This tall ship takes dozens of students around the globe each year.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
The 70 meter ship charts a course across the Atlantic Ocean, visiting exotic ports on either side.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Students and staff take turns on watch, around the clock.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
A number of ships have been used over the years. Conditions on board can be claustrophobic, with personal space at a premium for months-long voyages.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Ryan Gosling, seen here at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, got his TV break in a Canadian show about a school on a cruise liner named Breaker High.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Lessons on the high seas —
Here's Gosling in a photo supplied by a member of the production team on Breaker High, at one of the show's parties back in the late 1990s.
Brent Piaskoski
Lessons on the high seas —
Ryan Gosling's entry in a Breaker High "yearbook" for cast and crew.
Cori Shepherd Stern
Lessons on the high seas —
Class Afloat's tall ship is decidedly different to the cruise liner depicted in Breaker High.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Unlike Breaker High, students on Class Afloat are also members of the crew, helping to sail the ship.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
While the boat sets Class Afloat apart, many of students' most memorable experiences are on land, like this trip to Gran Canaria.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Here, students meet locals in Suriname.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Breaker High, by contrast, had too small a budget for travel and had to fake its exotic locations. Here's a photo from the set, with Gosling visible in the back right.
David Winning
Lessons on the high seas —
In pleasant weather, this would be a candidate for the most beautiful classroom in the world.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
However, things have not always run smoothly. These students were rescued off the coast of Brazil when Class Afloat's ship, the Concordia, sank in 2010.
ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP/Getty Images
Lessons on the high seas —
Class Afloat's president David Jones insists the risks are no greater than those students face at other schools, despite sailing the world's oceans.
Class Afloat
Lessons on the high seas —
Teachers complain that dolphins outside the window can be a huge distraction during lessons at sea.
