Outward Bound

My Outward Bound Experience  
 
On July 28th, I started my three week journey at Outward Bound NZ. Going into this experience I knew very little about what obstacles I was about to face. Arriving in Anakiwa, Oscar and I met twelve strangers who we would live with in our watch for the next 21 days. These twelve strangers have turned into life long friends, basically family, and without them Outward Bound would have not been nearly the same.  Outward Bound pushed all of us physically, mentally and emotionally. One of my biggest challenges was white water kayaking. For two days we kayaked down chutes and rapids and at times got flipped over and had to rely on our watch to flip us back over or complete a self wet exit. For a first time kayaker this was quite terrifying as thoughts flooded through your head of all that could go wrong but we learnt to push through, change our negative mindset and keep determined and with the support of my watch managed to keep going and make it to the end. Tramping really tested everyone's patience and stamina as keeping a steady pace up the mountains that everyone could keep up with was difficult. With some wanting to race ahead, setting their mind on only getting to the destination and then getting frustrated when having to wait for those behind. After our first over night tramp we quickly realised that it was not a sustainable option especially for our next, longer and harder, tramp especially with increased tension as everyone would be mentally and physically tired. On our second tramp (after realising this) we tried our best to remember this throughout, sometimes forgetting, but there was a huge improvement. This difficultly  brought us closer together as a watch and even after having major tension on these days when we sat around the fire at the end of the day we forgot all of it, only remembering the accomplishments we had had that day. Team work was a major part of Outward Bound; if we were not working together it was twice as hard - this was even more true in sailing. On a sailing boat you must work as a team, if one person tried to do every job on the boat no ground would be made. You must work together, in sync and communicate, which by the end of Outward Bound was second nature for us. Out of all the activities we did my favourite was the half marathon. Although it may not have been as much fun as rock climbing, it was such a huge accomplishment that took determination, endurance and hard work. It was a great way to finish my Outward Bound experience. Outward Bound was such a great opportunity and I would recommend it to everyone reading this. You take away so much from Outward Bound and grow so much physically and even more mentally.
 
Sam Keeler, Year 13