Of recent vintage

This is the Spirit of New Zealand anchored in Kawau Bay. I took the picture early in my morning run today, from high on the hill in the Highfield Garden Reserve.

The Spirit of Adventure Trust was established in 1973 with the gift, by Lou Fisher, of the topsail schooner Spirit of Adventure. The mission of the Trust was (and remains) to provide the youth of New Zealand with access to a character development programme conducted in a maritime environment. From the 1960s square rigged sailing ships have been seen as a unique environment for youth development, where the focus of learning for the trainees is on team-work and developing skills of communication, self-reliance, self-discipline, self-esteem, resilience, confidence  and leadership. Learning to sail a tall ship is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

Because of heavy demand for places, a second ship, the three-masted barquentine Spirit of New Zealand, was commissioned in 1986, and since the retirement in 1997 of Spirit of Adventure, has undertaken an annual programme of about 340 days at sea. She is believed to be the world's busiest youth ship.

Built by Thackwray Yachts Ltd in Auckland, Spirit of New Zealand is 45.2m long and displaces 286 tons. Mast heights are: Fore 28.7m, Main 31.3m, and Mizzen 28m. The maximum crew is 14 Crew and 40 trainees. Younger than she looks, with modern navigational aids and an engine, she is of a recent vintage.

Her programme is conducted mostly out of her home port of Auckland into the Hauraki Gulf, but she makes occasional voyages to the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Plenty and beyond, around the East Cape to Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds area. Voyages southwards to Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, Bluff and Stewart Island are also scheduled from time to time, ensuring the ship's high public profile.

I have often seen her moored in Kawau Bay, and have blipped her a couple of times before. This morning the sky was one of the best morning skies, with the range of cloud forms, and the timing of this shot being mere minutes before the sun rose. I also like the patterns in the water of the Bay, as well as the dark mass of Kawau Island.

Great in large