One ship. 40 Trainees. One incredible Life changing adventure.
Spirit of Adventure Trust - one incredible adventure.Check out our awesome new video for Spirit!Hear from our crew about why taking part in one of our youth development voyages is the most incredible opportunity for young people.Like and share it with your friends and tell us what you think! You may even spot some familiar faces off Voyage 661 and 664 :)
Posted by Spirit of New Zealand on Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Bowater Hyundai, and the wider Bowater Motor Group, are very pleased to be able to support this wonderful charity. Each year we get to help dedicated and hard working teenagers to achieve their dreams and enjoy a berth and a series of life lessons on this unique training vessel. The local students must work hard to be selected, and even harder if they are lucky enough to get a berth to raise the necessary money to cover the costs. This is where we come in, meeting the costs half way, and enabling our local achievers a slightly easier road to success.
The Spirit of Adventure Trust was set up in 1972 to provide young New Zealander's with access to a character development programme conducted in a maritime environment.
The 1960s saw a revival of interest in square riggers but not in their traditional role as cargo ships, or professional maritime training. They were seen as a unique environment for youth development, where the focus of learning is on team-work, developing skills of communication, self-reliance, self-discipline, self-esteem, resilience, confidence and leadership. Learning to sail a tall ship is only a small part of our programmes.
Spirit of Adventure 1973-1997
The topsail schooner Spirit of Adventure, gifted to the nation by Lou Fisher, was commissioned in 1973. She sailed a heavy schedule around the New Zealand coast until 1997, when she was sold for tourism work in Fiji.
Spirit of New Zealand 1986 - current
The Trust's existing ship, the three-masted barquentine Spirit of New Zealand, was commissioned in 1986. Since the retirement of the Adventure in 1997 she has undertaken an annual programme of around 340 days at sea.
She is believed to be probably the world’s busiest youth ship. Subject to stringent, on-going maintenance surveys, refits and audits, Spirit of New Zealand is expected to be able to continue operating youth voyages until around 2035.
This section of our website contains stories from our successful applicants, and events at which we can all help future applicants achieve their funding in order to attend this life changing experience.
Tags: community support,
Bowater Hyundai head onto the sparkling seas of Tasman Bay to gain an experience of what changes lives.
Returning past Haulashore Island after an amazing morning sailing on Tasman Bay with The Spirit Of New Zealand courtesy of Bowater Hyundai. Click to enlarge.
The team from Bowater Hyundai had the special opportunity of being able to invite 85 customers onboard the training ship the Spirit of New Zealand for a morning's cruise around Tasman Bay. The wind kicked up and the sails all came out for a blast of pure tall ship adventure.
What a day - the chance to get a taste of what this amazing charity offers the youth of our fine country is something not very many people get as adults, so we were certainly fortunate to be able to share the experience!
The group met on the main dock alongside the Guyton's Wharf ready for an adventure on what was shaping up to be a sparkling sunny Nelson summer's day.
Corrie Chambers from the Bowater Hyundai sales team wharfside & about to embark on a memoriable sailing. Click to enlarge.
Thanks to a whole lot of various Nelson businesses we had all we needed for a great morning out on the bay: sunscreen courtesy of Unichem Pharmacy, bottles of pure local E'stel Water, delicious bags of Proper Crisps and a whole bunch of fresh fruit from Nelson New World. Good to go! All we needed was for the wind to cooperate and we we would have a great sail. Guess what. It did!
Start your year with an adventure that changes lives. Join us on the Spirit of New Zealand in our very own Tasman Bay.
Bowater Hyundai is proud to be able to join with the Spirit of Adventure Trust on this sailing experience. Click to enlarge.
It takes a lot of hard work and determination to get a spot on the life changing adventure for teenages that is the tallship that is The Spirit of New Zealand. Since 1972 this amazing charity has been instrumental in offering an experience quite unlike any other. It quite literally changes lives. Inspires youth. Motivates dreams. Teaches those that particiapte a unique set of life skills that they will carry with them into adulthood.
The Spirit of New Zealand will be sailing into Nelson Harbour on January 6th 2016. Bowater Hyundai is very excited to be able to offer a VIP Sailing experience in Nelson Harbour for a number of our customers. As a part of this we have a DOUBLE PASS to give away to a lucky website or facebook user - all you need to do is email Lana at the Admin department and give her your contact details as well as your vehicle info (make, model and registration number).
The sailing is from 9am - 12pm and leaves from Port Nelson. Entering is simple and this is an opportunity to experience and get a taste of what a longer multi-day trip is like, and why we need to continue to support our local teens as they fundraise to get onboard.
We have a whole section of our website dedicated to this - click here to dive into it.
Meet Georgie, our 2013 Spirit of NZ Trust Scholarship winner
From left: Brad O'Leary (Assistant Principal NCG), scholarship winner Georgie Holdaway (year 12) & Chris Bowater (CEO Bowater Hyundai).
The opportunity to sponsor a student into any positive endeavour is always a real bonus. The Bowater Motor Group has always been driven by supporting the community for generations, so when Hyundai came on board as a major sponsor nationally of the Spirit of Adventure Trust we were excited as it meant we would also be helping students out locally to get involved with the programme through Bowater Hyundai.
Recently we met our latest new scholarship winner, Georgie Holdaway.
She is a Year 12 (6th form for the older ones of us that still know school by those standards) student at Nelson College for Girls. She is a lovely girl with bright ambition, and is very much looking forward to her spot on the Spirit of New Zealand. She has provided us with a bio so we all here at the Bowater Motor Group, and everyone else interested, can get to know her a little better.
