It began, for most bitten-by-the-bug sailors, on terra firma. Fleets of once-armchair sailors fill the learn-to-sail programs on the waterfronts across the country. Their sailing interest was perhaps spiked by a book or pictures or, even, by a college course.

Located in the community of Waterville, Maine, the small, nationally known liberal arts-oriented Colby College listed Sailing Science and Technology 129 on the syllabus of its creative Jan Plan program of courses this winter. For four weeks, from January 4 through January 31, and three credits, the 24 Colby students who were able to get into the popular course were given a juicy taste of sailing. Associate Professor of Administrative Science and an avid gunkholer of Maine's craggy coast, Leonard "Lennie" Reich, was the skipper of this "voyage" to an array of sailing horizons. Through 32 hours of intensive study, Reich unfolded the world of wind and sea to his students, from the basics of sailing, to cogent, tasty smatterings of the art of seamanship, the science of sailboat dynamics and design history of sailing, construction methods, and, even, "why people go to sea," in Professor Reich's words.

Once he had "dreamed up the course," as Reich remembered, he had to come up with a way to make the class exciting. It had to be much more than theoretical material. There were plenty of good resources in books the class would use, including Rousmaniere's "Annapolis Book of Seamanship," Henderson's "The Racer-Cruiser" and "The Art and Science of Sails," by Colby alumni Tom Whidden, but more dimension was added.

Day one of the course began with the showing of the final, gripping footage of the windy Indian Ocean racing sequence from the film "Wind." It ended with a look at actual construction of hulls, attachment of keels and creating joinerwork on a field visit to South Casco, Maine, production facility of Sabre Yachts. In between, there were many videos and guest speakers, such as Jon Johansen, America's Cup historian, publisher and editor of the Maine Coastal News, who discussed the state of America's Cup competition in the United States; Cam Lewis, circumnavigator, whose slides presented harrowing scenes of racing at blistering speeds to break the world record; and single-handed sailor Dodge Morgan.

"He's an incredible storyteller... a driven man," freshman Andy Smith, a student in the course, recalled. "Dodge talked about the trade-offs and the nitty gritty of equipment used and why for his nonstop voyage. He talked about what he really wanted to talk about, his philosophy of life, the importance of being in contact and control of his environment. It's very important to be alone and to get off with three or four people," said Reich of his speech.

While some students found the challenge of designing their own sailboat (using the computer-aided design program MacSurf), to be the most rewarding part, the course sent a broader and larger message as well: "To give the students a good understanding about design issues and why things are designed the way they are, especially the trade-offs in design, and to teach them a little about the real world," Reich said.

The sport of sailing and the sailboat make a perfect model for revealing just how things work and how applied science works. That, according to Reich, was a goal of the course.

By the 32nd hour, the students had learned much about the multiple facets of sailing, and, for most, an interest--perhaps lifelong--in sailing had been sparked. "It was really a fun way to spend the month," said Junior Karen Goodrich. And some may well have left the course feeling a rush of wind on their faces and maybe even hearing the trickle sound of the water on the hull.