> Could be, but triremes also had sailors. A small number of people
> who handled the sails and other boat handling tasks probably under
> the authority of the helmsman. I think those are the positions the
> RAI people would fill.
>
Even there, a lot of it is muscle. For the America's Cup races, they recruited semi-professional athletes with no sailing experience for some boats as grinders (rope crankers basically).
Absolutely there are things that take years to learn, and I'm sure the RAI filled most of those rolls--but a lot of the people in the islands have those skills. The ones who can turn a bunch of turnips into rowers are probably harder to replace, along with the ones who specifically know about the sailing details of the galleys.
-Bryan
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