(Editor's note: this post was edited to correct a misspelling of the nickname of the older sailboats used in the Coast Guard Academy's Coastal Sail Training Program, "the Luders.")

New London — Though they've already been put to good use by second class cadets, a christening ceremony was held Friday for the Coast Guard Academy's Coastal Sail Training Program's final two Leadership 44 sailboats — Razorbill and Egret.

In the Coast Guard, a christening ceremony gives a ship its identity. The ceremony is marked by the breaking of a champagne bottle across a ship's bow.

In blessing the two boats, Capt. Van Dickens said, "how exciting it is to hear the crack of champagne on the two newest commissioned Coast Guard vessels."

All eight of the sailboats were in use for the 2013 summer program, which meant that, for the first time, every second class cadet got Leadership 44 coastal sail training experience. The first of the eight boats were delivered in 2011.

Allen Kruger, waterfront director at the academy, said the boats are solely for the use of second class cadets because they are transitioning from being in a more "follower role" to "leaders of the Corps of Cadets."

"So this program is an opportunity for them to go out and practice what they learn in the classroom and put it to work on the water," Kruger said after the ceremony, adding that "They're doing that under the direction and mentoring of an officer, so that officer provides very direct feedback opportunities to the cadets."

Each boat can hold up to seven people in total: six cadets and one officer. The boats have a lifespan of 25-plus years, according to Kruger.

Four different organizations — the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association, the Coast Guard Foundation, the Coast Guard Academy Parents Association and the academy itself — raised money for the boats, which cost $7.5 million.

Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz, superintendent of the academy, explained the old sailboats were referred to as "the Luders."

"Every one of those Luders had a different experience; those of us who are cadets from the old day, you know that you went out there and some of you had one experience and some of you had another. It was by chance," Stosz told attendees. "This is by design. This is deliberate. This is young people going out and having deliberate learning that's measured and assessed and that's the real power of it. It's really, really going to be institutionalized as trustworthy leadership experience."

Larry Glenn, a retired Naval officer who got involved with the academy in 1994 as chairman of the Sailing Advisory Committee, was the first to bring attention to need for the upgraded sailboats. Glenn during the ceremony described that the dream was to "figure out how to get vessels of the quality the Naval Academy has."

Glenn and Kruger talked frequently about this dream, he said, adding that it became the dream of the alumni association, the foundation and the parents association as well.

Standing on the floating dock between Razorbill and Egret after the ceremony, Glenn said, "It's just a good boat. It's balanced. I mean you know, if you've been around boats your whole life, you know what a good boat is and a bad boat is. These are good boats."

So far, after two summers of 100 percent participation by second class cadets, Kruger said, the "unanimous and overwhelming positive response is that it's a great experience for them and some say one of the best experiences that they've had since coming to the academy."

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman