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:
“For half a mile from the shore it was one mass of white breakers, which, with the wind, made such a din that we could hardly hear ourselves speak.... This was the stormiest sea that we witnessed,—more tumultuous, my companion affirmed, than the rapids of Niagara, and, of course, on a far greater scale. It was the ocean in a gale, a clear, cold day, with only one sail in sight, which labored much, as if it were anxiously seeking a harbor.... It was the roaring sea, thalassa exeessa.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The want of education and moral training is the only real barrier that exists between the different classes of men. Nature, reason, and Christianity recognize no other. Pride may say Nay; but Pride was always a liar, and a great hater of the truth.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)