Sail Training WORKS!---Just ask the Scots!

[R.C.Glover III]

Yes, you read that right and being of Scottish decent, I do have a family tartan and do wear my kilt on occasion, I was intrigued that a world class university in Scotland had done a study on Sail Training, so I could not wait to read it.

The University of Edinburgh released a study in June of this year commissioned by Sail Training International and its member national organizations around the world. This study is probably the most comprehensive scientific study performed in the last 50 years evaluating the effectiveness of the sail training experience. This study was comprehensive and looked at a great variety of programs and vessels world wide. Quoted directly from the section on principle findings, “In a sentence, the study shows that sail training does what it claims to do.” YES! Finally we have a solid third party opinion that can be used by programs and ships to assist them in promotion, fundraising, development and marketing sail training.

You can download a PDF format of the entire study here: If this does not work email me and I will send you the link.

Some of you may remember that I wrote a forum earlier in the year on this site, that begged the question; Sail Training will it change today’s youth? One of my main points of this discussion was the need of “traditional” sail training vessels where the main thrust of the “program” is getting the vessel from point A to B and that experience is in itself highly effective in developing character traits resulting in positively changed lives vs vessels that are so program orientated that the basics of sail training are lost in the experince. In table six of the study participants where asked which of the following expectations were fulfilled in their sail training adventure? Over 54% of the participants rated CONFIDENCE as the top response. Do our kids need that today or what? When surveyed about the Impact of participating in sail training, the highest percentage of participants chose” More confident with others/new friends. These are just some of the great results of this study that relay to many of us what we have known for decades. Now we have a solid scientific study to prove to people that sail training programs are effective and worth every dollar, pound, euro, pence, krona, mark, peso, dinar, escudo, franc, guilder we can put into our vessels.

If you have any experiences or relationship with the sail training industry it is imperative that you read this report. Spread the word and the news, Sail Training WORKS! – The Scots say so and THAT should be justification for anyone! :)