US Sailing’s Reach – A Youth Experience in South Carolina

In May of 2015, seven teachers and 27 sixth grade students from the Reach Club at the Creek Bridge Middle School in Marion, South Carolina made the two-and-a-half hour drive from their landlocked community to Charleston, one of the most popular sailing destinations in the country.

Wayne Burdick, President of Beneteau, Inc., spent the last year and a half collaborating with US Sailing and the Marion County School District to engage area youth in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) through the sport of sailing.

Fifty students learned STEM through the US Sailing Reach initiative over the past four months. This experience featured a field trip to the Beneteau Group factory in Marion, where students learned how sailboats are designed and built. At the successful conclusion of the student’s Reach studies, they went to the College of Charleston to sail with the school’s nationally recognized sailing team. Only two of the students had ever been on the water prior to this experience.

“There are few times in my career that have been more gratifying in the ‘big picture’ of life than the day spent seeing the Reach students sail on a beautiful day at the College of Charleston Sailing Center,” said Burdick. “Thanks to the support of our Marion team, where beautiful Jeanneau and Beneteau sailboats are built each day, and thanks to some of the finest collegiate sailors acting as skipper and superior role models for the kids, the event was a wonderful culmination for the introduction of this US Sailing program to an inland school.”

Beneteau Group has partnered with the Marion schools for the upcoming school year and will be implementing Reach in sixth and seventh grade classrooms at the Creek Bridge School.

The implementation of the Reach program in Marion serves as a great example and a blueprint for other schools to follow. By partnering with sailing programs, organizations, and businesses in the industry, schools can learn how to introduce more youth to STEM education and sailing.

“We hope to expand upon this initiative of using sailing as a basis for catalyzing middle school students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math,” said Burdick.

Thanks to the Beneteau Group, which includes the Jeanneau America, Beneteau America and the BGM America factory in Marion, the students at Creek Bridge Middle School have seen a world outside of their small South Carolina town. US Sailing’s Reach initiative gives the students an opportunity to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math while getting out on the water.
And as Burdick says, “There is nothing more important than that.”

“We thank the team at Beneteau Group for the time and dedication they put into this project, as well as Nathan Indergaard and the school’s leadership and staff at Creek Bridge Middle School,” said Servis.

“They tried something new, learned about sailing, and used their creativity for a unique learning opportunity for their students. We would also like to recognize the College of Charleston Sailing Team and the leadership of Coach Greg Fisher. Thank you for taking the time and effort to introduce these individuals to the great sport of sailing.”

Learn more about US Sailing's Reach.

Science at the Volvo Ocean Race Newport Stopover

What do science, technology, engineering, math and ocean conservation have to do with the Volvo Ocean Race? Well, just about everything!

Sail Newport, Sailors for the Sea, and 11th Hour Racing worked together to host the Exploration Zone at the Volvo Ocean Race Newport Stopover in May. The US Sailing Reach program teaches STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education through sailing, and what better place to spotlight the connection than the Volvo Stopover?

Harken generously partnered with US Sailing for this event providing an interactive display where kids explore mechanical advantage through various purchase systems. The kids were then challenged to scour the stopover village on a simple machine scavenger hunt. One of their favorites is the 75mm winch on the Volvo 65s, a great example of a wheel and axle.

Class field trips, organized by schools from four states, sent a total of 2,780 students. Parents from across the country brought their kids to the stopover and the Exploration Zone. Nearly 10,000 youth explored 22 interactive exhibits. The Exploration Zone inspired visitors of all ages to learn more about the sport of sailing, the ocean, and to discover continents and cultures around the world through the lens of this amazing ocean race.

Thanks to Harken, Sail Newport, and Sailors for the Sea for all of their efforts in coordinating the Exploration Zone and to 11th Hour Racing and SCA for their sponsorship. The kids had a blast!

Learn more about Reach.

A Letter to the Editor of Sailing Magazine

Dear Sailing Magazine Editor,

In the February edition of Sailing magazine, Nick Hayes published an editorial piece entitled - “Kids should sail because it’s fun, not because it’s homework”. The article made references to US Sailing’s Reach initiative for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. First, a big thanks to Nick for his continued work promoting sailing, and for highlighting these innovative programs.

We would like to take this opportunity to provide your readers with some background on the Reach initiative and address some misconceptions. Much of what Nick discusses regarding sailing and learning, kids and fun, are cornerstones for the Reach program and other STEM sailing initiatives. We are certainly not trying to change the face of youth sailing, but open doors to new possibilities. Reach is a grass-roots program derived from community sailing, the bedrock of learn to sail programs around the country. These organizations are utilizing their infrastructure, expertise and relationships to be a more valuable and relevant resource for their communities.

Westwind Sailing’s Success: Innovative Opportunities and Partnerships

“We all have something awesome to offer the kids in our community,” said Diane Wenzel, Executive Director of Westwind Sailing, an organization located in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. that is dedicated to providing safe boating and sailing education for the general public. “We’ve built strong relationships with our neighboring clubs and organizations through the years and our passionate staff has worked hard to grow and expand in new communities.”

And Westwind Sailing has certainly expanded.

US Sailing at Charleston Race Week

US Sailing had a blast last week with the competitors and organizers of the Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week. Here is a rundown of US Sailing’s participation in Charleston:

• Groupe Beneteau sponsored scholarships for 21 educators working in at-risk schools in Charleston and Marion County South Carolina for the US Sailing STEM Educator Course held last Saturday in association with Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week.
  
• At the welcome reception, US Sailing Executive Director Jack Gierhart discussed the benefits of Reach and the program’s long term goals. 
   
• US Sailing served free coffee and espresso to competitors each morning at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina's Reel Bar. US Sailing President Tom Hubbell was on-hand meeting sailors. Coffee and espresso was provided by Francisco Davila’s Coffee Roasters of Charleston. US Sailing members were given one pound of fresh roasted coffee. We served 970 cups of coffee over three days!
   
• Race committee volunteers Carol and Ken Small of Oriental, N.C. won the the GoPro Hero3 raffle prize.

Check out our photos from Charleston Race Week on Instagram.
 
Learn more about Charleston Race Week.

How Sea Affinity of Baltimore Implemented REACH

US Sailing interviewed Sea Affinity Director Steve Maddox recently to learn and share creative ways educational programs are successfully implementing the REACH program. REACH utilizes sailing as an educational platform, challenging youth to embrace education, establish a love of learning and explore productive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) based careers.

Sea Affinity is a perfect match for REACH. They are a life skills development organization that uses sailing and boating education to challenge and enable youth and adults, including those impacted by disabilities, to realize their potential.

Organizations interested in utilizing the REACH program should use this interview as resource and a model.

REACH and SailBot Share Passion for Sailing as Education Platform

US Sailing’s REACH program has made a unique connection with the SailBot 2013 International Robotic Sailing Regatta. These two innovative programs have a lot in common.

SailBot is a robotic sailing competition historically held in North America in which teams of students from colleges and high schools compete. The goal of the event is to create an unmanned sailboat that navigates through a variety of challenges with limited, if any, human control. Students are able to use this friendly competition between schools to apply their engineering knowledge in a multi-disciplinary task that requires mechanical, electrical, and software skill to deal with this highly variable environment.

The Reach program utilizes sailing as an educational platform, challenging youth to embrace education, establish a love of learning and explore productive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) based careers.

US Sailing had the opportunity to discuss the educational benefits of the SailBot competition with event organizer Andrew Bennett:

US Sailing: What concepts are students learning by engaging in a project like this?
 
Andrew Bennett: There are several important concepts that students will learn during this project, including mechanical design, electronics, naval architecture, robotics, programming and systems integration. It will also put their sailing skills to the test as they will have to translate their own sailing abilities into something that can be programmed into the robot so it can try to sail as well as they do!

The contest is designed to let teams focus on any or all of these aspects of the problem. A “kit” will be made available, complete with a shopping list of parts and downloadable software, which will let students get a running start on the project. From there, students can focus on any aspect of the problem that interests them the most.

US Sailing: How does this competition prepare students for 21st century careers?
 
Andrew Bennett: Robots are rapidly becoming the widespread throughout the world:  in agriculture, medicine, logistics, mining, entertainment, safety and anyplace where the task is “dirty, dull or dangerous.” The RoboSail project will teach design, programming and fabrication skills which will give students an edge in this growing industry. 

Outside of robotics, the design, fabrication, programming and problem solving skills that students develop will be useful in many fields such as engineering, software design and naval architecture, to name just a few.

US Sailing: What are a few of the challenges for students at the high school level compared to those at the college level?
 
Andrew Bennett: As a starting point, I would suggest that high school students focus on the areas of integration (making everything work together) and reliability (especially making a robot that will survive in a salt water environment). These skills will be extremely useful later in college. With that done, the teams can then focus on making a smart, fast boat. As many college teams have learned, sailing is a sport that is “easy to learn and hard to master.” 

As I like to tell my students:  1) Make it work. 2) Make it work reliably. 3) Make it better.

The college level teams traditionally spend time perfecting hull and keel design. Some teams will go as far as multihull and wing-sail designs as well. Others will spend all their time on software and autonomy and try to make a “smarter boat.”

US Sailing: What role does sailing play in a complex engineering competition like this?

Andrew Bennett: Sailing skills are vital to the success of a winning team. As several colleges have learned in the past, making a boat that is capable of sailing is not the same thing as making a boat sail well! Even the best boat can be defeated when it’s not used to its full potential.

Areas where sailing skills play an important role are in rigging, trimming, handling and tactics. Even simple acts, such as tacking and jibing, need to be programmed into the robot and then verified so that they do the right thing at the right time.

US Sailing: Do most of the students have a background in sailing? If not, what concepts do you focus on?
 
Andrew Bennett: In the current SailBot competition the teams vary widely from all roboticists and programmers to all naval architects. In 2012, the first place boat was designed by a team of sailors and naval architects, but it was not the most reliable boat in the race and suffered breakdowns during the race. The second place boat was designed by roboticists and was very reliable, but it did not sail well and did not move nearly as fast as it might have if it had more experienced sailors on the team.

The ideal team should have a mix of everything: sailing skills, programming skills, electrical skills and mechanical skills. That being said, past races at the college level show that teams that emphasize one skill over the other are still quite competitive.

US Sailing: How do people get involved? (sponsorship, volunteers, spectators, competitors)
 
Andrew Bennett: The 2013 race will be held in Gloucester Harbor (Mass.), right at Pavilion Beach. The “pit” area where teams set up and repair their robots will be hosted at Maritime Gloucester, nearby (http://maritimegloucester.org/). Everyone is welcome to come and watch the races!

At this time the race is still looking for sponsors. It is our hope that we can subsidize the teams’ meal costs to keep expenses down. Our current sponsors have already been invaluable in allowing us to host an awards banquet for our competitors so they have an opportunity to meet exchange information and make friends. We are still looking for sponsors to help with a kickoff BBQ and with costs such as chase boat fuel, tents to protect the boats at the race site, etc.

If anyone wishes to help as a volunteer or participate as a competitor, you can learn more at www.sailbot.org.