Bermuda Sun – October 2nd 2006

Hundreds welcome Spirit of Bermuda home
By B. Candace Ray

The 112-foot Spirit of Bermuda cut through the waters of North Shore on Saturday, under full sail, led by the tug-boat Powerful, as a flotilla of yachts and other small boats clamoured around her in excited welcome.

The maiden voyage of the Island's first training tall ship took 127 hours from port in Maine to anchorage off Bermuda, where she awaited the next day's planned homecoming.

The 10-year sloop project involved 72,000 hours of programme development and near 70,000 hours of construction, and the pride on Sunday was unmistakable among the visitors that lined up to see her at her berth in front of Dockyard's Clock Tower Mall.

"We had over 500 people. We were overwhelmed. We couldn't believe it," Bermuda Sloop Foundation (BSF) executive director Malcolm Kirkland said.

And the ship was sleek-looking, smart with her pale yellow carbon fibre masts raked to stern for speed.

Gold leaf garfish trim the bow over a black hull and dark red keel that draws 9'6".

Her main mast rises 90-feet above a wooden deck, where a squared helm features smooth, blonde marine-grade benches and a Virginia cedar ship's wheel.

Education
It's hoped that the Spirit's arrival will signal a new era in education. Sandy's Middle School's M3 and M4 students will take her out for the first of the five-day voyages geared to Bermuda's youth on October 23.

The ocean sailing training is aimed at developing character and team-building skills as well as developing both academic and technical learning in the student crews.

"What's different about this programme are the tactics to connect to land," Mr. Kirkland said.

BSF chairman Alan Burland noted: "We designed the vessel so that there was group access in every area, so we could train."

Like the helm, the navigation station, ship's galley and engine room are large and squared. The engine room is, in fact, like a much larger ship's engine room and well worth seeing.