Stephen Smith can spout nautical terms the way whales spout water – easily and often.
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The year 10 student from Wingham High School is still on a high, a month after returning from an experience he calls “the best 11 days of my life”.
In October Stephen was one of 24 ‘youthies’ to board the tallship the Young Endeavour and enjoy an experience of a lifetime.
Ron Irwin from the Wingham RSL Sub-branch had earlier approached the school and asked them to nominate a student to be put into the Australia-wide RSL ballot, win which they choose three young people to sponsor for the Young Endeavour ballot.
“I didn’t get it. But I put in for it privately, and the local RSL funded it. Totally,” Stephen explained. Still, it was a matter of luck – the RSL could only fund Stephen if he was chosen in the Young Endeavour’s ballot.
It was a whirlwind experience for the appreciative 16-year-old boy.
“I had maybe three weeks’ notice that it was going to happen,” he said
Stephen boarded the ship at Newcastle on October 15, sailed north to Port Stephens and south to Eden, and disembarked at Sydney, where his family were waiting on a wharf, on October 15.
The intrepid youngster did not balk at anything – he couldn’t wait to climb to the top of the 30-metre-tall ship’s rigging. He is lucky he is not afraid of heights.
“I loved it!” Stephen said. “Some of the kids had to conquer their fears. We were in four metre swells one night and we had to go up to the very top to sea-furl the sails.
“I was the first one to put my hand up to get on there because I wanted to get up. It was like the second or third night and they were like ‘oh we need someone to go up’ and it was three in the morning and I was like ‘yeah, I’ll jump up. I’ll do it’.”
At one point in the journey the ship’s crew divvied the ‘youthies’ into three watches for ‘command day’, and let them take over the ship.
“There were three watches. The night before we have elections, and I got elected to be the captain of the ship on our watch, so I was known as Captain Steve.
“Everything had to have my approval on it. Nothing could happen without me knowing, and if I wanted something done it would get done straight away, which was pretty cool. I was in charge for 28 hours.
“But it also came with great responsibility. They give us a plan to stick to, but it’s totally up to us how and what we do between the times of our watch. So I could have sailed the ship to wherever I pleased… to New Zealand!” Stephen said.
Everything had to have my approval on it. Nothing could happen without me knowing, and if I wanted something done it would get done straight away, which was pretty cool.
When asked what the highlight of his time on the ship was, Stephen had no trouble answering.
“The captaincy was a really good experience and I loved that. But that night that I put my hand up to go up the mast… we were up there and it was a big swell, the ship was rocking and moving about a lot, so we were up there and holding on, pretty much, and we’re pulling this sail in and we’re tying our sea furls, and it’s just really rough and my feet are hurting because we’re hanging on by a rope.
“It’s really stormy, it’s the middle of the night, we can’t see too much outside, and the storm starts to clear. The clouds are clearing up and we can see the horizon, and what we could see was all the coast and then Sydney and Centrepoint Tower and it was just the most beautiful sight you could see.
“We looked down as well and there was a pod of four dolphins; they were playing in the water underneath the bow, and were jumping up playing with each other on one side and then they’d dive underneath and come up the other side and dive out.
It was the most amazing experience of my life. It was the best thing ever.
“We’re just about to come down and it clears up and we see this beautiful view of Sydney and all these dolphins in the water. That was probably the best experience, I think.”
Stephen also remembers clearly the night they weighed anchor right in Sydney Harbour near Taronga Zoo.
“We were right outside Taronga Zoo, so we could see the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, we could hear all the animals - every single animal seemed to be making a lot of noise that night! Just for us!” he said.
Stephen said the teamwork and leadership lessons he learned on the ship will carry through to the rest of his life, and he encourages other young people to apply for the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme.
“The best thing to do is put your name down for every single voyage,” is his advice.
“It was the most amazing experience of my life. It was the best thing ever.”