“I’ve never had four hours in my life go so fast” said Morgan Bennison. Bennison was presenting a slide show and talk on his trip from Victoria on board a tall sailing ship to the latest meeting of the Stuart Lake Sailing Club. The four hours he was referring to was a shift on watch.
“The most fun was during the watches,” said Bennison during his slide show. He said he liked the watch periods because he could talk to the experienced leaders during the watch and learn the most.
The trip was a Sailing and Life Training Society (S.A.L.T.S.) voyage Bennison received a scholarship towards via the local sailing club.
The club paid $200 towards a $799 tuition for the five-day voyage to learn leadership and life skills on top of aspects of sailing a large ship.
The Pacific Swift was the vessel, and 35 people were on board for the trip, but Bennison was the youngest in the group, as the age ranged from 13 to 25 years old and Bennison was only just old enough to go.
But his presence on the ship was anything but a burden to the trip leaders, as Robin Irving from S.A.L.T.S. wrote a letter to the local sailing club to tell Bennison’s sponsors what a pleasure it was to have the young sailing enthusiast on board.
The letter commented on his great “willingness to learn” and said many of the crew’s best memories included Bennison.
The Stuart Lake Sailing Club was already had one sail up on the lake this year, with Paul Inden, club president taking out his Hobie sailing kayak on May 5.
The group will be hosting a youth sailing camp again this year and hopes to encourage new members to come out and learn about the club and sailing, as many members enjoy taking people out or need crew members. For information call
