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SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE TRUST SHIP HELPS TRAINEES SET OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK BY DEAN LAWRENCE I t's 0645 in late June, the rain has lifted from the previous day and dawn is starting to break over Auckland. The three-masted barquentine Spirit of New Zealand is slowly reversing into her berth alongside Princess Wharf. The crew quietly go about their duties with muffled instructions, in stark contrast to the 40 young trainees on board, who are full of the joys of life and are in full voice for this early hour. On the wharf, parents stand by to welcome home their sons and daughters. For a large number of trainees, once work on the ship has been completed they will be off to catch buses and planes to return to their home towns around New Zealand. Mooring lines are secured and the ship settles alongside her berth. The trainees quickly form a human chain and unload rubbish, baggage and other gear. Mobile phones and other electronic devices are returned, final goodbyes are made, a few tears are shed and the voyage disperses. nd me d e These 40 young people aged between 15 and 18 arrived at the ship 10 days earlier as strangers, from all walks of life and from all over New Zealand. They have now made lifelong friendships and learnt some important lessons in life which will see them well- grounded as they start their path into adulthood. Within hours the ship will be provisioned, the crew changed over and 40 new trainees will arrive, strangers to the other 39. Some will be unsure, others excited by the prospect, having been primed by relatives and friends who may have sailed on earlier voyages. Then the Spirit will slip her mooring lines and set sail again as a closed community for the next 10 days. The Spirit of Adventure Trust, which operates the Spirit of New Zealand, has been running youth development programmes for the past 39 years. They originally started with the topsail schooner Spirit of Adventure, built by the late Lou Fisher and gifted to the trust. The current ship was commissioned in 1986 and the trust operated both ships until 1997, when the Spirit of Adventure was sold. between 15 and 18 arrived at the The trust's mission statement is, "To offer equal opportunity to young New Zealanders to develop qualities of leadership, SKIPPER SCHOLARSHIP In association with the Spirit of Adventure Trust, Professional Skipper magazine offers readers the opportunity to nominate young men and women for two introductory ten-day youth development voyage, that may lead to a Spirit cadetship for inshore masters qualifications. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT KEITH. Email: keith@skipper.co.nz Phone 09 5334336 or write to the editor c/- of this magazine. September/October 2011 Professional Skipper 57 independence and community spirit through the medium of the sea". The Spirit of New Zealand is one of the busiest sail training ships in the world, spending around 340 days a year at sea. The core of the operation is to deliver 10-day youth development programmes for 15 to 18-year-olds, along with shorter voyages for 14 to 15-year-olds, the disabled and other speciality programmes. b a op pr sh dis The Spirit is run by five permanent crew and five volunteer crew to make up the ship's complement, supported by eight shore-based staff. The trust also runs a formal cadet programme, with three young people undergoing professional training to receive their commercial marine tickets and ultimately move on to full-time roles in the maritime industry. (More about them in future articles). The trust's primary connection is with secondary schools. Schools are allocated berths on voyages annually, and students can take up the opportunity to come aboard at any time of the year. Trainees come from all around New Zealand, so travel arrangements are coordinated through the trust office to get each student to the wharf. While the Spirit operates for large periods out of Auckland, using the Hauraki Gulf as her main operating area, she sails to many other ports around New Zealand. She recently completed a circumnavigation of the North Island, stopping at Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, crossing Cook Strait to Nelson and Picton, then back via New Plymouth, with an overnight stop in the Manukau Harbour.