Sail Training

From its modern interpretations to its antecedents when maritime nations would send young naval officer candidates to sea (e.g., see Outward Bound), sail training provides an unconventional and effective way of building many useful skills on and off the water.

The daily operation of a sailing ship can be tough and is not for everyone. Aircraft and automobiles have replaced ships and boats as the primary mode of transportation, a fact lamented by educators such as Kurt Hahn. Many people today are more familiar with the loops and turns of a roller coaster than the rhythmic motion of the sea.

Those who overcome their initial consternation will find that wind can be harnessed through physics. Engineering is used to manipulate the sails with various lines and tackle while maths and geography are used to calculate the current location and potential destinations.

Surrounded on all sides by the marine environment, whales and dolphins are frequent visitors and the vessel is itself, a lesson in history. Halyards and sheets require teamwork and discipline to set and, in the isolation created by the sea, the vessel and the crew must become self-sufficient by necessity.

Read more about Sail Training:  Background, Genesis in The 1930s, Modern Sail Training, Vessel Classifications, Pros and Cons of Sail Training

Famous quotes containing the words sail and/or training:

    O bid me mount and sail up there
    Amid the cloudy wrack,
    For Peg and Meg and Paris’ love
    That had so straight a back,
    Are gone away, and some that stay
    Have changed their silk for sack.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    They’ll bust you in the lobby. You look like a training poster for the narc squad.
    John Guare (b. 1938)