Did you know you can get a captain’s license for sailing in 5 semesters at USC?
There are so many nautical science classes here and they even have a teaching assistant program to help you hit all of those hours. I figured, “It’s senior year! I should take something fun!” While I definitely don’t have enough time to finish it out and I don’t think I love sailing enough to try, I gaslit a friend into taking the first class in the sequence just for fun this semester
At USC, you’re charge a flat rate when you take between 12 to 18 units. Most engineering classes are 4 units each, so you’re usually left with 2 spare units. NAUT 301A was exactly 2 units and slotted in nicely to my schedule. It’s a lesser commitment than most of the other fun classes I’ve taken, since it’s 5 lectures and an overnight voyage. This means that by the time midterms roll around, the class is over!
In those 5 lectures, you learn about nautical terminology, different kinds of boats, some basic nautical rules (right of way, navigation lights), and more! Since boating is a pretty global endeavor, many of the things we learn are the same across the world, which was also very cool to learn about. There’s also an insane amount of math and physics involved in nautical science, which I didn’t expect at all when I was taking this class.
I just went on my voyage last weekend, where we got to sail for 36 hours in the Pacific Ocean. We didn’t go to Catalina Island due to bad weather (one of the most sought-after destinations for the sailing voyage) but we got to go out past the breakwaters near Long Beach. We sailed on a brigantine (a two-masted ship!) and it was very fun to be out on the water, but also apply a lot of the things I learned in lecture to practice. The whole theory vs. hands-on thing even happens outside of engineering!
The most gorgeous sunset out on the water
Everyone else on the voyage!
We had to do night watch and logs to make sure everything was okay on the boat 😅
The other brigantine! This is the Exy Johnson, which had another group of USC students on board
Maybe you’ll catch me doing small boat sailing next semester?
Fun fact: Did you know that the lights on a plane also match a boat? Port side (left) is red, and starboard side (right) is green!
