Team building at its best when you are on a sail-training ship

(Pic courtesy of The Star)

Excerpt from Sail Savvy by Louisa Lim:

"But while the Puteri Mahsuri has been outfitted with some basic amenities to make it more liveable, it is still in essence a sail-training ship, as its initials STS suggests. The raison d’être: you cannot sail a ship alone. You need teamwork, leadership and, most of all, confidence before you can experience the exhilarating sensation of slicing through the sea propelled by nothing but the wind. It’s the only programme of its kind in South-East Asia, and an amazing one, too.

So there we are, 20 ninth-grade students from a neighbouring country, a dozen crew and trainers and one journalist, all jittery before embarking on the six-day journey through the Straits of Malacca.

Move, ye scallywags!

“Character building is a dirty word these days but I really don’t care. Now’s your chance to improve yourself, push yourself and test yourself,” says Captain Colin Faulkner, the tough-talking master of the vessel whose love affair with the sea began a long time ago after he read a book called Sea Wrack by author-cum-seaman Frank T. Bullen. Faulkner has been sailing for 40-odd years, one of a dwindling number of Britons who can claim they “ran away to sea”.

“The Puteri Mahsuri is a square-rigger ... slow and steady. Ships like these became extinct in 1860, when the propeller was invented. It is, however, still very efficient in moving big cargos,” says Faulkner, adding that we’re being pushed along at 6.5 knots not by the wind, but an engine. A strong sail-worthy breeze, it seems, is highly unlikely in this part of the world.

Oh well.

Still, safety is paramount aboard the ship. We’re not supposed go out on deck without putting our harnesses on, and for a good reason too.

“You don’t want to be the man overboard,” says Faulkner, his weather-beaten face growing serious. “If someone falls overboard, it is very difficult to get them back. At night, it is virtually impossible.”

More where that came from:
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F11%2F5%2Flifefocus%2F9825981&sec=lifefocus

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