New Volunteer Orientation/Winter Sail Training
This Saturday will be the start of this years Winter Sail Training beginning with a new volunteer Orientation. If you or anyone else is interested in joining out volunteer crowd come on down.
This is the advertisement that is going out on other websites and blogs.
If you’re age 16 or over, and interested in preserving history, sailing, or the great outdoors, then the US Brig Niagara, www.flagshipniagara.org, needs you! As the 2010 summer sailing season approaches, Erie residents and anyone from the tri-state area are invited to attend an orientation for new volunteers at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16th, 2010 at the Erie Maritime Museum, 150 East Front St, Erie, PA.
 Our course will focus on the fundamentals of square-rig seamanship and the volunteers will directly apply those skills in fitting-out the ship for sailing in May  |
New volunteers may sign up to join our well-trained volunteer crew to help maintain and learn to sail the ship. Niagara volunteers form an invaluable part of the ship’s sailing crew each summer. They receive sail training during the winter and provide continuity from year to year, which helps whenever new volunteers and trainees join the ship.
“During the dark winter months, Niagara is an upbeat place where volunteers can come to find a special camaraderie with shipmates that stems from their mutual pride in caring for the ship. Niagara is a famous icon of Erie, with a story of great national significance. Her preservation and operation go hand-in-hand with the proper interpretation of her history. Has there ever been a more important time to consider the significance of our history and decide to preserve such a tremendous educational tool as Niagara?” said Captain Wesley Heerssen.
New volunteers are invited to attend a sail training course (at no cost), which includes hands-on training in the museum’s rigging loft, and on the full-scale indoor model of Niagara’s Topgallant mast. The course begins with the orientation on January 16th and continues on alternate Saturdays through April 24th.
While the course is free, the Niagara relies on volunteer service to maintain the ship. Volunteers are invited and encouraged to help sail Niagara in the summer months as their availability permits. “Our course will focus on the fundamentals of square-rig seamanship and the volunteers will directly apply those skills in fitting-out the ship for sailing in May,” said Captain Heerssen.
Sign up for Orientation no later than Thursday, January 14th by calling Julie Wagner in the Erie Maritime Museum office at 814-452-BRIG, extension 222.
Billy Sabatini
wheerssen
