 and the ship's engineer.

The Tabor Boy pulls past Ned's Point into Mattapoisett Harbor and the crew strikes sails in preparation for spending the night.

For the incoming students, it's more than simply four more days at sea. It is the next four years of their lives at the School by the Sea.

"I can see them eating together with their watches during the school year in the dining hall long after this cruise is over," said Charkowick. "That's the kind of transformation these kids undergo."