A shipbuilder who bid for the construction of the Spirit of Bermuda found himself at the bow of the vessel last week as the ship returned to island from Canada.

John Steele, founder of Covey Island Boatworks in Nova Scotia, said he was a late addition to the ship’s crew for the voyage, but he came away impressed by the vessel and the team that operates it.

“It was great, from my point of view, as I am a boatbuilder and a sailor, so I was curious to see how the boat handled, how the boat looked after being in service,” he said.

“All of the things a mechanic would look at in a car when most people would just want to know how it drove.”

He added: “It was a delight. It really was. She sailed beautifully.”

While Mr Steele had not sailed on board the Spirit before, his company was one of several who were in the running to build the vessel 20 years ago.

Malcolm Kirkland, founder of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation, said that Covey Island was a finalist in the 2004 bidding process, which was eventually won by Rockport Marine.

Mr Steele said his involvement in the voyage came about as a result of a phone conversation between his son, Dorian, and Paul Bracken, the ship’s captain, while the vessel was in Nova Scotia for an inspection.

“I didn’t hear the conversation, but I take it at some point Paul said to Dorian that he was a bit short of crew,” he said. “What I heard was Dorian saying, ‘Here, talk to this guy’.

“He handed me the phone and I said I would love to sail on her. I went home, grabbed a bag and left. It was all pretty last-minute.”

He said the voyage went smoothly for the Spirit of Bermuda, but Dorian, who set sail to Bermuda the following day on the Lisboa, was struck by worse weather as the remnants of Hurricane Oscar passed through.

“It was a tricky window, as it turned out for my son,” he said. “Oscar came out of nowhere.

“We had what looked like the perfect window, but we had to wait a day, and if you are waiting a day and have a four to five-day window, that means you are talking about weather six days out.

“That is a little bit beyond the current forecasting ability.”

Mr Steele, a director of the Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society, also praised the sail-training mission of the Spirit of Bermuda, describing sail training as a useful tool to help young people develop positive outlooks and attitudes.

“I have seen first-hand the impact that it has had on the folks who have joined that kind of programme,” he said. “I don’t know anything else that I have seen have such a profound impact on people’s sociability and sense of responsibility.

“My kids were teenagers, and my son’s kids are now teenagers. Going through those years in a school environment these days is a challenging time.

“In that context, it’s just so much more of an opportunity for kids to get their heads in the wind, into helping one another.

“I can’t say it any more simply than, in my experience, it works. I could tell you stories of kids who you wouldn’t trust in your house, literally, who come out the other end as just wonderful people.”

Mr Steele said that sail training was a fantastic tool to teach young people about teamwork and leadership, along with developing an appreciation of the ocean.

“There’s so much that we just don’t do any more in our day-to-day lives, like feeling the wind and understanding the tides,” he said.

“It’s a unique and wonderful educational process.”