Bryan Cargill had spent only three nights aboard a tall ship, but the 16-year-old from University Place was already talking like a seasoned sea veteran.

“They put me in charge of the portside jib sheet,” Cargill, a student at Curtis High School, said Wednesday. “We raised it, lowered it, luffed it.”

Luffing, Cargill explained, is when the crew pulls the sail and allows it to flutter in the wind.

“I hadn’t known that before this trip,” he said. “And I probably wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t signed up.”

He thanks Youth on Board for that.

Cargill served aboard the Zodiac and was among 47 teenagers in the program, a project of Metro Parks Tacoma, Tall Ships Tacoma, Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound and the Sea Scouts. The participants, all 14 to 17 years old, served aboard one of three tall ships to learn the basics of sailing. Few had spent much time aboard a ship.

The crew left Tacoma on Sunday to meet their ships in Victoria, B.C., where a tall ships festival was ending. They spent three nights onboard, working like full-time crew members. For some, that meant waking in the middle of the night to stand watch. For others, it meant learning hand signals to communicate with other ships.

They returned Wednesday night to a party at Thea’s Park on the Tacoma waterfront after an Argosy Cruises ship ferried them from their assigned ships sitting in Quartermaster Harbor. Family members greeted them, plenty of food was waiting, and smooth jazz wafted through the air as nearby workers hurried to finish last-minute construction ahead of today’s start of the Tall Ships Tacoma festival.

They also endured some of the less comfortable aspects of seafaring life. Cargill, who is about 5-foot-10, said the Zodiac’s sleeping berths were just too cramped. Sydney Lynden, a student at Harrison Prep in Lakewood, wasn’t a fan of the Adventuress’ all-vegetarian menu. And Josh Jones, a Spanaway Lake High School student, wished the Mycia had some girls aboard.

But the three said they’d sign up for the program again if offered the chance.

“It was awesome,” Lynden said. “I definitely want to do it again if I get the chance.”

Chaperone Karl Johnson sailed aboard the Adventuress, a 133-foot schooner with a mission to educate about the environment. He praised the ship’s crew for teaching the Youth on Board participants at every opportunity, from scooping up seawater and analyzing it under a microscope to breaking down complex theories by drawing them on the deck with chalk.

“I really could see them coming together during this whole thing,” he said. “This was just an awesome experience for the kids. And it was pretty fun for me too.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

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