In a bid to showcase what being an OYT Scotland volunteer really means, we’re putting the spotlight on a different volunteer each day.
Today’s volunteer: Rowan Flint
? Q: How long have you been a volunteer with OYTS and what’s your role?
A: I started volunteering at 15 when I bosuned a trip for work experience. I went on many trips with OYTS but stopped after moving to university. I was SO EXCITED to resume as a volunteer this year (25 years ancient) on realising I’d been a fool to abandon the sea!
? Q: What and with whom was your first sailing experience & what made you come back for more?
A: I stepped foot on my first OYT boat (Alba Explorer) aged 12 as a wee crew member. I’ve been hooked since then!
⛵ Q: Proudest or most memorable sailing moment?
A: That would be the team effort on that voyage aged 15. We got caught in a force 8 gale on the way over to N.Ireland – I still remember the waves crashing over us; the force of the wind as we took down the jib; the pings of the hanks as we unhooked them from the stay and the positivity we yelled at each other as we sat clipped in, huddled together on the canvas riding out the storm. Never felt more alive or connected than that.
?Q: Favourite part of being a volunteer with OYT Scotland?
A: The friends I’ve made – being on voyages with such diverse people, visiting so many enchantingly beautiful places in the hands of Mother Nature and Miss Sea themselves make for incredibly humbling experiences. You find you can do things you’d never have known you could do; trust people in ways you’d never expect; laugh harder than you thought possible. OYTS encourages you to try, to care, to learn and to feel the thrill of being alive, safe and needed, in the now, in the team, on this boat, in this ocean.
⛵ Q: If you were a boat, what kind of boat would it be and why?
A: If I were a boat, I’d be someone’s wee fixer-upper. On shore rest at the moment, not rusting any more, can’t launch just yet but soon… One day soon!