Sail Training Research Articles

Positive Youth Development at Sea: A Case Study of the Shenandoah Model

Background: Tall ship sail training, a form of outdoor adventure education, has historically been used with youth to build competency in seamanship and social and emotional skills. However, there is a void in the literature documenting precise program models connected to specific goals. Purpose: This paper presents a case study of the Shenandoah Model of sail training. It details its Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework and mean changes in PYD assets reported by participants. Methodology/Approach: Participants were surveyed using a one-group retrospective pretest-posttest pre-experimental design to assess the impact of participation. Findings/Conclusions: The participants reported significant mean increases across all PYD assets (Caring, Connection, Contribution, Competence, Character, Confidence, and Happiness), including moderate effect sizes for all measures except Happiness. In addition, over 70% of the participants would recommend the program and/or do it again, suggesting program satisfaction. Implications: Connecting different PYD assets to various program activities allows future program designs to intentionally develop sail training voyages to build competencies. Future follow-up research is needed, including qualitative methods to capture the impact of these programs from the participants’ viewpoint.

Realtime physical simulator for virtual reality sailing by patients with spinal cord injury: an innovative voyage.

The aim of this study was to explore whether sail training using a VSail® simulator would allow people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) to learn to sail in a safe controlled environment and then sail competently on the water in wind of moderate strength (12 knots). A battery of physical tests and questionnaires was used to evaluate possible improvements in health and well-being as a consequence of participation in the trial. Twenty participants were recruited with the assistance of their physicians from The International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Kennedy Krieger Institute. Inclusion criteria were SCI >6 months previously, medically stable, with no recent (1 month or less) inpatient admission for acute medical or surgical issues. All neurological SCI levels (C1-S1) were eligible. All subjects followed a programme of instruction leading to mastery of basic sailing techniques (steering predetermined courses, sail trimming, tacking, gybing and mark rounding). Not all participants completed the study for various reasons. Those that did were seven males and six females, six with tetraplegia and seven with paraplegia. The mean age was 45 years (23 to 63) and the average time since injury was 14.7 years (2 to 38 years). At the end of the course subjects were able to perform the sailing maneuvers and navigate a triangular racecourse on the simulator's display in 12 knots of wind within a pre-set time. At 6 weeks post completion of training most subjects showed a decrease in depression, physical and social limitations, and an improvement in physical tests. These improvements were maintained or increased in most participants by 12 weeks, but not others. The primary objective of the trial was achieved as all participants who completed the VSail® training were able to sail on the water at the Downtown Sailing Center in Baltimore.

Motivations and challenges for sail training personnel: It’s not entirely about the boat!

ABSTRACT Sail training is described as an educational endeavour where participants are required to adapt to an unfamiliar physical and social environment, acquire new skills (maritime and domestic), and confront personal challenges (e.g. going aloft, dealing with seasickness). It shares many of the philosophical underpinnings of adventure education, where personal and social growth is believed to be achieved through challenge and working as a team. Sail training has a focus on educational experiences through the sea rather than for the sea—thus practitioners need a combination of maritime and people management skills. This study looks at the motivation of crew to engage in sail training, the challenges they face, and what they believe would assist them to perform their role. This study contributes to the growing research on the professional development needs of ‘incidental’ outdoor educators and makes recommendations to address some of the challenges they face.

The Role of Sail Training as a Factor Strengthening the Hardiness of Extraordinary Youth

The paper presents the results of research on the level of the hardiness of participants of high sea cruises implementing the idea of sail training and being a non-standard form of informal education in practice. The study involved 123 people, including 65 girls and 58 boys aged 13 to 18 years, who can be perceived as youth with special educational needs. They were participants of the Krzysztof Baranowski School Under Sails in 2015 and 2016, the cruise of the 42 Author’s High School in Warsaw from 2016, the Catholic School Under Sails in 2017 and Gdańsk School Under Sails in 2019.Method: Pre-posttest study with questionnaires issued on the first and last day of each cruise. Dispositional Resilience Scale was used to measure mental hardiness, commitment, openness to challenges and a sense of control of participants. T-tests were used to check the significance of change in results.Results: The results show a statistically significant increase in hardiness level measured using the Dispositional Resilience Scale. There was also a significant increase in commitment, openness to challenges and a sense of control of participants, which are measured by subscales of the used scale.Conclusions: It can be thought that various types of Schools under Sail are an attractive way to adapt to the special educational needs of gifted young people and strengthen the hardiness of young people, which is a valuable asset of sail training.

Fulfilling Careers in the Sail Training Sector: Charting a Course for Professionals and Volunteers – it’s not About the Boat!

Sail Training has emerged from the work and leisure sailing traditions as a particular sector focused on ‘training through the sea’, or personal and social development. This paper is focused on those drawn to work in this sector as either volunteer or paid workers. It explores the socio historical context from which sail training emerged to account for the character and diversity of the contemporary sector, the variety of routes into the sector and the particular challenges associated with it including the dangers of burnout and drop out. Subsequently we consider the various 'careers' or development trajectories implicated in working in the sector including 'occupational', 'serious leisure', 'sailing', 'lifecourse' and 'community working'. A small scale empirical study is presented to provide accounts from workers in the sector to support this socio-historical analysis. Finally, some consideration is given to the kinds of support needed by the sector.

Navigating procedural ethics and ethics in practice in outdoor studies: an example from sail training

ABSTRACT Researching ethically is an institutional requirement and cornerstone of good everyday practice in conducting research, adopting a mindful consideration for participants and resisting the temptation to use methodological approaches which may exploit participants or their trust in the research process or researcher. In the context of outdoor studies and framed by Kantian ethical and moral principles, this paper describes the procedural ethics of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and how our own moral and ethical positioning influences the planning for the opportunities, dilemmas and challenges of fieldwork, shaping the ethics in practice during research and in post-study reporting. From a sail training study, I describe the ethical and methodological dilemmas and the decisions made in respect of audio recording and the use of photo-elicitation; and the sense of uncertainty and unease stimulated by reflective and reflexive practice.

Self-esteem of young participants of high seas cruises and various implementations of the School Under Sails

The paper presents the results of research on the level of self-esteem of participants of high seas cruises that implement the idea of sail training and are a non-standard form of informal education. The study involved 124 people, including 65 girls and 59 boys aged 13 to 18 years old, who can be considered as youth with special educational needs. They were participants of the Krzysztof Baranowski School Under Sails in 2015 and 2016, the cruise of the 42nd General Secondary School in Warsaw in 2016 and the Catholic School Under Sails in 2017. The results show a statistically significant increase in the level of self-esteem measured with the SES scale. The level of self-esteem of participants after the cruise is significantly higher than that of their peers from standardisation groups. It can be assumed that various types of Schools Under Sails are an attractive way to educate young people.

Sail training and its place among pedagogical concepts

In the article, the author recalls the concept of sail training and cites attempts to defi ne it over the last century. He describes the theoretical framework and place of sail training among contemporary pedagogical concepts. Based on the analysis of materials as well as own research and experience, the author proposes his own defi nition of sail training.

The Evolution of Sail Training from the Nineteenth Century to the 1980s

This article considers sail training over a period of some 150 years, starting with its early nineteenth-century origins. It takes the first Tall Ships’ Race in 1956 as a key point, using the races as barometer thereafter for progress up to the 1980s, by which time the upward trend towards becoming global was well established. It shows that this has been a neglected area for research, tries to separate facts from myths and illustrates how three sail training streams emerged: naval, mercantile and civilian adventure. Legendary figures such as Alan Villiers and Irving Johnson were involved in its development, as was Kurt Hahn, and the article traces how sail training changed from the provision of professional skill-based training to character-building and teamwork.

Sail training: using acculturation to activate a socio-cultural or natural pedagogy

ABSTRACT Sail training is a non-formal residential educational experience manifesting in personal and social outcomes, contributing to participant well-being and character formation and development. The origins of modern-day sail training are found in the age of sail’s culture and traditions, proposed here as a socio-cultural experience in a vessel-bound cultural community. This paper reports an ethnographic case study of a 117-h sail training voyage as participants, entering this novel and challenging socio-cultural setting, experienced acculturation activating an earlier and more familiar process for social learning, a natural pedagogy for social bonding. The findings are explored further with approaches to informal and non-formal education.

Digitalizing the Full Documents of Deck Log Book of Sail Training Ship “Kaiwo Maru I” and a Study for the Usage of the Data

Digitalizing the Full Documents of Deck Log Book of Sail Training Ship “Kaiwo Maru I” and a Study for the Usage of the Data

Positive youth development in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents through an adventure education programme

ABSTRACTWithin Aotearoa New Zealand there is growing interest in positive youth development (PYD). A PYD approach provides balance to narratives surrounding outcomes for youth and broadens our views of what we consider beneficial developmental outcomes. In the current study we used sail training as a method to promote PYD in Māori and New Zealand European adolescents. Specifically, 54 Māori and 37 New Zealand European adolescents completed the 7-day youth-development voyage on-board the gaffed rigged schooner, R. Tucker Thompson. We demonstrate that, for both Māori and New Zealand European adolescents, psychological resilience, self-esteem, and positive outlook on life increased from the first day to the last day of the voyage. In addition, we demonstrate that the increases in psychological resilience were driven by the social/collective identity adolescents formed with their group over the course of the voyage.

Offer of sail training in the West Pomeranian Province in the light of the applicable regulations

Offer of sail training in the West Pomeranian Province in the light of the applicable regulations

練習船「日本丸」における波高観測

練習船「日本丸」における波高観測

Steering a course towards eudaimonia: the effects of sail training on well-being and character

ABSTRACTSail training voyages have been shown to enhance self-constructs and inter-personal and intra-personal skills. It is suggested through this case-study approach with twelve 14 year-old crew participants that such an experience contributes towards well-being and character development in emerging adulthood. An audit of voyage-based experiences generated an inventory of 58 authentic activities and participants completed questionnaires immediately post-voyage (T1) and six months later (T2) to rate the significance of each activity. The highest rated activities reflected Maslow’s lower order of needs with a two-thirds correspondence at T1 and T2. Helming (or steering the vessel) was ranked as the most significant activity by participants in both time periods, although participants had questioned their ability to do this before the voyage. Helming is suggested to activate cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains in an authentic adventure education experience that contributes to hedonic well-being and may provide a course towards eudaimonia.

Sail Training: A Systematic Review

Starting around 2000, research activity about sail training increased such that there is now sufficient research on the subject to constitute a foundation upon which an emerging body of literature can be identified. The literature has the potential to be utilized to influence program design, policy, theory, and practice—a growing area of youth development practice. This systematic review of the current literature on sail training (post-2000) aims to (a) provide a single work for researchers and practitioners to consult for an overview of the current research on sail training; (b) perform a thematic analysis of the current trends for sail training research within the categories of demographic characteristics, research strategies, process, and outcomes; (c) quantify the greater discourse on sail training; and (d) suggest directions in which sail training research can go to build upon the current foundation. The main findings from this systematic review are that a limited set of methods are used in sail training research; participants experience a positive long-term effect in regard to personal and social domains; structured program design can lead to better specified outcomes; and the effects of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, or socioeconomic background remain unexplored. Much of the research is noncumulative and the related theoretical frameworks lack coherence. Subscribe to JOREL

Main Engine of Sail Training Ship NIPPON MARU I

Main Engine of Sail Training Ship NIPPON MARU I

Exploring factors influencing outcomes of a five-week youth expedition in the Himalayas using the sail training programme self-assessment toolkit

Much evidence to link youth expeditions and gap years with a range of outcome benefits for participants exists, but to date, there have been relatively few insights into what exactly brings about these reported outcomes. A modified version of the Sail Training Voyage Toolkit (2011) was used to evaluate outcomes of a five-week British Exploring Society youth expedition in the Himalayas. Data generated from 22 participants completing the modified Sail Training Voyage Feedback Form at the end of their expedition were complemented by data from 16 interviews conducted during weeks one, three and five of the expedition. Key factors identified by the participants which had influenced their learning were: (1) Other Young Explorers, (2) being involved in making decisions and having choices, (3) having time to learn at their own pace; time to get comfortable with people; being able to talk with other people (to make connections); (4) group leaders, and (5) wild camping. Data from 16 interviews supported these outcomes, while the physical challenges (of climbing peaks) and cultural interaction with local people were highly valued aspects of the expedition. Participants were more aware of risks and more confident about safety issues and taking risks after the expedition. These important outcomes may be transferred to future expeditions, higher education or employment. Personal development and training organisations should consider these findings.

Sailing across the North Sea: the development of trust in a short-term high intensity environment

Interpersonal trust among team members is an important phenomenon influencing working relationships and performance outcomes. However, there is a lack of empirical studies investigating the development of trust with respect to behavioural and environmental factors in a group of strangers. This exploratory, mixed method study investigated the development of two-dimensional interpersonal trust (affective and cognitive) and team cohesion in a newly formed temporary team of novice adults during a seven-day sail training programme. A descriptive longitudinal case study approach was adopted in the current study. Seven crew members completed the standardised psychometric questionnaires and were interviewed during the voyage. Results suggested that the development of trust occurs over three phases; 1) initial perception of shared identity, 2) early trust and 3) two dimensional trust comprising cognitive and affective dimensions. Distinct antecedents for the development of trust at each stage were identified and the importance of the competence-oriented subcomponent of cognitive trust within this challenging environmental context was highlighted. Exploratory interpretation suggests some overlap in the antecedents of interpersonal trust and team cohesion. However, further longitudinal research must examine this relationship and establish corroborative evidence for the model of trust. This research can impact on practitioners leading programmes to better understand how trust can develop over time, and offers a pragmatic approach to investigations in real world contexts.

Recovery under sail: Rehabilitation clients' experience of a sail training voyage

Sail training refers to sea voyages designed to foster personal and social change. Such training has mainly involved young people but may have the potential to benefit adults who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. During the voyage described here clients in drug rehabilitation centres across the UK were given the opportunity to participate in a 5-day sail training voyage. Pre- and post-voyage interviews were conducted with 11 clients to explore their experiences of being selected and participating in this voyage. Clients enjoyed the experience and found it to be beneficial, promoting self-insight, new life plans and social skills development. Living in an unfamiliar, potentially dangerous and inescapable environment necessitating close proximity to others and teamwork under the supervision of expert authority figures generated bonding with and caring for others; as well as the development of new competencies and greater self-confidence. The findings suggest that sail training can be beneficial to clients in recovery from addiction and highlight key features that may optimise effectiveness.