The Chief of Naval Operations recognized a need for structured sail training for Naval Academy midshipmen in 1979. The Naval Academy currently has 28 sailing craft for cruising and racing offshore, and another two dozen sail training craft are assigned to NROTC (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps) units. The sail training cruise has become a major option for the midshipman summer cruise.
Since 1981, the Director of Professional Development has been responsible for the Academy’s offshore sail training and the traditional plebe sailing indoctrination. The commanding officer of the Naval Station, Annapolis, as commodore of the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, continues to be responsible for intercollegiate competition in sailboards, dinghies, and larger craft; local and offshore racing in larger yachts; and boat maintenance. The Athletic Department conducts intramural sailing competition.
The Offshore Sail Training Squadron (OSTS) was formed in the Professional Development Division at the Naval Academy in 1983 to train midshipmen under sail. In 1984, members of the OSTS included officers assigned to the Naval Academy who were experienced offshore sailors; even more officers with less experience, training to sail offshore; and midshipmen who had requested a summer sail training cruise. The training syllabus is organized around the Navy Offshore Sail Training Manual, published by the Chief of Naval Education and Training.
Two different types of 1984 summer cruises were compared in an evaluation of the program: regular offshore sail training cruises, and cruises in yard patrol craft (YP) or other “gray ships of the fleet.
The offshore sail training cruises involved a squadron of nine Luders yawls on round-trips to Bermuda. Former varsity racing craft also completed three cruises. There was daily training during the three-week summer cruises, so the crews could complete the specified personnel qualification standards. Successful completion resulted in qualification as crewman for third class midshipmen, watch captain for first class midshipmen, and senior skipper for officers. The yawl squadron experienced unusually extreme weather on its way to Bermuda, encountering a force-10 storm—similar to the one that sank the civilian tall ship Marques that summer.
A year after these summer cruises, the participating midshipmen were located and asked to fill out questionnaires assessing ten aspects of Navy leadership, training, and seamanship. Out of the 151 midshipmen who responded, those who had the sail experiences evaluated their perceptions of “the sea,” “helmsmanship,” and “my seamanship” significantly higher than those who took the gray ship cruises. The sail group perceived these concepts as more active and potent.
In a special contrast of midshipmen who experienced the force-10 gale and those who did not, no significant differences were found in their responses. This supports the argument that coastal cruising is as valuable as offshore cruising.
At about the same time the questionnaire was issued, the 1985 summer-at-sea program was under way, and the same questionnaire was used to assess midshipmen in a more controlled, experimental design. This time, the OSTS sent the yawls on coastal cruises to Boston, or to the Bahamas. There were 263 questionnaires: 127 issued to those who sailed, and 136 to those who cruised in gray ships. There were similar results to the previous survey, but the 1985 study showed that perceptions of “stress at sea” and “hardship at sea” were significantly altered by the sail experience.
It is not surprising that sail training makes the concepts of helmsmanship and seamanship more active and potent than they are for those who have not had this experience. Watch standing in a cruising sailboat is a vigorous and tiring activity. Twenty minutes in a following sea will fatigue anyone at the helm. The firsthand experience in all aspects of cruising—changing sails, rigging, repairing, provisioning, locating charts, navigating, cooking, trying to stay dry—are daily occurrences. And the meaning of “the sea” certainly becomes more real—waves seem much larger and wetter down in a 44-foot boat than in a larger ship high above the water’s surface.
What is more difficult to understand is the finding that those who cruised in sailboats also evaluated these concepts about the sea more positively than those who did not have to expend all this effort on their cruise. Why would anyone perceive the sea and seamanship as highly potent and active, yet show great love for the accompanying strenuous activities? Perhaps the answer can be found in our rich nautical literary heritage.
As a result of the 1985 study, we can be pretty sure that midshipmen’s concepts about seamanship are affected by the type of summer cruise they experience. Those who cruise under sail evaluate helmsmanship and seamanship more favorably than those who cruise in gray ships.
The need for alternative cruises will continue. The NROTC program has expanded, increasing the number of midshipmen requiring billets for first and third class cruises. Sail training cruises will provide more meaningful opportunities for the midshipmen to get to sea in the summer.
In the future, there will be a replacement sail training craft for the Naval Academy’s aging fleet of Luders yawls, which are rapidly approaching the end of their design service life. A 44-foot cutter has been designed specifically as a sail training craft providing the most efficient training for midshipmen. The first probably will be delivered in 1987. Identical craft eventually will be available to both the Naval Academy and selected NROTC units.
Lieutenant Commander Bryce taught Seamanship and Navigation at the U. S. Naval Academy while serving as the Assistant Director of the Offshore Sail Training Squadron. He was Officer in Tactical Command of the yawl fleet that sailed to Boston in the summer of 1985.
Dr. Evans is a retired Marine Corps aviator who is now a psychologist with the Naval Training Systems Center in Orlando, Florida. He was a visiting professor in the Department of Leadership and Law at the Academy, and earned his Senior Skipper sail rating on the 1985 yawl cruise. He is currently directing a project designed to evaluate NROTC sailing.