Crew Blog

Back to school

23 January 2008

Sometimes wearing a team shirt can have quite unexpected consequences….

Durban 2010 and Beyond’s South African flag team shirt, undoubtedly the brightest in the fleet, attracted the attention of a pair of teachers, Anthony and Theodora Skillicorn, from the local international school, United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), who were eating in one of the restaurants in the new Marina at Keppel Bay complex.

As Anthony is originally from South Africa he got talking to the shirt’s owner, round the worlder Hagen Tropper, and was surprised to learn that it was not a compatriot wearing the shirt with pride, but an Austrian. Theodora teaches German at the college, so it was a particularly fortuitous meeting which resulted in an invitation to Hagen to speak in German to some of her students about his experiences on the race. This invitation was taken up with great enthusiasm by Hagen, who was accompanied by another of Durban 2010 and Beyond’s German speakers, Munich resident Claire Johnson.

The grade 10 students listened attentively to the presentation and asked a large number of interesting questions. Several of them have sailed on the tall ship Leeuwin II, which led the parade of sail at the beginning of the race, so they could identify with some of our experiences. Hagen had brought his winter wardrobe, from thermal underwear through mid-layers to foulies to show the students, which amused them greatly, though no doubt they were disappointed that he didn’t put them on (the outside temperature was in the thirties!).

An invitation was made to the students to visit the boat, although with their busy school schedule, it seems unlikely that this will be possible in the short time remaining. Theodora kindly gave us a tour of the beautiful and incredibly well-equipped campus and explained the philosophy of the school not only to give the students an academic education, but also to develop a strong sense of social responsibility by involving them from an early age in social projects. Sport is also an important part of the curriculum, and every student learns to sail.

Who knows, perhaps future Clipper Races will number some ex-UWCSEA students in their crews?