Youth Sail Training aboard Tyrone provides a once in a lifetime experiental learning opportunity that benefits all regardless of background or life path. We focus on high school through college age young adults. In a group of 6 or less each individual is an integral part of the crew. From raising the anchor, setting sail, steering the schooner to working in the galley to make sure all are fed, each crew member will feel the empowerment of being a shipmate. Tyrone excels in trips with young adults and we feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to provide a lasting positive impact that will be remembered throughout a young persons life.

Curriculum Outline:

Youth Sail Training and Curriculum

Safety (base instruction covered in initial tour and detail covered throughout trip as needed)

  • Instruction and Basic Station Bill (job/task assignments) for:

    • Life Jacket / safety lanyard Location, use and rules 

    • Man Overboard

      • Station bill including pointer,  ring tosser, ladder setter, boat hook handler, blanket/first aid prepper, sail handlers 

    • Fire 

      • Location and Type (use cases) of all fire extinguishers 

      • Onboard flammables training (diesel, propane etc.)

    • Abandon Ship

      • EPIRB purpose, location and use 

      • Small boat location and use description 

      • 8 man life raft aboard Tyrone location and use 

    • VHF Radio operation, rules and how to listen to weather 

    • Deck safety 

      • Safe and unsafe locations 

      • Safe movement around lively deck

      • line handling and load information for different lines/situations etc 

  • Galley and Duty roster Assignments

    • Typically two people assigned to galley duty per day with adult supervision/help for each meal

    • Assign: bilge checks, weather checks, navigation, lookout duty etc we try to write all assignments on a whiteboard for the trip

       

  • Navigation and Passage planning lesson

    • Mercator Projection / Nautical chart explanation 

      • Latitude longitude 

      • Tools we use for plotting 

      • Making a passage plan with route distance, duration and waypoints/nav aids to lookout for

      • Different ways of plotting a fix and what we do underway to know where we are

Throughout Trip 

  • Sail Theory

    • Discuss airfoils, fore and aft vs. square sails, points of sail etc 

    • Discuss hull shapes and different attributes 

    • Put it into practice using sheets vs. helm to balance the boat or use mainsail at anchor to show effects

  • Marlinspike Seamanship

    • Cleat hitch, locking turn, bowline, clove hitch, midshipman hitch, alpine butterfly, round turn and two half hitches

    • Rope Splicing

    • Review and utilize book resources aboard

    • Navigation, weather, safety, situational awareness and general boat handling is expanded on through the trip 

  • Small boat handling - we’ll try to give ample opportunity for all to row the small boat around as time allows 

Skills Evaluation Opportunities Throughout Trip:

  • Evening Muster, highs and lows conversation and discussion of days takeaways

    • Discussions around leadership, community, responsibility, respect and other relevant topics

  • Man overboard drill 

  • Pin Chase (find the lines that are named) 

  • Knot tying challenges for speed, accuracy and situational use 

  • Navigation 

    • Find latitude and longitude on chart 

    • Plot fix taking bearings from three aids to navigation or landmarks 

  • Helming - everyone should have a turn at the helm. Paying attention to compass, landmarks and sail trim 

  • We suggest Journaling what was expected and what was realized. Self evaluation. What did they take away from the experience