I have had the opportunity to not only learn from but also sail and race with the crew at Valhalla Sailing Project. I can't begin to tell you how welcome I felt from the very beginning when I signed up for my clinic. Mike got right back to me to make sure everything was good. The clinic was run very professionally, the instructors were excellent and patient. It was really cool being able to learn how to sail at a real yacht club too! All we had to do was bring a positive attitude and ourselves. They provided all the life jackets, food, water, and good times.
OMG! When we were done sailing, they had the best BBQ set up! It was like a family dinner! The vets were hanging out with each other and the staff, some of the members of the yacht club even came down to see what was going on.
I completely forgot all about the stresses of life and I made some great friends. I still talk to them to this day and hang out even when we're not sailing.
I cannot recommend Valhalla Sailing enough! I've sent lots of friends their way. Thank you Mike and your entire crew. You've changed my life forever!!!
Valhalla Sailing Project (VSP) waves the flag and claims to be a PTSD and suicide prevention organization but in practice is more of an annual sailing get together with little interest in supporting Veterans. This organization has a treats veterans as collectors items and provides no value outside of its annual clinics, which in practice are two days of sailing and drinking.
One of the key points that is made about VSP is that it assists veterans with transition to civilian life and provides a support network for veterans. This is not true in practice and there is minimal involvement outside of the clinics.
Also of note is that members of the VSP board on multiple occasions have targeted the women participating in the program and attempted to sleep with them. When the issue of harassment was brought up to the board, several members of the board and male volunteers proceeded to corner female participants and interrogate them about whether they had made a complaint. This atmosphere of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior resulted in an episode during the 2018 Fall Oxford race during which multiple female veterans had to leave the Oxford Yacht club after the Director of VSP grew agitated by the knowledge that a female VSP participant was involved with someone at the event.
Taking part in VSP clinics or donating to this organization is not recommended.