MITNA Learn-to-Sail has been a fundamental part of MIT Sailing since the Pavilion opened in 1936.
Sailing Lectures Every Wednesday / Practical Sailing Instruction to be Given in Weekly Shore School
Anyone interested in sailing is encouraged to attend the sailing lectures that will be given by Professor George Owen and Mr. Robert W. Vose of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Naval Architecture Department…Twelve lectures will be given the last on March 4, by which time it is hoped that the boats will be ready for use…
A Shore School is being organized for those who want to acquire a working knowledge of sailing during the winter months. This group will have the more experienced sailors for instructors and will meet in alphabetical sections every afternoon except Monday…The student instructors will be given the title of ‘boatswain’ and will be chosen as those best suited by their ability, experience, and interest in sailing and instructing.
Funds for five boats have already been donated by friends who are interested in sailing and enough boats to make sailing practicable are expected to be available by Spring. The design for the boats will probably be one worked out by the Naval Architecture Department of the Institute, and the cost of the boats will be somewhere between $250 and $300.
Contracts Signed for Construction of Forty Dinghies / Boats Designed under Personal Supervision of Prof. George Owen / First Boat Ready by March 17, 2023
Forty boats specifically designed under the direction of Professor George Owen are now under construction—at least 34 of which will be available for use students interested in sailing at Technology—it was learned last night, and prospects for a Charles River Basin enlivened by the activities of the MIT Nautical Association became bright. The boats will be completed sometime next month, it was announced
Sailing
Construction of the boats, which were designed in the Institute’s department of Naval Architecture, will begin at once at the Herreshoff plant at Bristol, RI. The first of the boats is expected to be ready in March.
The plan provide for a boat 12 ½ feet long with a breadth of five feet. A feature of the design is the two mast steps, providing for rigging the dinghies as either cat=bats or sloops. The boat has overhanging bow and stern, and the ample breadth makes for stability and safety of handling by novices, while at the same time they are expected to give a good account of themselves in racing. The dinghies are expected to weigh less than 175 pounds each, thus assuring ease in transportation and housing.
While several colleges have student sailing clubs, the Institute is believed to be the first in the country to recognize sailing as one of the official student activities. The enthusiasm of students for the new activity has aroused wide alumni interest.
Professor Erwin H. Schell, head of the Department of Business and Engineering Administration, has cooperated with the students in organizing the activity and procuring funds for the dinghies. Dr. Karl T. Compton, president of the Institute, donated the first boat and appointed a committee to draw specifications for a dinghy suitable for instruction in the fundamentals of sailing as well as for undergraduate racing, This committee was composed of Professor Owen, as chairman, Henry A. Morss and Walter C. Wood.
Forty boats specifically designed under the direction of Professor George Owen are now under construction—at least 34 of which will be available for use students interested in sailing at Technology—it was learned last night, and prospects for a Charles River Basin enlivened by the activities of the MIT Nautical Association became bright. The boats will be completed sometime next month, it was announced
Construction of the boats, which were designed in the Institute’s department of Naval Architecture, will begin at once at the Herreshoff plant at Bristol, RI. The first of the boats is expected to be ready in March.
and Walter C. Wood.
