Recently I did an adult voyage on the Spirit of NZ Tall Ship for 3 days and nights. What an incredible experience it was. I was fortunate enough to go on a youth voyage when I was at school on the Spirit of Adventure (which has now been decommissioned and isn’t a tall ship) and have always wanted to do another voyage as an adult. We were 40 “trainees” aged 19-75 and we had 12 crew. It really was “all hands on deck” to sail the ship as everything is done manually to raise and lower the sails and the large sails like the mainsail took a minimum of 10 trainees hauling each rope to get it up. What a euphoria we had when we had raised all the sails the first time and were sailing without the engine as has been done for hundreds of years sailing ships around the globe.
There was an atmosphere of expectation and excitement from the trainees as we boarded with each of us having personal challenges in mind for our voyage. What an amazing community of positive support we were, recognizing that we are all unique and that what is easy for one person is a challenge for another. We celebrated each person’s achievements, and they celebrated ours. The crew were so skilled at supporting people when they needed it but allowing us to each face our challenges and give things a go without stepping in prematurely. It reminded me of how I work with people with disabilities, aiming for self-determination and empowerment, supporting them as they need it on their journey towards this.
My personal biggest challenge was to climb at least halfway up the mast and push through my fear of heights. I did this with encouragement from the trainees and crew on the deck and when I asked them to sing “Te Aroha” as I climbed, their voices lifted me up and my fear reduced to a manageable level. Other challenges I mastered were sitting out on the Bow Spit net while sailing and climbing up to the deck rail and swinging from a hand-held swing, jumping into the sea at the furthest point out from the ship. I did it 3 times and actually enjoyed it by the last jump!
The children that I work with were a real inspiration to me to push through the difficulties and give things a go as they have to do this daily. One particular example springs to mind; as I swam up to the ship at the end of my first swim, I needed to climb a ladder with rope sides and wet wooden rungs. I felt like I didn’t have the strength to do it as the ladder was only secured at the deck and was going under the side of the boat at an awkward angle. I thought of one young man I work with who despite having cerebral palsy, really works on his upper body strength and can do 1 finger pull-ups on a horizontal bar. I thought; if he can do that, then I can climb to the next rung on the ladder. Rung by rung saying this to myself, I climbed the ladder without assistance. By the end of the voyage I was able to do it with only a little difficulty. It reinforced to me how we can do more than we think we can and that when we dig deep and persevere through difficulty we have a real sense of achievement and develop skills that seemed impossible to us.
I feel so privileged to have had this opportunity and am considering going
back as a crew volunteer for some youth voyages. Every year the Spirit of NZ takes an “Inspiration Voyage” for young kiwis aged 16-30 who live with a disability. The Captain told me some amazing stories from previous voyages which inspired me to perhaps volunteer on one of them. I can only imagine how life-changing these voyages must be and the incredible sense of achievement and empowerment the trainees must come away with. I have come away with a reignited motivation to do more adventures and to start doing the other things on my “bucket list”!
To find out more about the Spirit of NZ and what they do, go to: www.spiritofadventuretrust.org.nz