White Squall

A poignant coming of age tale, White Squall is a high adventure story that focuses on a troubled group of teenage boys who spend eight months sailing around the Caribbean on a schooner school ship. When Chuck Geig attends the memorial service of Capt. Richard Sheldrake we flash back to 1961 and see him at 16 years old getting on the Albatross with seven other male classmates. By using a tough love approach, Captain Sheldrake helps the boys through their fears by teaching them to battle the sea. The boys don't like one another at first, but Chuck holds the group together through honesty and trust. By following the ship's motto "where we go one, we go all" they bond with one another as they share different life experiences on the boat. When Phil, the richest boy on the ship, succumbs to pressure from his father, the boys rally around him after he's expelled for killing a dolphin in a fit of rage. On the trip home, they encounter a white squall, and six people are killed. Chuck survives, and gets the rest of the group to support the captain, who's been blamed for the tragic accident. The captain never sails again, but he gave the boys memories they will never forget.