UNCHARTED - The Unlikely Voyage of Aurora - Season 1

Episode 2: Sea Scouts: Be Prepared (To Lead 40 Kids)  

We flash back five years to where the adventure really begins: Sea Scouts.

Gregor, a former Scout, drops his daughter Lily at 1st Victorian Sea Scouts wearing his old German uniform. The Group Leader pounces: “How about we get you into an Australian one?” Gregor agrees on one strict condition: he’ll help in the background but will not deal with little kids.

Cut to three weeks later: Gregor is Leader-in-Charge of 30 Cubs at group camp. Their usual rockstar leader is away. Well-trained cubs scout their way out of potential chaos and show Gregor how it’s done.

For two years, there’s no sailing—until someone mentions Bunga Arm, a remote campsite on the Gippsland Lakes reachable only by boat. Aurora joins a mini armada of Sea Scout vessels. They borrow a trailer, pack the yacht, and spend a week teaching Scouts to use spinnakers and trapezes.

Flash-forward: five years at 1st Vic later, Gregor is now a fully Gilwell- and Scouts Australia–approved leader. Past Gregor would have sworn someone was high if they’d predicted this. More happy snaps. More “we’re having a great time outdoors” social-media moments. The stage is set.

Episode 3: Port Melbourne Yacht Club: The Accidental Kids Sailing School

Parallel storyline: Port Melbourne Yacht Club.

Lily has had enough of “relaxing family cruises” that always become survival training in big wind and waves. She refuses to sail with her parents.

Gregor and Marit hatch a win–win plan: Lily can do Sailing School while they sneak off to sail together. Tiny flaw: the yacht club’s course is full of adults only—hardly a dream crew for a 7–8-year-old.

Solution? Lily recruits two school friends. On a fateful November morning, three small girls stand on the beach surrounded by 20+ serious-looking adults. The adults sit through theory. The girls are bored within 45 seconds.

Gregor and Marit step in: “Tony, we’ll do something with the girls.”

Smash cut to four years later: they’re running a youth sailing program at Port Melbourne. Gregor is not just a parent helper but a certified Australian Sailing instructor. Once again, Past Gregor would have bet money this would never happen.

Another set of Facebook-worthy “kids on boats, parents grinning” photos… but now the scene is fully set.

Episode 4: Stumbling into Sailing for Health

We jump to Switzerland, back to Gregor’s own sailing roots on Lago Maggiore in Ascona. At the legendary Meier “Family Table” outside a fancy hotel, he discovers a stack of sailing magazines and keeps seeing ads with a mysterious name: Leman Hope.

Not the usual gear-or-watch ad—just powerful photos of kids sailing on yachts. Eventually, he finds an article.

Leman Hope runs multi-day sailing adventures for young cancer survivors. Their mission: help young people rebuild confidence, independence, and a sense of belonging after brutal, isolating cancer treatment.

This hits home: the family sails, Scouts, and works in medical/biotech. Gregor emails project captain Priscille, who spends an hour on the phone and connects him with Mark and cancer physician Jochen. They also point him to the UK’s Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.

Jochen explains: youth cancer survival is now common; survivors have unique psychosocial needs; suitable interventions don’t really exist. 

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust video tells this story beautifully.

A seed is planted: could sailing become a health intervention?

Episode 5: Project Hope  

Inspired by Leman Hope and the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, the Lichtfuss family starts sketching a local version: Project Hope – a multi-day sailing adventure for young cancer survivors in Melbourne.

The goal: offer a clinically meaningful experience proven to boost confidence, outlook, social connection, and life skills—basically, a true restart.

They write the concept up (full pitch on their website) and quickly realise the problem: this is too big a project to build in their spare time, which is already overflowing with Scouts and sailing.

Project Hope is parked. But the ideas, contacts, and questions refuse to go away. They simmer quietly in the background.

Episode 6: Governor-General’s Camp: Best Day Ever  

Another Scout sailing opportunity looms: Governor-General’s Camp (aka GG Camp), also known in-house as “Camping on the Governor’s Lawn.”

Gregor joins the GG Camp sailing team and discovers a whole new level of impact. Sailing on the lake in front of Government House is fun—but what really hits home is seeing kids who’ve never been near water taste sailing for the first time.

One participant spends more time capsized than upright. Cold, shivering, pulled into the safety boat, he still manages only one sentence: “Dude, this was the best day of my life!”

Another storyline: a mum writes after camp, asking for a photo of her daughter, Judy, on the sailing boat. Judy had joined 1st Vic alone for the camp from another group. The photo captures Judy’s “most prized moment” and becomes a symbol of teamwork and persistence, proudly displayed on her wall.

For the Aurora crew, this is a turning point: clearly, even a three-hour sail can ripple through a young person’s life—and family—in remarkable ways.

Episode 7: Volatile Funding: Riding the Swell

By now, our protagonists have realised they’re not alone. There’s a small flotilla of organisations using sailing for health and education:

• Leman Hope (Switzerland)

• Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust (UK)

• Fondazione Tender to Nave Italia (Italy)

• Sailing Lifts Your Spirits and Making Waves Foundation (Australia)

• Tall-ship youth programs like Young Endeavour, Leeuwin Ocean Adventure, and Spirit of Adventure (NZ)

The educational programs are relatively straightforward: “Pay X, your child gets Y - amazing experience and skills.” But the health-focused programs sail into trickier waters: regulations around health claims, the ethics of advertising to vulnerable families, and questions about equitable access.

Most organisations rely heavily on donations and grants—fuel tanks that are emotionally rich but financially volatile. Storytelling and heartwarming anecdotes attract donors, but they don’t provide hard, healthcare-style data on impact.

Gregor, with his health-research brain, starts wondering: could sailing be turned into a reimbursable health intervention? Could organisations one day bill health insurers instead of just passing the hat?

The idea goes on the metaphorical whiteboard.

Episode 8: The Health Insurance Dream

The big question takes centre stage:
Could sailing-based health programs become recognised treatments, reimbursed by health insurers?

To get there, you’d need two things:

1. Clinical efficacy – does it work?

2. Health-economic value – is it worth paying for?

Informally, the answer feels obvious. Parents send emails:

“In just 5 weeks Ivy has transformed her relationship with sailing and being on the water… she has confidence to take on a summer of sailing.”

“Our son has loved every minute… we are really proud of his efforts in particular sailing solo last weekend… He really was so determined.”

Leman Hope and the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust share endless participant stories. Jochen, the cancer doctor, sums it up: after years in hospitals, many survivors have almost no self-confidence left; sailing can have a huge effect, especially on those who are most frightened.

But there’s a catch: stories aren’t data. To get insurers on board, someone has to actually measure outcomes.

That thought sits on ice for a while as one of Gregor’s biotech startups demands full attention.

Episode 9: Aurora Meets Academia

Early 2025. Enter Jancy from Swinburne University by text message:

“You always have great ideas. Would you have a good research question our Health Sciences students could work on?”

Gregor, already in “academic supervisor mode” for his biotech startup SHRMP.bio, responds instinctively:

“How many do you need?”

“How many do you have?”

Out of five real-world project ideas, one stands out, directly inspired by Aurora:

Sailing for Health: Does It Work?

A student group in Research Methods for Health Science (HEA20007) signs on. Guided by Jancy and Faith, they take on the deceptively simple question:

Can sailing positively impact health, mental health or well-being of youth and adults?

The race for actual evidence begins.

Episode 10: Proof of Concept? 

The students dive into the scientific literature. Surprisingly, they do find relevant research.

Their key findings:

• Self-esteem & self-efficacy
10-day sail-training voyages can boost adolescent self-esteem for months. Dinghy sailing for 9–13-year-olds is perceived to build confidence and competence.

• Mental health & well-being
Dinghy sailing is associated with better mood and well-being. Adventure-therapy sailing programs have improved quality of life and self-esteem in adolescents with cancer and epilepsy.

• Life & social skills
Sail training and dinghy programs foster social, interpersonal, and thinking skills. Being part of a crew builds trust, cooperation, and collaboration.

• Physical health & activity
Sailing is physically active. Programs can encourage positive activity habits and, in some clinical groups (e.g., adolescents with epilepsy), improve physical health post-intervention.

• Possible academic links
Dinghy sailing can connect with maths, geography, and science learning.

They conclude:

“Sailing, in its various forms, offers a unique environment that can foster positive changes in self-esteem, mental and physical health, social skills, and overall well-being for both youth and adults.”

It’s still far from full-blown clinical trial data—but it’s a strong enough signal to ask: is it time for a field study?