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Life on the Boats
Coastal Sail Training Program The Coastal Sail Training Program (CSTP) is a 12-day program that runs all summer long with new crews starting each Monday. Cadets sail both the Colgate 26's and Luders 44's (link to Luders’ history section). Each day of sailing and navigating provides new challenges for the cadets onboard that require quick thinking, sound judgment, and application of skills learned during their previous two years at the Academy. The cadets rotate through daily positions of watch captain, navigator, cook, helmsman, and deckhand. Goals of the CSTP include: developing leadership, navigation skills (particularly in coastal areas), proficiency in sailing, seamanship, and small boat operations. CSTP Days 1 & 2: Colgate sail training CSTP begins with a two-day sailing refresher course on the Academy’s Colgate fleet. These two days are far more than just sailing basics, however; teamwork and situational awareness are major outcomes of the training program. The first day begins with the sailing coaches delivering a condensed sailing lecture to the cadets. The cadet section then breaks up into crews of 3 or 4 to each Colgate and learns how to rig the boats from the boat’s Safety Officer. After a lunch break, the crews get underway from the pier and practice various sailing maneuvers on the Thames. Each cadet is rotated through the different positions on the boat to gain experience steering under sail and trimming the jib and mainsail. After a couple of hours tacking and jibing on the river, the basics have been re-mastered. The second day begins with cadets holding a Navigation Brief to discuss environmental conditions for the day’s transit, the point of destination, hazards and aids to navigation along the route. Here, cadets begin to get in the mindset of how wind, current, and tide can affect various parts of the trip. Furthermore, in studying the charts, cadets pick out specific navigation aids that they expect to see along the way. When the boats get underway, the cadet skipper runs the show; he/she decides when and how to maneuver, and calls out the commands to do so. As the navigation aids are spotted, cadets go to the charts and figure out what aid it is. Piecing together the navigation picture this way proves to be a valuable introduction to coastal navigation for cadets. They begin to gain the big picture in time for the Luders trips: both in navigation and sailing fundamentals. Sample Trip (Ports may vary) Day 1: Colgate sailing in Thames Day 2: Colgate sailing in Fisher’s Island Sound Day 3: Prep for trip Day 4: Bus to Point Judith, RI Day 5: Sail to Newport, RI Day 6: Sail to Cuttyhunk, MA Day 7: Sail to Oak’s Bluff, Martha’s Vineyard Day 8: Sail to Woods Hole, Cape Cod Day 9: Sail to Newport, RI Day 10: Sail to Block Island Day 11: Sail to Point Judith, RI Day 12: Debrief with crews In Their Own Words Thoughts from cadets about the Coastal Sail Training Program “As we passed under the Gold Star Memorial Bridge and began to set sail, the tension I felt melted away. I could do this. After all I am a cadet at one of the nation’s finest maritime institutions.” “To be successful in such an unfamiliar environment, I had to bring to the table everything I had learned thus far as a cadet.” “One of the most important leadership lessons I learned was that to make decisions you must maintain your perspective and situational awareness.” “As my classmates and I worked together, we learned how to function as a team.” “It was my first real chance to lead people in complex evolutions. It was also my first real chance to apply my navigation skills with direct consequences and to develop my seaman’s eye.” “The Coastal Sail Training Program was a valuable step in my transition from a follower to a leader over 2/c summer.” “I will never forget my last day on Shearwater. We decided to set the spinnaker. It was one of the most exhilarating and beautiful things to witness, when the wind caught the spinnaker and we felt that surge of speed.” |