When cousins Rodrico Bean, 18, and Rajae Woods, 17, were chosen to serve as crew onboard the historic Freedom Schooner Amistad they had no idea what adventures they would have as they crossed the pond from Connecticut to Bermuda.

But as the replica of the 1800s cargo ship La Amistad made her way into St. George's Harbour on Monday night, the young men were eager to share their stories of adventure on the high seas with friends and family.

Rodrico and Rajae are students at CedarBridge Academy and besides being cousins, the two young men have something else in common - they both love the ocean, but for very different reasons.

Rodrico, who was given the nickname “Fish” by his Amistad crew members and friends, comes from a family of fishermen.

His father Allan is a commercial fishermen and owner of his the boat, Nothing's easy which was one of the first vessels to make its way out to accompany Amistad as she made her way into St. George's on Monday night.

According to his mother, Claire, who had been waiting in St. George's for her son to get home since early Monday morning, “Fish” grew up on the water and accompanied his dad on fishing trips at every opportunity.

“He must have been about two-years-old when he first went out on the water with his dad,” she said.

According to his fellow crew members, Rodrico spent as much time working on the vessel as he did fishing and before the Amistad docked on Monday night, he had already organised deep sea fishing excursions for the entire crew.

Rodrico said he was happy to be home, but was exhausted and planned to catch up on lost sleep.

“We worked a lot of shift on the vessel coming over and it was hard sometimes to get up at 11 at night and work until 3 in the morning and then sleep until late in the afternoon. It's going to take my body a while to catch up,” he said.

Rajae agreed with a smile, but was quick to add that he loved the experience and the highlight for this competitive young skipper, was steering the Amistad.

“I've got my place in history,” the 17-year-old said.

Rajae's career in sailing started when his family moved to Boaz Island in 1998.

Before long he had made a name for himself and won a scholarship to enter the RBYC Summer Sailing Programme in 2001.

His dream? To compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

However, neither Rajae nor Rodrico have any plans to repeat a “Tall ship experience”.

Rajae said the Amistad lacked one thing - speed and he preferred Lasers.

Both agreed that the rough weather caught them by surprise. Rodrico said at the start of the journey they managed to catch up to five knots and the weather steadily picked up.

“Rajae asked for a squall and he got that and then some, “ he said with a smile. Rodrico said the waves were “huge” but he was used to that kind of thing having been out on the water with his dad.

He said at one stage the wind picked up to almost 50 knots.

“It was very exciting,” he said, adding that he was never scared.

The one thing both young men agreed on was the excellent capabilities of their captain, Eliza Garfield. “She does this manoeuvre, it's called a heave too, where she manages to stop the boat absolutely dead in the water. It's very impressive,” he said.

He said during the last week en route to Bermuda they drifted almost 14 miles off course.

“That's why the seven day trip took us almost 12,” he said.

Rajae said life on board the Amistad was very different from dinghy sailing. “The winds were hard, the sea was rough and you have to hang on while you try and do your job, it's very hard,” he said. But he was quick to add that it was a memorable experience. “Although I don't think I'll do it again,” he said. Both he and Rodrico agreed that the crew were amazing and they had made friends for life.

The Amistad damaged her rudder over the weekend and is scheduled to undergo repairs in St. George's. The historic schooner will remain in Bermuda until the end of the month and is scheduled to dock in Hamilton and Dockyard where members of the public will be allowed to board her and meet the crew. However, when this will happen is still unclear.