H. Res. 197 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

April 14, 2010. 

Whereas the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) is 

an educational nonprofit corporation whose declared mission is ‘‘to encourage character building through sail 

training, promote sail training to the North American 

public and support education under sail’’; 

Whereas since its founding in 1973, ASTA has promoted 

these goals through— 

(1) support of character building experiences aboard 

traditionally rigged sail training vessels; 

(2) a program of scholarship funds supporting such 

experiences; 

(3) a long history of tall ship races, rallies, and maritime festivals dating back as far as 1976; 

(4) the Tall Ships Challenge series of races and 

maritime festivals which— 

(A) have been conducted each year since 2001; 

(B) have reached an aggregate audience to date 

of some 8,000,000 spectators; 

(C) have had a cumulative economic impact of 

over $400,000,000 for over 30 host communities; 

and 
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•HRES 197 EH 

(D) involve sail training vessels, trainees, and 

crews from all the coasts of the United States and 

around the world; 

(5) support of its membership of more than 200 sail 

training vessels, embracing barks, barques, barkentines, 

brigantines, brigs, schooners, sloops, and full-rigged 

ships, which carry the flags of the United States, Canada, and many other nations and have brought life 

changing adventures to thousands and thousands of 

young trainees; 

(6) a series of more than 30 annual sail training 

conferences to date, conducted in numerous cities 

throughout the United States and Canada and embracing 

the Safety Under Sail Forum and the Education Under 

Sail Forum; 

(7) extensive collaboration with the United States 

Coast Guard and with the premier sail training vessel of 

the United States, the square-rigged barque USCGC 

Eagle; 

(8) publication of ‘‘Sail Tall Ships’’, a periodic directory of sail training opportunities; and 

(9) supporting the enactment of the Sailing Schools 

Vessel Act of 1982, Public Law 97–322, on October 15, 

1982; 

Whereas ASTA has ably represented the United States as its 

national sail training organization as a founding member 

of Sail Training International, the recognized international body for the promotion of sail training, which 

itself carries forward a series of international races 

amongst square-rigged and other traditionally rigged vessels reaching back as far as the 1950s; and 
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Whereas ASTA and Sail Training International are collaborating with port partners around the Atlantic Ocean to 

produce Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009, an international fleet of sail training vessels originating in Europe, voyaging to North America, and returning to Europe: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) commends the American Sail Training Association for its advancement of character building experiences for youth at sea in traditionally rigged sailing vessels and its advancement of the finest traditions of the 

sea; and 

(2) commends the American Sail Training Association as the national sail training association of the 

United States, representing the sail training community 

of the United States in the international forum. 

Attest: 

Clerk.