Sailing

usafa13 · October 27, 2008, 9:36pm

Does anyone know if you can walk onto the sailing team? I’ve had limited racing experience, but nothing substantial.

Whistle_Pig · October 27, 2008, 11:08pm

Generally yes. They do cut, and it seems to depend upon the #s of plebes coming out. They’ll teach you to sail. It’s a great group. Know there are 2 sailing teams … “dinghy” and off-shore.

usna09mom · October 27, 2008, 11:31pm

Check out the Navy Sports website to learn more about sailing and other varsity sports:

[NavySports.com</a> - Official Athletic Site for Navy Athletics](<a href=“http://navysports.cstv.com/]NavySports.com”>http://navysports.cstv.com/)

Navy recruits for intercollegiate sailing and the team includes some All-American sailors. Unless the current superintendent at USNA has completely eviscerated the program, offshore sailing might be a better option for those with less sailing experience.

hfoster · October 29, 2008, 4:14pm

i talked to the offshore coach while i was at nass, i was told theyll take you and teach you. i think the dinghy team is a little different, they prefer people with experience but they will teach you as well. offshore is sweet, they go down to florida and sail around.

Profmom2 · October 30, 2008, 9:59am

Lets put it this way they used to teach you to sail alot in Plebe summer and youngster summer (if that was a block you chose) At the end of plebe summer there are try outs for the offshore sailing team. Not everyone who tries out will make the team.

The shift away from sailing occurred during this past summer - and in some part during last academic year.

Shifting Winds Affect the Mids’ Sailing Program

7Apr08 - Spring is in the air. Around the Chesapeake, boatyards are buzzing as drydocked sail and power boats are readied for the season. An exception is at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where a change in philosophy is raising concern for one of the recent rites of passage for midshipmen.

For years, mids by the hundreds went to sea in the summer on one or another of the academy’s fleet of 44-foot sloops to spend a week or two in close quarters, dealing with whatever the ocean threw at them be-tween here and New England. In Navy parlance, it’s called small-unit leadership training at sea and is re-garded by many as a cornerstone of preparation for budding officers. 

Two years ago, about 1,000 mids made the summer passage either from Newport, R.I., to Annapolis or the other way around after a week of training on one of the academy’s 21 blue 44-footers, said Cmdr. Jay Cava-lieri, a former all-American dinghy sailor who now runs the school’s sailing program. This year, he expects only 120 or 130 will make the trip.

The offshore program and inshore basic sail training in smaller boats are victims of budget cuts, said Cava-lieri, who has been struggling to keep them afloat on about one-tenth of the funds he’s used to having. Cava-lieri said the academy’s intercollegiate dinghy racing operation continues to thrive, financed largely by a pri-vate grant, but funds for maintaining and operating larger boats and for general sail-training are scarce.

In all, the academy keeps a fleet of about 300 sailboats ranging from one-man Lasers to the 66-foot, custom-designed, donated ocean racer Zarafa that, with a crew of mids, was first to finish last year’s Governor’s Cup Race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s City.

Cavalieri says the new academy superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey L. Fowler, made clear when he took over last June he was committed to continuing the school’s strong NCAA dinghy racing presence but would cut back on noncompetitive offshore and inshore training operations.

Some members of the Fales Committee, an oversight panel that has advised the academy on its sailing program since the 1960s, expressed concern about the shift. Two local Fales members, America’s Cup sailor and ESPN sailing commentator Gary Jobson and Washington lawyer and veteran racer Tony Parker, gave opinions in phone interviews last week.

“By any measure,” said Parker, who served four years in the Navy, "small boat unit leadership at sea should be part of the core academy curriculum. We are trying to make naval officers. How else [but in small boats at sea] can you understand the concept of steady bearing and decreasing range [the formula for a collision]; how else do you get ship drivers?

“Anyone who goes to sea is better prepared if he understands small boats,” Parker said. “You can’t be a qualified officer of the deck without experience at sea, and the smaller the boat the better.”

Said Jobson: “In my view, being competent at sea in a small boat makes a better Navy officer. You have to understand navigation, teamwork, leadership, sea conditions, the weather. At the basic level, every officer needs to know how to sail – just like swimming. You never know when you might be on a lifeboat and need to set a sail.”
The Fales Committee is slated to meet at the academy on April 22, when the concerns doubtless will be aired.

One factor in the equation is that Fowler’s predecessor as superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, was a strong supporter of basic sailing and offshore training for all mids. Indeed, on his watch, 24 new 44-footers were ordered to replace the academy’s aging fleet. Three have been delivered, with 21 still in the pipeline.

It’s a $17 million investment, Cavalieri said, but without adequate funds to commission and maintain the new boats, he may be unable to put them into service.

The cutbacks also put pressure on the offshore racing program, said Jahn Tihansky, a civilian who runs that operation. “I’m concerned mostly about safety,” he said. "To do what we’ve traditionally done – send teams on the Bermuda Races, the Annapolis to Newport, around Long Island and other offshore races, you can’t just throw the boats out on the ocean. They have to be ready.

“It seems like we’ve done an about-face with sailing as a training and leadership exercise,” Tihansky said. “We’ve been doing these events for 50 years. All of a sudden we’re on hold.”

Fowler was unavailable to comment but the Commandant of Midshipmen, Capt. Margaret D. Klein, con-firmed that sail training has been deemphasized in an effort to give mids more exposure to the fleet via summer postings on aviation, submarine and seagoing missions. Instead of sailing to Newport, she said, most rising third-class mids (sophomores) will be assigned to postings within the active fleet.

“It’s just a different approach to training midshipmen to be outstanding Naval officers,” she said. “The sailing program enjoyed a lot of attention from the previous superintendent. Admiral Fowler doesn’t share that same view as we prepare our midshipmen for service in the global war on terror.”

Klein said she’s worked closely with Cavalieri to make sure he has the funds to run the varsity program and to keep the big boats he uses for other programs safe.

Cavalieri complimented the academy for its continued commitment to the dinghy racing program, which he also oversees, but said: “I’ve got until April 15 to get a budget approved for my summer [training] program. I’m looking for gift funds or anything just to keep the program alive.”

Without money in the pipeline, Cavalieri reckons he may have to do something no sailor likes: Instead of preparing boats for the upcoming sailing season, he may end up shrink-wrapping them. It’s not a pretty prospect.

LOAD-DATE: April 6, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DISTRIBUTION: Maryland
GRAPHIC: IMAGE; By Angus Phillips For The Washington Post; A crew of mids learns the ropes on a Navy 44 off Annapolis, but new academy guidelines have cut its chances of making an ocean voyage.
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
BYLINE: Angus Phillips
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. D12
LENGTH: 954 words
Copyright 2008 The Washington Post
All Rights Reserved
The Washington Post
April 6, 2008 Sunday

The sailing squadron was cut from the EC’s last year.

Whistle_Pig · October 30, 2008, 1:31pm

What profmom is referring to is the diminishment of sailing in the Brigade, and there is a modicum of accuracy in the piece. But despite all the fear, trepidation, and bemoaning the sailing teams are robust and flourishing, their predicted demise sorely overstated and premature. And as noted, especially the Offshore Sailing Team welcomes and needs rookie plebes and sailing novices. Some may say “ain’t what it used to be” and they’d be right. But neither is anything else. With no other perspective, much of what you’ve been told would be clearly much ado about nothing.

It’s a fantastic learning, team and leadership experience, and for many, wonderful plebian therapy. :eek:

NativeTexan · October 30, 2008, 4:50pm

Very few with no experience make the team. With the Plebe summer sailing instruction scaled back, it has made it even harder. That is not to say that you cannot do it but you also have to be a bit realistic.

Whistle_Pig · October 30, 2008, 9:24pm

usafa …you might be interested in getting a clearer picture of who’s on the offshore varsity. Here’s a link with bios of those who’ve stayed on the team until their jr/sr, make that 2nd/1st class seasons and noted in the most recent online media guide. Even among those, you’ll see that many had little or no sailing experience prior to matriculating at USNA, and very few had any racing experience of any consequence. Generally they keep around 30 plebes, and they are evaluated on coachability, motivation and work ethic, team work and capacity to be a teammate/player along with their sailing knowledge/experience. They can and will teach you to sail, if you make it. This fall there were more novices/newcomers than experienced, while a number with experience who were cut, not because they could not sail, but for other reasons. Recruiting is not much of an issue with this team.

[NavySports.com</a> - Official Athletic Site for Navy Athletics](<a href=“http://navysports.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/navy/sports/c-sail/auto_pdf/0708-sailing-media-guide]NavySports.com”>http://navysports.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/navy/sports/c-sail/auto_pdf/0708-sailing-media-guide)

Our own sailing Mid had never set foot on a boat prior to Annapolis. And oh the times he’s had, and hopefully it’s not over yet.

All of this is simply to say once you’re inducted, it’s worth your interest, time, and effort to pursue and give it a go. My own observations are quite different than some noted here, and just wanted to share those that you might be encouraged in this. Ours received similar counsel and it’s been nothing short of terrific.

btw, they kick USAFA’s butt every time.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Taysel · November 3, 2008, 11:11pm

Just a heads up, but I know someone who was on the sailing team and had to stop because they weren’t being prepared enough for the fitness tests. Of course you can always run or lift weights on your own time, but sailing is during your sports period and you aren’t exactly running miles on the boat or doing situps.

Whistle_Pig · November 4, 2008, 12:01am

Excellent point and may be one of the major challenges for those making the team. Ours has to get up early, but it’s a genuine concern and complaint. No time to work out. Another is time away from the Yard. An immediate illustration …those Mids who’ve been in France this past week on the VOST. btw, congrats to all of them. Especially on beating BOTH French teams. As in most things.

Sailing

CONNECT WITH US