Special People

I work with very special people …

Seas Your Future is all about youth development and personal growth and all the people who work or volunteer for the charity could earn a lot more money doing something else. Yet their dedication to the cause makes them so fabulous to work with. At the end of our annual Plymouth Ocean Science Voyage, the director of the sail training organisation that operates the Pelican, Adrian Ragbourne, introduced the end-of-voyage celebration by claiming that he has the best job in the world. I could claim the same.

Take the crew picture of the recent Plymouth Ocean Science Voyage as an example – could we look any happier? My fabulous crew mates along the back row from left to right are:

• Nikki, physicist and science teacher volunteering as STEM educator on board
• Harvey, who was a trainee on the voyage last year and now volunteers as deck hand
• Shauna, experienced tall ship sailor from Ireland and volunteer watch leader
• Chris, experienced officer on big commercial ships, joining us as navigating officer for a bit of variety
• Patrick, former youth worker and volunteer crew on board
• Roy, entrepreneur and former Royal Navy officer, taking time out to captain Pelican on multiple occasions
• Hans, experienced tall ship sailor from the Netherlands joining us as chief mate
• Jay, best cook I’ve experienced on Pelican in five years!
• Janice, our experienced bosun and superstar with our trainees

In the the middle, I crouch by the wheel and Martin, experienced deck volunteer, bosun’s assistant, watch leader and shanty man with a theatrical delivery and the talent for writing stirring songs of the sea, hovers in front of Hans, while in the front row are:

• Karen, dedicated volunteer crew from Denmark
• Jo, experienced deck hand and watch leader
• Izzy, talented marine biologist and whirlwind volunteer for STEM education (shout out for Isabel Thompson who is looking for work :)!)
• Jih, experienced bosun’s mate with multi-national background, a fabulous singing voice and international repertoire
• Patrik, chief engineer with almost inexhaustible patience for Pelican’s idiosyncratic plumbing from Sweden.

Missing from this picture were Megan, our very inventive and productive videographer for the Plymouth Ocean Science Voyage and competitive sailor and the three mentors from MHR, Elle, Hannah and Hattie, who did a great job looking after the 25 trainees from Plymouth, Czech Republic and East Cornwall.

Many thanks to all my ship mates on this very successful voyage and ‘the office’, i.e. shore-based operations who make it all possible and let me play with ocean science on board.

With her videos, Megan Farrer has given our trainees a voice – watch how they experienced their time on board in nine short videos.

Featured Image: (c) Poppy Harrison-Shearer 2024