It has been a very long time since I returned from the voyage, and I feel so ashamed that I haven't written something about it to share with my friends. The following is an article I wrote for the newspaper 21 Century, and I hope you can share my experience of this amazing sailing:

The HSBC Voyage of Understanding was a ten-day leadership training voyage that took its participants across the English Channel and through Britain, France and Belgium. I was very proud to be one of the 48 college student attendants from 10 countries participating in the voyage. Our ship,  named “Prince William”, was something to behold: a 60-metre-long sailing vessel with a 45-meter-high main mast, it was a true beauty.

The ship’s non-student crew complement consisted only of six permanent crew members and a few volunteers there to assist us students with our training.  This meant that most of the responsibility for keeping the ship working fell on us students. Students were split into three Watches; the Blue, White, and Red Watches.  Each of these watches was assigned its own “watch leader” whose duty was to train and direct the watch. In order to keep the ship operating continuously, the ship’s three watches would take turns performing necessary ship-board tasks throughout the day and night. Keeping watch was not easy: it often involved doing things like getting up at 4am and climbing to the cold and dark of the ship’s deck to keep watch over the seas around the Prince William.  Sometimes, a student on watch might be asked to steer the ship: this was pretty cool, though the captain would get mad if a student carried out his orders inaccurately.  On other occasions, those on watch had to clean every part of the ship, from the outside of the ship, to the smelly crew cabin to the messy bathroom.  It was on such occasions that I learned two important lessons.  The first lesson was that sailors are incredibly fussy about their cleaning: we were not allowed to leave even a single brass screw uncleaned.  The second lesson was that there is not a nation on earth whose people enjoy cleaning the toilet.  Apparently, some things are simply universal.  The most important of the tasks we might be asked to perform when on watch was to set and reef the sails. This could involve climbing as high as 45 meters above the deck and walking on the bowline to the yard end to do our work.  On very windy days, the royal yard might swing out of the ship body: if this were to happen, one’s safety harness would be the only thing keeping one from falling to her death. Those on watch sometimes had to work as the messmen and do jobs like repeating the menu to everyone, serving the dishes, and worst of all, washing dishes.  A large ship like the Prince William produces mountains of dirty dishes, and so the dish washer’s job could feel endless.  As a sailing ship, Prince William is, of course, dependent on the wind for its power.  When we encountered an advantageous wind, we had to act swiftly to adjust the sails.  When this happened, everyone would come up to the deck and work in groups to pull or ease the ropes, all the while shouting cheers in different languages. On the ship, everyone’s effort was equally important, whether that effort was made in steering the ship or cleaning the toilet.

“It is amazing to learn how to get the sails right and run a ship”, said Noha, a delightful girl from inland Egypt. But it wasn’t always pleasant for everyone. Sometimes, a person suffering seasickness would occupy the toilet for hours, cursing the nasty windy weather. Sleep was definitely the rarest commodity on the ship, followed by hot water. While the Prince William’s cook was one of the best I have ever encountered, I have to say that after ten days of eating boiled vegetables and huge pieces of meat smothered in various strange sauces, I developed a great loyalty to Chinese cuisine.

“The voyage is a great achievement and the most memorable experience in my life”, said Kyle, an American boy who always volunteered to climb to the royal yard. Indeed, when our ship passed beneath London’s famous Tower Bridge, we all felt an indescribable thrill as we stood on the yards and sung sea chanties.  As thousands of Londoners watched us pass, we came to realize that this was a voyage we would never forget.

No one knows if there will be a day when the 48 of us can get together again, but we will all cherish our memories of these ten days: we learned not only to run a ship, but also to work as a team; not only did we share the experiences of our lives, but we also shared the cultures of our nations. Though we came from some very different nations, we all became friends in the end.