Spring
2005 / Volume 10, Number 1
Discovery
Beyond the Classroom
 Just
before dawn one day in early January, Natalia
Stefanova ’05 was
inching her way up the rigging of the tall ship HMS Bounty 40
miles off the west coast of Florida. One of ten Mount Holyoke
students learning
to sail the working replica of a late-eighteenth-century square-rigged
merchant ship, she was finishing her watch shift. From her wavering
perch she saw the deck swim 30 feet beneath her. Her mind seized
on a single
thought: “What if
I let go?” Knees shaking, she called out
to crewmate Beth: “I don’t think I can do this.”
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| Climbing
new heights:
Natalia Stefanova '05 |
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“Yes you can,” came the instant reply. Galvanized by Beth’s
response, Natalia
kept climbing till she reached her destination, the foremast
port yard, 55 feet above the deck. She relaxed and admired
the sunrise. “The
view was worth it,” she said, “and so was the feeling of
satisfaction.”
When
the Bounty headed out of St. Petersburg the first day, the
captain announced to the students: “We will take you to the Dry
Tortugas. You and we will take the ship to Key West. Then you
will take us back
to St. Pete.” While this seemed unthinkable at the time, when
the Bounty embarked on the last leg of the journey, the students
were ready to sail the ship home. Under supervision, each student
took command of two four-hour watches, sharing responsibility
for the ship and its running.
It  was
this kind of multifaceted learning that Mount Holyoke politics professor
Christopher
Pyle wanted his students to gain
from the January Term course, titled
Piloting, Seamanship, and Tall Ship Handling. “Sailing a tall ship
requires a measure of courage, a quality not valued much in the ultraprotective
colleges of the moment,” he said. “Conquering a fear of heights,
living outside the reach of emergency services, or surviving at sea can do
something for one’s
sense of efficacy and prudence, and what the captain likes to call ‘common
sense.’ Deep-sea sailing can also build character and commitment to
one’s
community.” Pyle’s aspirations for his students were not disappointed.
 From
the moment the students boarded the ship, which was built in 1960 for the
movie Mutiny on the Bounty and used more recently for Pirates of the
Caribbean,
they became integral members of the crew. “We had their undivided
attention,” Pyle
said. “Learning was a 24/7 proposition.” With the guidance
of 17 crew members and the captain, the students stood watch, worked in
the rigging, and manned
the helm of the 180-foot-long, three-masted, full-rigged ship, living and
sailing much as sailors did in the eighteenth century. Most of the crew
were the same
age as the students, or younger. Despite their youth, they were good and
experienced sailors. Stefanova remarked, “They were so comfortable
on the boat, so knowledgeable. We learned so much from them.”
The
students worked alongside crew, taking instruction and learning by watching
and doing. On watch and off, students and crew bonded quickly. “We
hauled anchor chain together, and we discussed Hegel and
politics together,” said Cindy Dunn ’06. “There is
a certain community established while at sea that brings out the most
real sides in all
people,” said Stefanova. “That camaraderie is immediate,
tight, and addictive.”
The sailing
experience also taught students the importance of teamwork
and trust. “Everyone
stepped up to support each other. When someone got seasick—and
some of us did—people always helped out,” said Nicole Brun-Cottan
FP ’06.
The sailing
class was the latest in a series of hands-on January Term courses
Pyle has devised over the years. Previous experiences
included
building
a boat and living at Plimoth Plantation, a historically accurate
re-creation of the
original colonial settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the town
where Pyle
grew up.
 Learning
how to sail a tall ship was only part of what the students learned on
the
Bounty. “I don’t know if the experience
was as much about sailing as what it leads you to within yourself,” said
Brun-Cottan, who has extensive sailing experience and helped Pyle organize
the trip. “When something challenges
you and you do it, you own that sense of accomplishment. You know
you can confront your fears and get past them.” Anna Boatwright ’07
agreed. After sailing on the Bounty, she said, “I have taken
with me an amazing sense that I can tackle any issue that the world
may throw
at me. You can do anything.
You can handle the world.”
The
students on the trip kept a Web log, or blog, of their daily
adventures. To read the entire blog, go to www.mhcbounty.blogspot.com.
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