There are many reasons
to teach children how to sail.
Here is a list of the
top 15 benefits:
·
Learning
through Discovery. Sailing teaches life skills through
self-discovery. This is a very effective and interesting way to learn and is
different from most educational methods used in school. By learning
through self-discovery, people develop a thirst for greater learning as well as
a deeper understanding of the subject.
·
Decision
Making. Sailing teaches and gets people comfortable with
making real-time decisions. When faced with the changing courses of other boats
and wind shifts, the sailor needs to constantly make decisions to safely
maneuver the boat and to do so without time to discuss or contemplate. This is
one reason the U.S. Navy uses sailing as a teaching tool to high school age
NJROTC cadets and to Midshipmen at the Naval Academy.
·
Self-Confidence. There
is simply nothing like being able to pilot your own craft at the age of 8 years
old. Riding a bike is one thing. Skillfully steering and docking a
sailboat is quite another.
·
Team
Work. An analogy is to imagine having three people to drive
your car, one person on the wheel, one person for the accelerator, and one
person for the brake. To not properly work as a team on a sailboat will cause
chaotic sail and boat behavior often causing the boat to turn out of control,
or for a small sailboat to tip. That’s a lot of motivation to learn to work as
a team.
·
Communication
Skills. Sailing demands accurate and clear and timely
communication between every member of the crew. To not correctly
communicate can quickly cause things to go wrong, such as falling behind on a
race, or tipping the boat.
·
Adventurous. Sailing
creates a sense of adventure which combines curiosity and boldness and becoming
comfortable to face new challenges. It does so while being fun creating the
desire to enjoy new challenges.
·
Risk
Taking. Sailors whom race learn to take risks and become
comfortable with taking risks. They also quickly learn the results of taking
too much risk. Many young sailors will tip their boat on a warm summer day just
for the fun of pushing the risk-taking beyond the limit. Learning small boat
sailing on a sunny summer day in calm waters is where disastrous results of
going beyond the limit can be fun.
·
Responsibility. Taking
command of even a small boat is a lot of responsibility. Not only are boats
costly to purchase and repair, but being in any
situation involving water has a certain level of danger. Even the youngest
sailor learns the need to follow safety protocols, safe practices, using safety
gear, and acting in a safe manner. Sailing is so much fun; all sailors are
motivated to learn and follow the practices of safe and proper seamanship in order to keep sailing.
·
Courage. To
step away from the land into the marine environment powered only by the wind
takes courage. To try to make a boat sail as fast as it can and to take risks in order to be victorious during a race takes courage.
Sailors who are comfortable while sailing, especially in a racing situation
have developed a deep-rooted level of courage.
·
Shipshape
habits. Sailing students learn how to properly rig and
unrig a boat. Kids learn to put things away in the right place and keep
them tidy while on the water, especially small boat sailing. It’s not that
sailors are “neat freaks” it’s just that it creates a safer environment and is
practical due to the rocking and heeling of the boat. That’s a skill no
mom or dad can argue with.
·
Perseverance. Sailing
rewards perseverance. There is a good reason why many boats have been
named Tenacity, Resolute, and Endurance. Success in sailing is often
due to having steadfastness of doing something despite difficulty or delay in
achieving the object.
·
Flexibility. A
sailor must not be rigid in following a plan because the sea and weather are
always changing. The sailor must learn a level of flexibility to be successful.
·
Cognitive
Skills. To communicate with a crew, manage the shape and
trim of a sail, steer the boat, navigate the boat in the bay considering other boats,
shoals, etc.; to do this in a changing environment with wind shifts, and tidal
currents; to learn using every sense the human has while instantaneous problem
solving; and to do so with the ease and comfort as taking a breath of the sea
air. There is no better tool for teaching cognitive skills.
·
Practical
Mathematics. Velocity, bearing between boats, tracking
distances, the real world experiences while sailing is
so much fun that the sailor doesn’t even realize that they are learning
mathematics such as geometry, as well as basic physics.
·
Leadership. The
sailboat is a floating leadership laboratory. Every sailor will have time as skipper
and will need to take command and navigate and safely steer his boat among
changing, often challenging conditions. Every sailor will have time working
with a skipper, learning the adage before you lead, you need to learn to
follow. The U.S. Navy sends its top high school NJROTC cadets to the Leadership
and Sailing Academy so in a short two week period they
can learn the leadership skills needed to return to take over command positions
in their units. The Naval Academy will have its newest midshipmen have a
similar experience during their first eight weeks of arrival because the
sailboat is a very effective tool for teaching leadership.