1877 SAILING VESSEL ELISSA
SEAMANSHIP TRAINING AND SEA TRIALS
2010 – 2011

Seamanship Training 2010–2011 will begin on July 24, 2010, and will consist of 19 day-long sessions and one half-day session (Class I), the last of which will be on March 12, 2011. The schedule takes into account holidays, so that there are no more than two weeks between classes.

Attendance: Seamanship Training classes are designed to build upon what was learned in previous classes: Class attendance is crucial to develop the necessary skills, experience, and knowledge. All trainees will be allowed to miss up to four non-consecutive classes, with prior approval of the waterfront manager and the chair of the Ship Operations Committee. All trainees are urged to attend as many classes as possible. Volunteers MUST attend 16 out of 20 sessions.

Crew Selection: Sailing crew selection and allotted sailing days will be based upon the following criteria: volunteer hours, class attendance, availability to sail, test scores, and overall proficiency in square-rig sailing skills. A committee composed of mast captains, sail training administration, TSM waterfront manager, and assistant waterfront manager will make the final crew selection. In addition to sailing days, volunteers will be scheduled for night watches, dock line handling, and shore support.  All volunteers selected for crew will be required to stand an in port watch of two hours between the hours of 1800 and 0700 at least once.  Those volunteers qualifying for 3 or more days of sail will need to stand two watches on separate nights.  In port watches will be required for the entire day sail series including non-sailing days.

Volunteer Hours - Please read this section carefully

• The minimum number of volunteer hours required to qualify for the sailing crew is 130, accumulated between February 8, 2010 and March 13, 2011. PLEASE NOTE that hours spent in Seamanship Training classes count toward satisfying this requirement.

• Volunteers will be allotted seven hours for every full day of Seamanship Training.  Partial attendance at a class will be rounded to the nearest quarter, half or whole day.

• Volunteer hours spent in any sanctioned capacity may be used to satisfy the hours requirements for sailing crew.

• Everyone who intends to qualify as sailing crew must put in a minimum of 7 hours in addition to Seamanship Training class attendance between February 7, 2011 and March 13, 2011, regardless of how many hours they acquire between February 8, 2010 and February 6, 2011. (Example: Let’s say you may have accumulated 150 volunteer hours of ship maintenance by February 6, 2011. You must still put in a minimum of 7 additional hours between February 7, 2011 and March 13, 2011.)

• Since so much is based on the number of hours donated, it is vital that volunteer hours are recorded in the logbook in accordance with the guidelines of TSM that are posted near the hours logbook.

Work Days: In order to satisfy the minimum requirement of 130 hours to make sailing crew, you should attend all 20 training sessions. To make sure that you meet the essential standards, and since the maintenance needs of ELISSA frequently exceed our minimum requirements, volunteers are encouraged to sign up for additional work days. Ongoing schedules of the work to be done and desired completion dates will be posted during the preceding month.

Review Sessions: We will offer review sessions once a month on a Sunday, starting in August. These day-long classes may be used to make up missed seamanship training sessions (please consult a member of the Ship Operations Committee for details) or to receive further instruction in subjects that prove to be difficult. Attendance may be made up for no more than two absences, but you may attend as many review sessions as you like. To make up a missed class, the review session must occur after the absence or you must have prior permission from the SOC as review sessions will only cover topics already taught.

Top Ten: As a way to reward those who contribute hours well in excess of the minimum requirements, the ten volunteers with the most hours contributed between February 8, 2010 and February 6, 2011, will be allowed to invite a guest for a sail during the Spring 2011 Sea Trials. These “top ten” contributors do not have to be enrolled in seamanship training.

Shakedown Sail: All volunteers—not just those who complete Seamanship Training—who are not designated as shakedown sailing crew or included in the top ten above will be ranked by hours contributed between February 8, 2010 and February 6, 2011. Invitations to sail on the shakedown will be offered to these people until we have filled all available slots. Volunteers must, however, have acquired a minimum of 65 hours between February 8, 2010 and February 6, 2011, to be considered for the shakedown sail.

Sailing as a “Standby”: Volunteers who have accumulated at least 65 hours between February 8, 2010 and February 6, 2011 may daysail twice, as a “standby guest.”  If there are more standbys than guest spaces available, volunteers will be first ranked, lowest to highest, by the number of standby guest sails they have already had, and then ranked highest to lowest by their volunteer hours.  Sailing standby on the volunteer sail will not count against the two standby guest sail limit.

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