THE Spirit of Bermuda departs today for Norfolk, Virginia to participate in the historic 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown — the first successful English settlement in North America, one that was sustained by survivors of the Sea Venture wreck when they arrived there aboard the two Bermuda-built boats>Patience<$> and Deliverance in 1610.Less than a week ago the sloop returned from its first major voyage to Charleston, South Carolina where it represented Bermuda at the annual Maritime Festival.

ThI>Mid-Ocean News caught up with some of the crew earlier this week to find out what it was like spending nine days on open water, fighting the elements, dealing with unforeseeable mishaps and what valuable lessons they learned on their recent voyage.

Twenty-two-year-old Gordon Loader left Bermuda with his family when he was six. So seeing Bermuda for the first time since then as it appeared on the horizon after five days at sea, left him emotionally raw, and also incredibly thankful.

Mr. Loader is enrolled at a military college in Charleston and was invited by his godfather and Bermuda Sloop Foundation (BSF) director Malcolm Kirkland to join crew for the return voyage.

“It was a dream come true, but I didn’t know what to expect,” he said, adding that over the five days he learned more about sailing than he thought was possible.

Still, the training didn’t help his stomach when they hit swells of between seven and ten feet and winds of 20 knots and he was left shaky, ill and scared at times.

“I remember one watch duty I had for four hours overnight. The waves were huge and you couldn’t see them coming, you just kept wondering when the next one would hit!” he recalled.

To top things off, the steering broke on the Spi<$> during their second night at sea, but Mr. Loader said the crew put their heads together and came up with a solution which saw them safely to Bermuda.

He commended Captain Chris Blake for being “incredibly patient” with the young, and often “green”, crew and instilling a spirit of camaraderie among the crew.

As for seeing Bermuda for the first time since he was six, he said he was woken up on their last day at sea and told that Bermuda had been sighted.

Pulling on some clothes, he rushed up on deck and watched as the island appeared on the horizon: “My first thought was ‘Thank God’ because the seas had also calmed down overnight.”

He added with a laugh that his legs were like jelly when they disembarked in Dockyard.

Mr. Loader returns to college at the end of summer, but until then hopes to spend time getting to know Bermuda and its people.

Someone who discovered his sea legs years ago and has no problem being on open water is 31-year-old Derek Spalding.

Mr. Spalding works for Marine & Ports and has been involved in the Spirit of Bermuda since the project started three years ago.

However, this was his first major voyage as he had only been involved in local training exercises around the island.

He travelled from Bermuda to Charleston and back again and told the Mid-Ocean News he was still “reeling it all in”.

“It has to be one of my top ten adventures,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve never done anything so bold.”

The high swells left many of the young crew violently seasick, but Mr. Spalding, who has been on boats most of his life, was left unaffected: “That was the thing I was most grateful for, because some of them (the crew) were real bad and couldn’t function. It was good to be there and help them.”

Mingling with the crowds in Charleston, Mr. Spalding said the one thing that stood out at the Maritime Festival was the way the Americans responded to meeting the crew and touring the sloop.

“Our vessel was talked about by everyone who came to see us, and because we were the only vessel allowing the public to tour below decks, we saw hundreds of people coming through,” he said.

“It was quite an experience and they all commented on how organised we were.”

He said those were some of the proudest moments of his life.

Mr. Spalding hopes to remain involved in the BSF as long as he can and dreams of getting his pilot’s licence in the near future and possibly even being captain ofe Spirit of Bermuda <$>one day.

Another crew member who completed the voyage both ways was Weston Hatfield.

The 19 year old signed up with the BSF in December last year, but this was also his first major voyage.

“It was an experience I won’t easily forget. I really love how the programme works at encouraging team work and the way it brings out the character in young Bermudians. The bonding experience we had going to Charleston and back was also amazing,” he said.

Weston was part of a four-man group led by watch leader Travis Robinson and explained what they did on a day-to-day basis: “We woke up in the morning and had galley duties throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“We were basically responsible for serving food and cleaning up afterwards and sometimes our chef would have us help out with the actual cooking.”

However, his group was also responsible for four-hour watches and joining in the cleaning and maintenance of the vessel.

On top of that, they were required to attend daily classes, which included navigation, seamanship, engineering and cooking.

Weston signed up for the seamanship classes and engineering classes.

Having being to Charleston before, he said with a laugh that he took it upon himself to prepare the other young men for the “good-looking girls” they would see.

He also compared this quaint South Carolina town to St. George’s: “It has the same small, narrow streets, small older houses and huge palmettos in beautiful, well-kept grounds and there’s no litter on the ground.”

Five Class A ships and four Class B ships, including the sloop, attended the Maritime Festival.

Weston, who is is studying business administration at Roanoke College in Virginia, said the sloop stood out because it was the only vessel allowing tours below decks.

“There was a long queue almost all day as people lined up to come aboard,” he said. “We were just such a different looking ship to the others.”

Swell time for the Spirit of Bermuda crew