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Voyage with a difference

It was a voyage for peace, love and understanding

PATRIOTIC FERVOUR Rohit with the Indian Flag aboard Prince William

When we talk of voyages across the oceans the first thought that comes to the mind is excitement. A voyage is draped with adventure and excitement and that's how it has been from the time of Columbus and Vasco da Gama. The adventure and excitement doubles when one is on his or her first voyage and more if they are told to cruise across the seas on a sailboat.

That's what exactly happened to Rohit Anant Ganapati a final-year B.Tech student. He was selected for the SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) fellowship cruise co-sponsored by Syntel and HSBC. Rohit was one among the four selected from India out of a total of 48 participants from 10 different countries like Russia, China, South Korea and Brazil.

On board Sailboat Prince William, the 48 students from different cultural backgrounds were made to sail across the English Channel and Thames to visit London, France and Belgium.

"It was a voyage of peace, love and understanding. It was a voyage where differences transcended all barriers and unified on one single platform. Apart from learning the finer aspects of sailing like tying of knots and rigging of sails, the art of fellowship blossomed on the blue waters," says Rohit.

On the excitement, he says, it started the moment the sails were hoisted. "The life in a motor vessel is quite different to the life in a sailboat.

In a sailboat you have to be on the toes. Every time the wind changed its direction we were told to climb the mast and change the direction of the sails.

Though we had an experienced crew on board, the highlight of the programme was that we were told to manage everything on the boat. This brought out the concept of teamwork to the fore."

Starting from Brixham, the young sailors went to Dieppe, Brugge and Pilbury before returning to London and back to their respective nations.

S.B.

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