Learn to navigate by experience: The QBE Association and the philosophy of Will Sutherland

Translated from an article in French by Jennifer Champin.
Published by Bateaux.com, one of France’s premier boating publications, on September 24, 2024.

Article ©Bateaux.com. Used by permission. Photo ©QBE

In the world of sailing, some boats are not just vessels for sailing the seas, but powerful tools for learning and personal development. Such is the case of Marie-Claude and Yseult, which have been transformed by Will Sutherland into a veritable floating school for life skills.

Based on his own personal experience, Will has developed a pedagogy of learning by doing that finds its full expression in his QBE Association. Thanks to courses on traditional sailboats, Marie-Claude and Yseult, replicas of the [19th-century] pilot cutter Alouette, he introduces young people to maritime navigation while preparing them for life with transferable life skills. We met him aboard one of them. In the second part of this article, he discusses the essential aspects of his teaching and highlights the challenges of maintaining his cutters.

An action-based method

The pedagogy of Will Sutherland, a native of Scotland, is based on an Anglo-Saxon approach called "learning by doing.” "At sea, mistakes have real consequences. My role is not to tell students everything, but to let them manage, while being present to guarantee their safety and that of the boat," he says. This technique allows young people to confront the realities of life at sea, to master the manoeuvres, but also to develop a strong sense of responsibility. It all starts with simple exercises in port: tying knots, using a cleat, man-overboard drills, etc. Then the boats set out close to the coastline for small exercises; the crews actually have to sail to see how everyone does. Then, when Will feels they're ready, and tells his crew members, "Take me there. Sometimes they don't know where ‘there’ is, but I remind them that all the information is on board. Here, everything is real. If a student makes a mistake, the boat will let them know. It’s the perfect environment for rapid learning."

Will insists on the importance of role-playing: "The students don't understand why I never give a briefing. It makes me laugh. In fact, I prefer the strategy of a debriefing at the end of each outing rather than explaining everything beforehand: ‘Why did you do that?’ ‘What would you do differently next time?’ And after a week, it's amazing to see their progress."

Pilot cutters: robustness in the service of pedagogy

Cutter pilots, historic boats once used to guide larger vessels through dangerous waters, are renowned for their strength and reliability. "They were designed to sail in all conditions, windy or rainy, and to get back into port even in bad weather," says Will. Since 2009, the QBE association has had two of them, Marie-Claude and Yseult, inspired by the plans of Alouette, a pilot cutter constructed in France in 1891 by François Lemarchand.

Will’s sailboats, built in Falmouth in Cornwall, are real learning platforms for the immersion courses offered by QBE. "The pilot cutters are stable and above all very safe, which allows you to concentrate on the technique without constantly worrying about speed. Rigging adjustments on these boats can add 1.5 knots of speed. Still, if they [the sails] are set incorrectly, everything works fine, it's just not optimal," says Will.

On board pilot cutters, every manoeuvre matters and every miscue can have immediate consequences. "Old-fashioned sailing requires constant attention. You have to know your rigging, know how to read the sea, and anticipate each change in the wind," insists Will before continuing: Nevertheless, young people learn to be self-sufficient very quickly, because they are immediately confronted with the demands of the sea." For the participants, daily life on board always requires discipline. They are responsible for everything: the helm, the sails, the meals... There is no leeway for passivity.

Thanks to the support of the association's skippers, the young crew members learn to manoeuvre the traditional boats with their complex gaff rigging. It is a technical challenge, but also an undeniable return to the roots of sailing for the founder of QBE: "This total immersion in the management of a cutter forges characters and instils fundamental values of rigor, initiative, and solidarity.

The Challenges of Maintaining Old Gaff-Rig Boats

Boat maintenance quickly became an unavoidable priority. "Taking the boats out of the water every year to check the hull and change out certain parts of the rigging is essential to guarantee their safety and longevity," says Will. Each season begins with lots of meticulous work: application of antifouling, checking of thru-hull fittings, etc. Older boats like ours require constant attention to ensure their performance and safety at sea.

In the 1960s, the transition from wooden hulls to plastic and fiberglass ones marked a new era for “classic” boat construction. Nevertheless, despite taking advantage of innovations in hull fabrication, the rest of our boats’ structure remained wooden. "The builder started with small 16-foot boats, then 22-foot boats, and finally 28-foot boats that sold well," Will says. A certain Mr. Dupré, a French architect, ordered a 28-foot racing model, equipped with a flush deck, an enlarged mast and a longer bowsprit. This boat, designed to carry a lot of sail, has distinguished itself in regattas, particularly at the annual events at Falmouth. After several victories, Dupré asked the builder to make him a larger ship to accommodate his entire family. The plans for Allouette were chosen because it sailed for 40 years, beginning in 1891, "which was exceptional for the time, given that most boats were expected to last only 20 to 25 years," says Will.

Boat maintenance quickly became an unavoidable priority. "Taking the boats out of the water every year to check the hull and change out certain parts of the rigging is essential to guarantee their safety and longevity," says Will. Each season begins with lots of meticulous work: application of antifouling, checking of thru-hull fittings, etc. Older boats like ours require constant attention to ensure their performance and safety at sea.

In the 1960s, the transition from wooden hulls to plastic and fiberglass ones marked a new era for “classic” boat construction. Nevertheless, despite taking advantage of innovations in hull fabrication, the rest of our boats’ structure remained wooden. "The builder started with small 16ft boats, then 22ft boats, and finally 28ft boats that sold well," Will says. A certain Mr. Dupré, a French architect, ordered a 28ft racing model, equipped with a flush deck, an enlarged mast and a longer bowsprit. This boat, designed to carry a lot of sail, distinguished itself in regattas, particularly at the annual events at Falmouth. After several victories, Dupré asked the builder to make him a 46ft cutter to accommodate his entire family. The plans for Allouette were chosen because it sailed for 40 years, beginning in 1891, "which was exceptional for the time, given that most boats were expected to last only 20 to 25 years," says Will.

This model, named Marie-Claude, attracted the attention of an English banker who built a replica named Yseult in 2000. The builder had started work on another, even larger, boat when his untimely passing at the age of 55 brought the project to a halt.

"After his death, the yard was sold, and all the molds of the boats were lost or destroyed. For me, these boats are unique, almost impossible to reproduce. Today, building such ships would cost a million—or even 1.5 million—euros, a colossal investment," says Will, proud of these 46ft (14m] boats he acquired in 2009.

QBE July 2022 Expedition Update—Océanopolis (Brest)

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🇫🇷 Happy Bastille Day! 🇫🇷

Wow, the Océanopolis aquarium complex is massive! Here we are examining an orca for periodontal disease. (We can only imagine what a mouthful of implants would cost—they can have up to 50 teeth.) Orcas belong to the dolphin family; speaking of which, we’ve had pods of dolphins following us this past week. And that is an amazing sight, especially when you’re so close you can almost touch them!

Brocéliande

Brocéliande is a legendary forest situated around the village of Paimpont in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, about 17 miles west of Rennes and not too far from Saint-Malo. The forest’s ancient canopy consists largely of oak and beech trees, some of them impressively gnarled. Covering almost 35 square miles, it long has been associated with Arthurian legend and ancient schools of sorcery. Druids used to perform rites there (and maybe still do); the magician Merlin is rumored to have been buried there.

For centuries, Brocéliande has been a place where nature and supernature are said to mingle. English writer and poet Charles Williams noted that forests obscure the horizon—that distinct line where the earth and the heavens definably meet—and so ambiguity can dance in the shadows. Perhaps that’s why, in the imagination, enchanted forests are home to “unknown modes of being,” places of faerie, magic, and the black arts. It follows then that such places are believed to present immense possibilities as well as immense dangers. There are walking paths through Brocéliande. Maybe you’ll want to bring your hiking boots.

(Of course, if by chance you’re a fan of the long-running British TV crime show “Midsomer Murders,” you won’t want to go near a forest or copse; once you go in, you never come back out! That’s part of the “immense danger.”)

“Do you see it now?”

Many of you will have seen the Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit. It’s the fictional story of an orphaned chess prodigy named Beth Harmon who battles personal demons to claw herself to the top of her sport. In one scene, she challenges her opponent, a friend, with a question about the end game: “Do you see it now?” she asks. He admits he doesn’t. She does.

The same question can be posed to parents looking to give their children the best possible chance to succeed in school and life: Do you see the things that can really make a difference? Of course, no two children are exactly alike. A child who is, say, musically or athletically gifted will (understandably) be brought up differently than a child who is not. But for most teens, a great adventure can be a life changer—because impressive accomplishment brings self-esteem, and self-esteem is transformative, in our personal lives AND in the classroom (see the post on St. Benedict’s school in Newark, NJ.) Moreover, a great adventure can help teens see a more imaginative end game for themselves. Suddenly, new possibilities present themselves, possibilities that may not on the radar screens of most of their friends.

Good classroom instruction should never be discounted. But sometimes it’s what kids learn—or don’t learn—outside of the classroom that makes the teachers look good. Or not. Leading Swiss boarding schools are now charging over USD100,000 per year in tuition. What on earth is that paying for? No doubt different parents will give different answers. But surely one of the most common answers would be “experiences.” Switzerland sits a short train or coach ride away from several European cultural capitals. And opportunities for outdoor adventure are everywhere. It’s an “experience bonanza.” We, too, offer an exceptional European adventure and cultural-exposure opportunity—at a much more reasonable price. You have our coordinates.

The case for acting first and then thinking

Conventional wisdom holds that parents should make several early life decisions for their children. Kids should start taking violin lessons at age three, tennis lessons at four. The earlier children start doing whatever it is their parent/s want them to do, the bigger head start they’ll have and therefore a more robust competitive advantage down the road. David Epstein, author of Range, dissents. Range is a book about the value of being a generalist rather than a lifelong specialist and points out that many of the most successful people in elite professional fields (sports, the arts, scientific research, etc.) succeed not despite the fact but because they were late to the party.

“For too long, we’ve believed in a single path to excellence. Start early, specialize soon, narrow your focus, aim for efficiency. But in this groundbreaking book, David Epstein shows that in most domains, the way to excel is something altogether different. Sample widely, gain a breadth of experiences, take detours, and experiment relentlessly. ‘Range' is an urgent and important book, an essential read for bosses, parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about improving performance.”

— Daniel H. Pink, author of the bestselling “When” and “Drive”

Epstein argues that parents should encourage their kids to try as many different things as possible—fill children’s lives with a wide variety of experiences. Then let them find their own way. Most of the time, big head starts don’t turn out to be difference makers. A wealth of diverse experiences can be.

The sea is good for you!

From The Guardian:

Proximity to water – especially the sea – is associated with many positive measures of physical and mental wellbeing, from higher levels of vitamin D to better social relations. “Many of the processes are exactly the same as with green space – with some added benefits,” says Dr Mathew White, a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter and an environmental psychologist with BlueHealth, a programme researching the health and wellbeing benefits of blue space across 18 (mostly European) countries.

An extensive 2013 study on happiness in natural environments – to White’s mind, “one of the best ever” – prompted 20,000 smartphone users to record their sense of wellbeing and their immediate environment at random intervals. Marine and coastal margins were found by some distance to be the happiest locations, with responses approximately six points higher than in a continuous urban environment. The researchers equated it to “the difference between attending an exhibition and doing housework”.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/03/blue-space-living-near-water-good-secret-of-happiness

Experiential Learning

You can’t learn much about, say, sailing or skiing by reading about them. And you certainly can’t learn much about yourself sitting on a couch watching television. The real learning is in doing.

In a 2014 article, Rajiv Jayaraman makes the case for Experiential Learning:

Experiential Learning Is The Future Of Learning

More than a hundred years ago, Hermann Ebbinghaus formulated the learning curve, which describes the relationship between memory and time. In a nutshell, it says that, during a lecture, if your absorption rate is at 100 percent on day one, there is a 50-80 percent loss of learning from the second day onward, which is reduced to a retention rate of just 2-3 percent at the end of thirty days.

This theory is even more relevant in today's world where attention spans have come down and learning sometimes is reduced to 140 characters!

How then can 'Experiential Learning' help overcome this situation?

We believe there are eight reasons why experiential learning is the future of learning.

1.) Accelerates Learning

Repetitive Learning or learning by rote has long been replaced by 'Learning by Doing.' Experiential Learning methodology uses critical thinking, problem solving and decision making to deliver a training module. This has become an established method to accelerate learning…

Read the rest of the article here.

News Flash

Dateline QBE: The old world that many people say no longer exists… still exists. At least in many instances and places.

We are told that technology has changed everything. Well, yes and no. For example, we may use Skype to conduct a conference call, but we still prefer to go to birthday parties where people actually congregate. “A Skype party” just isn’t the same thing—no cake, no candles to blow out, no hugs. Sometimes technology is better than nothing, but love operates most powerfully face to face, the old-fashioned way.

Similarly, the foundation of a great education is still built —in large part—on the pillar of experiences. Online team sports can never replace the playing field. Online chemistry lessons can never adequately substitute for experiments in a chemistry lab. Nor can a virtual climb up a mountain ever take the place of the physical and logistical challenges (and final exhilaration) of a real ascent. Authentic achievements always convey a grace that virtual accomplishments cannot. Whether it’s building a boat, rebuilding a car, or sailing around the world, powerful emotional benefits flow from the actual doing.

At QBE, we’re all about the power of authentic physical and emotional challenges to transform young lives. There’s a time to put the smart phones down. Conquering real challenges brings a personal equilibrium and sense of self worth that, to be honest, you can’t find on the couch with some gadget in your hands. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways. If you want us to prove it, you know how to get in touch.