Preparing for voyage aboard the 'Prince William'

Preparing for voyage aboard the 'Prince William'

Tantri Almira Wardhani, University of Malang/Malang, East Java

I am one of the young persons selected by ENCOMPASS Trust (www.encompasstrust.org) to partake in the sail training adventure aboard the Tall Ship, Prince William, with the Tall Ships Youth Trust (www.sta.org.uk) in the United Kingdom from Nov. 5 to 19, 2005.

The name of the program is The 5th Voyage of Understanding 2005, which is aimed at promoting tolerance and understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds through education, travel and fellowship.

The program will include about 30 young people (18 to 23) from several countries in the world, including Israel, Indonesia, Palestine, the United Kingdom and the United States. Indonesia will be represented by nine university students: me (State University of Malang), Hamidyah Qutsi (State University of Malang), Rila Kristanti (Brawijaya University of Malang), Singgih Kiswantoro (State University of Malang), Dini Privea (Brawijaya University of Malang), Nada Yangrifqi (State University of Malang), Septiana Butar-Butar (Brawijya University of Malang), Resi Yusfiki (STIE Malang Kucecwara Malang) and Romadhona (Brawijaya University of Malang).

The nine of us were selected after applying with ENCOMPASS Trust and the YEPE (Young Pioneers). As all the participants of the program will pursue exciting mental and physical challenges on the Prince William, myself and the other eight participants from Indonesia took part in pre-voyage activities in order to better prepare us before setting sail on the real voyage. The first training session was held at the Citius Training Center in Jakarta from Sept. 2 to Sept. 6, 2005. We had a lot of activities there dealing with the preparation before our big trip. I will share stories about that.

I really enjoyed the daily activities at the center. I learned a lot of new things. I got some valuable and interesting experience there. What I liked the most was when we went scuba diving. It was nice! I found that before diving we had to make such a careful plan. We had to know the area where we wanted to dive, identify how deep it was, and calculate how much air that we needed underwater. We also learned how to prepare our scuba equipment. We had to make sure that the equipment was all complete and was in good condition.

There were many other things that needed to be considered as well. For instance, we were not allowed to dive alone and, instead, must be accompanied by our friends called "buddy". We must also have good health and were not allowed to take drugs or drink alcoholic drinks before diving.

Diving was not the only activity that impressed me much. I really loved the moment when I had the HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training). It was challenging. What I learned from HUET is that when we are in a helicopter and an unexpected bad thing occurs, do not panic easily because there is a way to survive in that kind of terrible situation.

Another activity was Sea Survival Training. We were trained by professional instructors to survive even in bad conditions in the middle of the sea. It was nice.

We also learned in a classroom. We learned about navigation and knots. As we will run the ship, at least we have to know about navigation and how to make knots.

In addition, we learned how to do presentations in front of many people so that we are able to communicate well and have good presentation skills. There will be a cross-cultural night on the last day of the voyage. The voyagers will have a discussion session and will discuss about the issues in the world; especially world peace issues. The voyagers will also have a chance to present their culture, such as dancing the traditional dances or singing folk songs.

A large group of young people concerned about world peace issues will be on the ship, making friendships without thinking about the differences between them. What good news in view of the numerous problems that undermine world peace today!

My experience did not end with the pre-voyage preparation. On the last day of training, we had a party in one of the cafes in Kemang. We had fun there until midnight. I had a great time during the pre-voyage activities. I feel very lucky to be one of the participants of the Fifth Voyage of Understanding 2005.