Imagine being 16 and having the opportunity to cross the Atlantic on a sailing ship! That’s what students on the Wylde Swan get to do. Elisa Nipshagen is a 16-year-old from the Netherlands. We visited her on board at their last stop in the bay of Marigot, St. Martin, to find out what her experience was like for the past few weeks!
Pretty much all of the students were strangers, but Elisa was completely new as she had signed up a lot later than the others and missed the orientations prior to the start of the program.
The students all met up at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and flew to Tenerife to catch the ship and begin their big sail across the Atlantic. This is quite a separation from friends, family and home for these 16-year-olds.
From Tenerife, the students and crew sailed across the Atlantic to Tobago, then up the chain of islands stopping at Carriacou, Dominica, St. Lucia, Les Saintes and their last stop St. Martin/St. Maarten.
Despite being on the ship, learning how to sail and going through activities, the students also have to continue somewhat with their daily life in the form of school. Elisa is currently in HAVO 4 and throughout her six and a half weeks at sea, she had to keep on track with all corresponding schoolwork and exams, just like her classmates back home.
This may seem like a difficult task due to distractions of living on the sea and how different that lifestyle is, but she says it’s easy to get it done when you see all the other students studying and doing their schoolwork: “Everybody just gets it done.” Elisa likes studying independently on her own time: “Sometimes, the heat is a distraction, but you can go above, outside to study if that’s the case.”
While these teens are very far from home, they keep busy learning new skills. Christmas and New Year’s Day were spent without their families. There is no Wi-Fi/Internet on board. The only communication they have with friends and family is via the ship’s SailMail, which, according to Elisa, is slow as it takes a week.
Elisa explains that the students get excited to hear back from their families and friends, which is quite sweet. Sometimes, the students get homesick, so when asked why she decided to do this journey, Elisa said she loves adventure and sailing and just wanted to do something different.
She has spotted walruses, dolphins, flying fish, turtles and whales. Elisa enjoyed the various group activities such as hiking and swimming, but her favourite part was the Eco-Lodge in Dominica where they stayed overnight: “It was nice to sleep on land; it’s very beautiful there and we had lots of fun.”
The students get some freedom when they get to go on land, which is not often, but they must be back at specified times and always be in groups. Sleeping arrangements are a bit different as well, as all students sleep in the same hall – on this trip, there were 21 girls and only three boys.
Near the end of their time on board, students get to do a “Ship Take-Over”. Elisa said this phrase with such a glint in her eyes: “You get so much control on your own, it’s fun.”
The students get to literally take over the ship with the sailing skills they have acquired in the past five weeks. All the students have to send in written requests to the staff 24 hours ahead of the first ship take-over convincing the staff why they would be good for the positions they applied for. “In your request letter, you must convince the specific crew why you can do that job.” The students get the chance at two ship take-overs in their last week on board.
A lot of independence is gained through this experience, also getting to see other countries that are very different.
On the day of this interview, Elisa was flying back to the Netherlands from St. Maarten. They would be arriving on Friday and she would be back to her regularly scheduled programming with school on Monday. Elisa doesn’t yet know what she wants to do career-wise, but she did say she loves sailing and wouldn’t mind working on board the Wylde Swan one day!
For more info, visit www.wyldeswan.com or email Jan Roosens at Caribbean Sail Training: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
