The cadet Crew Chief is responsible for organizing the boat and crew while the Safety Officer serves in primarily an advisory role. Crews will be assigned and crew chiefs appointed in January prior to the program. Crews will use the winter and spring to organize and prepare the boats for the upcoming summer. These dedicated cadets will often forgo liberty in order to assure that the boats are ready to go when the summer begins. The primary focus of the Summer Ocean is distance racing.
Distance racing is great training for cadets.
Cadets that are able to perform their duties at night in rain and heavy air while battling sleep deprivation and seasickness will do well as ensigns in the fleet. Summer Ocean Racing trains cadets to do this. During their first summer at the Academy, all cadets participate in a basic sail training program. This program uses the Academy' fleet of dinghies to provide cadets with sixteen hours of basic sailing instruction. Although graduates of this program are not great sailors, all are capable of taking a small sailboat in 15 knots of breeze or more, sailing around a series of marks in the Thames River and safely returning to the dock.