1877 SAILING VESSEL ELISSA
SEAMANSHIP TRAINING AND SEA TRIALS
2011–2012

Texas Seaport Museum
A Project of Galveston Historical Foundation

Seamanship Training 2011–2012 will begin on September 10, 2011, and will consist of 20 day-long sessions, the last of which will be on June 9, 2012. TSM Volunteers who complete the program are eligible to serve as crew on ELISSA.

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 director and the chair of the Ship Operations Committee. All trainees are urged to attend as many classes as possible. Volunteers MUST attend a net of 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 and Ship Operations Committee, 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 complete the Seamannahip Training Program is 140, accumulated between February 7, 2011 and June 9, 2012. Hours spent in Seamanship Training classes count toward satisfying this requirement.  In addition  to these hours, and inorder to qualify for the sailing crew, additional workdays are required as specified in the next section.

• Volunteers will be allotted seven hours for every full day of Seamanship Training.  Partial attendance at a class will be rounded down to the quarter hour.
• Volunteer hours spent in any sanctioned capacity may be used to satisfy the hours requirements for sailing crew.
• 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. (Do not record class attendance hours in the hours logbook, as those hours are recorded for you by SOC committee).

Work Days: In order to satisfy the minimum requirement of 140 hours to complete the Seamanship Training program, you should attend all 20 training sessions. To make ELISSA ready for drydocking in July 2012 and for daysails in 2012 and 2013, and in order to qualify for the sailing crew, additional work hours must be completed in tasks directly relating to the maintenance and operation of ELISSA and according to the following schedule:

Hours earned in Seamanship Training class, or time spent in refresher training before sailing, or work on tasks not directly related to the operation and maintenance of ELISSA do not count toward meeting these requirements

Review Sessions: We will offer review sessions once a month on a Sunday, starting in September. 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.  Partial attendance at a review session will NOT make-up a missed absence.  You must attend the full 7 hour day (training/review and maintenance) in order to make up a missed day.  Attending the training/review portion only, is no different than attending an offsite study session, and will not be awarded any hours or attendance credit.

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 7, 2011 and February 10, 2013, will be allowed to invite a guest for a sail during the Spring 2013 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 7, 2011and February 10, 2013. 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 130 hours between February 7, 2011 and February 10, 2013, to be considered for the shakedown sail.

Sailing as a “Standby”: Volunteers who have accumulated at least 130 hours between February 7, 2011 and February 10, 2013 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.

Special note on Daysails. There will be a daysail series scheduled for Fall 2012 following Elissa’s drydocking. The crew, top ten guests, standby guests, and shakedown sail guests for that sail will be based on crew that completed the 2010-2011 Seamanship Training Program and volunteers hours earned from February 8, 2010 to February 6, 2011.  Additional crew and guest spaces that cannot be filled by 2010-2011 trainees will be filled by those completing the 2011-2012 Seamanship Training program.  A second daysail series will be scheduled in Spring 2013 for crew completing the 2011-2012 Seamanship Training Program.  All sailing crew must complete the required additional hours for the periods before drydock and before sailing and must attend three refresher training classes before each daysail series sailing.

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