Into the Blue: Meet The U.S. Naval Academy Offshore Sailing Team

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The U.S. Naval Academy Offshore Sailing Team is a ship-shape program teaching young officers-in-training valuable lessons

It’s a cold, but beautiful day on the Chesapeake Bay just off Annapolis. The only boats on the water are three fleets of dinghies sailing out of the Naval Academy, Annapolis Yacht Club, and the Severn Sailing Association, plus seven larger yachts with Midshipmen crew who are training for offshore sailing races during the summer recess. Unlike the academy’s highly competitive intercollegiate dinghy team, a majority of the varsity and junior varsity offshore sailing teams are relatively new to the sport. 

The practice and racing schedule is a regular part of a midshipman’s grueling day. Every member of the team arrives for practice at the Robert Crown Sailing Center prior to 3:45 p.m. If anyone is late, some push-ups are required. Hence, being tardy is rare. For the past several years I have rotated as one of several volunteer coaches and have watched as the midshipmen become competent offshore sailors. Thanks to their time sailing in the ocean and long distances, the team members are well prepared for their future service in the United States Navy.

The head offshore sailing coach, Jahn Tihansky, has been at the Academy for 18 years. I was curious if the academy has any formal professional development that connects the midshipmen’s sailing experience to their duties as a naval officer. Tihansky explained, “The professional development piece comes naturally. We are a varsity sports team. We work through the (Naval Academy) Athletic Association. A good training program is to control the environment to allow mistakes to be made for people to learn from. People will tell you it’s the most effective and, ultimately, the most efficient learning process. I am a big proponent of it.”

The assistant offshore coach, Erin Sprague, was the Director of Sailing and Recreational Boating at the California Maritime Academy prior to coming to Annapolis two years ago. She adds, “We receive guidance on professional development through the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, where there is a program called ‘Influence the Influencer.’ The program is also available to faculty, staff, civilian, and military across the board.” 

Sprague is completing a master’s degree in leadership at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. She ties her studies to her coaching approach. “I feel a responsibility to take an academic approach to facilitating the learning that’s happening. We want to compete. We want to win. We really want to create good humans that are exceptional officers. As coaches we make sure that we’re giving them the right experiences to figure out the right lessons that we are intending for them to learn while they are here.”

In addition to Tihansky and Sprague, the Academy employs offshore coaches Peter Carrico, Nancy Haberland, and Nick Fineucan. Fineucan, who joined the staff last year, focuses on the technical and maintenance side of the program. Haberland runs the offshore junior varsity team. Carrico has been a key member of the maintenance staff for over 30 years and adds his years of expertise from grand prix yacht racing to daily practices. Tihansky is aided by local sailor Frieda Wildey, who coordinates the volunteer coaching schedule and spends every afternoon on the water monitoring practices. The Naval Academy Sailing Foundation also employs John Wright as the Vanderstar Chair. HeeHHe has the responsibility of setting safety and training guidelines. Wright was an Intercollegiate Sailor of the Year at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in recognition of his three Cup victories. Wright also spends considerable time as an offshore team coach. 

The midshipman skippers and executive officers (XO) of the boats listen to a 20-minute lecture about the lessons of the day by Tihansky before joining the rest of their crews who have been preparing the boats for sailing. It is a fine-tuned system that works with great efficiency. Any military commander would appreciate the competency of the routine.

The daily practice routine includes short races, sail handling drills, man overboard rescues, maneuvering exercises, navigation, and a long list of maintenance items to fix. Every midshipman is in constant motion during practice. The skipper and XO hold a brief crew meeting before leaving the dock and a comprehensive review at the end of the day. The coaches provide advice throughout the session. I find that the midshipmen are anxious to learn and listen carefully. The practices are conducted five days per week. There is a steep learning curve and in a few months the crews are ready to head offshore. About 30 percent of the academy’s enrollment are women and the same ratio of women are on the offshore sailing team. I make a point of asking each crew member where they grew up. It is heartwarming to meet these aspiring naval officers from across America. The sailors are ethnically diverse, which bodes well for the future of the sport of sailing. I find that all the midshipmen are enthusiastic learners. It makes coaching a joy.

This summer the schedule calls for the seven midshipmen crews to compete in the Annapolis to Newport Race, the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, and the Marion (Massachusetts) to Bermuda Race before returning to Annapolis. The schedule of races will take about 30 days. The team competes in two important intercollegiate big boat races during the fall: The Kennedy Cup and The McMillen Cup. The McMillen Cup started in 1930. In 1936, future President John F. Kennedy and his older brother Patrick were on the winning McMillen Cup crew for Harvard College (the undergraduate program of Harvard University). The Kennedy Cup was created in 1965 in honor of President Kennedy. Both events are raced with the academy’s fleet of 16 Navy 44s. The Navy 44s are sturdy offshore sloops that accommodate eight to 10 midshipmen on long distance races for cruises. The Naval Academy has won the McMillen Cup 23 times and the Kennedy Cup 15 times.

I asked Coach Tihansky if he ever heard from graduates who participated on the offshore team years after graduation. With pride the coach mentioned a few, “Astronauts Jim Lovell and Tom Stafford (Class of 1953) were in the offshore program. Mr. Lovell was new to sailing but became a skipper before graduating. I got to talk with both men, and they told me how sailing contributed to who they were as naval officers, pilots, and leaders.” Tihansky continued, “One of the most gratifying parts of the job is to hear about graduates’ outcomes. One member of the Class of 2006, my first year here, is now a commanding officer of an attack submarine. He speaks effusively of his experience on the team and how it still contributes to how he develops his team on the submarine. Another graduate became a pilot and an F35 instructor. He said he applies the things he learned skippering a boat to Bermuda on a regular basis in his current job. Being on a boat in the ocean can be an unforgiving environment. It really allows them to test themselves and to develop confidence in a real-world environment.”

Several of the Navy 44s are used for summer training sessions outside of the varsity offshore team. The training program is run by veteran offshore racing sailor, Rene Mehl. The program is known as the Offshore Sail Training Squadron (OSTS). Midshipmen sail to destinations on the East Coast in four-week time blocks. Mehl says about 250 midshipmen participate in the program each summer. 

Ten years ago, there were questions about the value of using sail training to prepare future naval officers. Based on the successful careers of many naval officers who have participated in offshore sailing, the lessons learned on the sea have proven to be invaluable in building effective leaders.