Study on the Effects of Sailing Vessel Training

Abstract: Sail training is thought to improve not only one's knowledge and skills with regard to vessel operation but also one’s emotional competence, as manifested in improved leadership, self-control, and communication skills. We created a questionnaire in which trainees self-reported on their feelings and actions and used the results to assess their emotional competence in terms of eight items: self-control, leadership, situation awareness, communication, ability to be active, ability to manage stress, consideration for others, and teamwork. This questionnaire was administered to students before and after sailing vessel and motor ship training at a university. Of the eight items, seven (all except “consideration for others”) showed improved scores after the sail training. Six of these seven items were improved to approximately equal degrees, and the seventh, “leadership”, was remarkably improved. Scores for the seven emotional competence items that were improved by the sailing vessel training declined during the break of about 20 days that followed the training. They were improved again by the subsequent motor ship training, albeit to a lesser degree than by the sailing vessel training. In addition, since interesting results were obtained, we describe them.