The 125-foot staysail schooner Westward has been visiting Bermuda for some 25 years and will again grace our waters during Tall Ships 2000, along with her recently launched sister ship the 143-foot brigantine Corwith Cramer .

They are the research vessels of the Sea Education Association, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. SEA is a non-profit educational organisation that offers students a rigorous programme of marine sciences and history, literature and policy, as well as practical seamanship.

"It's so much better than learning something out of a book,'' says Jimmy Thatcher, who sailed on the Westward when he was a student at Rollins College.

"You are right there, living the lessons in a book,'' Mr. Thatcher said.

"The programme was hard but fun. I'd rather have the hands-on experience on the Westward than sit in a classroom any day. This was so much better, and the best part was I earned a full semester's college credit! "The students do it all -- oceanography research, handling the sails and sailing the boat, cooking, maintenance. We did a whole bunch of everything. We were taking Antarctica water samples from 800 metres under the surface, studying the mass movement of water. We were towing nets around and collecting all sort of weird little fish.'' "I saw whales, basking sharks, and big rays. They're all out there on the ocean where there are no people, except for us of course. My cruise was over Christmas so it was a bit more laid back than others and we sailed in the Caribbean so there was plenty of sunshine. So we could heave to and do fun things like jumping off the yardarms. Standing a watch, sailing under the stars, hanging out and talking at the wheel was great!.'' Back in 1979, when Dr. Janice Hetzel was still a student at Cornell University, she enrolled in the SEA sea semester.

"I was a student taking environmental studies and public policy with a focus on marine science at the time,'' Dr. Hetzel said. "The SEA programme involved six weeks in Woods Hole studying science of the sea and as well as sailing and navigation and then six weeks aboard the Westward .

"Our cruise started in Key West, Florida, and went to Little San Salvador Island and back up the Eastern Seaboard, with a stop in Wilmington, Delaware,'' she said.

Semester at sea "On board the Westward , our time was split between marine science and seamanship studies. The science watch involved such things as plankton tows, collecting organisms from the sea, recording temperatures, salinity, or chemical make-up of the sea at different depths. If you have an interest in marine science it's a wonderful introduction.'' "It was a wonderful experience working together as a group. The programme is designed so you get more responsibility as you gain experience over the weeks, so eventually there was a time when you were put in leadership position.'' The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute is offering two $8,000 SEA scholarships to Bermudians who qualify. Students participating in the SEA programme of study and sailing earn a semester's college credit. Interested students should contact Jacqueline Horsfield at the BUEI.

Aloft: Jimmy Thatcher in the rigging of teh Westward.

Sailing lesson: Jimmy Thatcher at the helm of the Westward.