Student journalist Aleisha Smith met with Sulma Wilson this week to find out about her ten day adventure on the Spirit of New Zealand.

On the 23 February, Year 13 student Sulma Wilson embarked on her flight to Auckland and began her ten day journey on the Spirit of New Zealand.

The Spirit of New Zealand is a ship that sails for almost the entire year, with its main programmes promoting youth development through teamwork and adventure on the sea.

At the suggestion of a friend, Sulma booked one of the many voyages available, something she never thought she’d do.

Sulma’s voyage involved a first night at Waiheke and then a few nights at Great Barrier. The ship then came back to Waiheke, before returning to where they had set sail at Auckland Harbour.

While aboard, the trainees were split into four different watch groups. Each group would be assigned a sail to learn every-day, including foredeck, the midships, the mainsail and the mizzen. In the evening, fun activities were run by the ship’s third mate Marcel, for all the trainees to enjoy.

A highlight for Sulma was making new friends with the 38 trainees aboard the ship. ”Our voyage clicked really fast... There are definitely friends from that voyage that I hope to keep in contact with for a long time.”

A challenge for Sulma was the lack of down-time, which proved to be tiring. There were always things to be done, such as the night watch, which involved pairs within each watch group waking up at different times of the night to perform a watch for an hour-and-45-minutes.

Despite this, Sulma gained many things from her trip, including plentiful knowledge about sailing and more confidence. “It pushes you out of your comfort zone being around that many people...”

Although being away from family and friends was hard, over the ten days a routine is easily developed on the ship. “You kind of forget everything else... It was a really nice feeling to have that break...”

For anyone considering going on a Spirit of New Zealand voyage, Sulma is more than encouraging. “You will definitely get so much out of it. Just go onto the website and book it.”