Adventures for body and soul
Acelebration at Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds today is part of this year’s anniversary celebrations for the Outward Bound movement. VIV MILSOM takes a look at a course that has shaped the lives of thousands ofnewzealanders.
Current and past Outward Bound school members will run parts of the ‘‘original’’ Outward Bound Marathon from Torea Bay to Anakiwa along the Queen Charlotte Track today and the trial should bring back plenty of memories of the course’s character-building challenges.
The Outward Bound school at Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds has been challenging young New Zealanders for 50 years and although it has seen some tough times, it is as strong as ever.
The school was officially opened in September, 1962, by Lord Cobham, the governorgeneral at the time, who was a keen supporter.
Then, on October 20, 1962, under the careful guidance of Hamish Thomas, the founding warden, the first course for 36 young men got under way.
The original Outward Bound school had been set up at Aberdovey in Wales, in 1941, during World War II, with the idea of giving young seamen the ability to survive harsh conditions at sea. ‘‘Outward bound’’ is a nautical term, meaning a ship is leaving the pier.
While many early instructors came from the armed forces, and customs, such as raising the flag each morning were borrowed from the military, that wasn’t the main thrust.
The concept of Outward Bound was developed by Dr Kurt Hahn, an innovative thinker and educator, who had already established Gordonstoun School in Scotland. He believed that the personal growth and social skills of young men could be fostered through challenging outdoor expeditions. ‘‘There is more in you than you think,’’ he told them.
Hahn developed the four pillars of Outward Bound: physical fitness, an expedition that provides challenge and adventure, a project that develops selfreliance and self-discipline, and a sense of compassion through service.
Hahn also believed in what he called ‘‘unity of purpose, without unity of focus’’. So while the pillars remain at the heart of Outward Bound, flexibility in the delivery of courses has allowed Outward Bound to remain relevant and dynamic for more than 70 years.
Today more than 200,000 participants at 40 schools in 25 countries around the globe go through Outward Bound courses each year.
‘‘At Anakiwa, with 2000 participants each year, we’ve been operating at 95 per cent capacity for the last four to five years,’’ says Outward Bound New Zealand executive manager Trevor Taylor.
‘‘But we’ve had tough times, too.’’
Course member Susan Consedine died in 1993 when she fell down a 61-metre bluff while tramping. She was the fifth and last participant to die on an Outward Bound course.
‘‘Funding problems have been another challenge for us, but we have established the Outward Bound Trust Foundation and this allows us to offer scholarships to participants who otherwise would be unable to come on a course,’’ Taylor says.
‘‘About 70 per cent of participants get some level of funding, either from their local community or from Outward Bound resources.
‘‘We also work with future participants to help them raise their own funds. We’ve also been very fortunate that over the last five years our funders and supporters have remained with us, despite the tough economic times.’’
Taylor says the country’s rapidly changing demographics provides another challenge.
‘‘We want to ensure we’re meeting the needs of New Zealanders from all ethnicities and social backgrounds.
‘‘Each Outward Bound group should be a microcosm of society, so that people are mixing with others they would not ordinarily come across. That’s where a lot of learning takes place.’’
Director Rob Mclean says meeting compliance demands is another major challenge.
He has been at Anakiwa for three years.
‘‘I love it,’’ he says. ‘‘I never have trouble getting up in the morning. I’m part of Generation X, but we are working now with Generation Y and they like to be led differently.’’
He says ‘‘it’s incredibly humbling’’ to see the level of respect and pride that New Zealanders feel about Outward Bound.
Taylor says 19 members of New Zealand’s Olympic team went through Outward Bound courses and they won two bronze, one silver and one gold medal.
‘‘One of our alumni also came home with a bronze, silver and gold from the Paralympics.’’
A programme that works with emerging elite athletes is a recent addition to several specialist courses.
The Mind Body and Soul 21-day course is for 16 to 18-year-olds and the Classic course is for 18 to 26-year-olds. The 21-day courses still account for two-thirds of the work. ‘‘We firmly believe this is the length of time needed for transition to take place,’’ Taylor says.
But shorter courses have also been introduced, including an eight-day course for people aged over 27 who have more life experience. Then last year, after the September and February earthquakes, several Cantabrians were sponsored to attend an adapted, lower-impact eight-day course.
Outward Bound has also been working in partnership with community groups, including Blue Light, a police organisation which works with youth in need, the NaeNae Boxing Academy, St John, Red Cross and the Student Army. ‘‘We believe we can make a bigger difference by working with others,’’ Taylor says.
Birthday celebrations have included a mix of sporting and social events around the country. In September, a black tie dinner in Auckland was held to commemorate the official opening of the school and a staff reunion was held last month at Anakiwa attended by all seven surviving directors (wardens).
The founding director, Hamish Thomas, was a keen yachtsman and served in the navy during World War II. He studied law at Cambridge in England, before returning to Christchurch to work as a criminal defence lawyer.
He saw many young people whom he believed society was failing and he believed Outward Bound offered something lacking for them in the community.
Several sites were considered for the school and an early pilot scheme on Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf was organised in 1961. But the Anakiwa property was finally chosen and bought.
It had been a guesthouse and had its own jetty, a large arm of the Marlborough Sounds, bush-clad hills, cliffs for rock-climbing, and rivers for kayaking not far away.
At first Outward Bound courses were offered only to young men. The first course for women was in 1973.
By the 1980s, courses were mixed, with men and women working alongside each other in each watch or group of up to 14 participants. Apart from the three days spent going solo, the watch became a family group and all activities involved working together as a team.
Outward Bound director from 2000 to 2003, Craig McDowell, says: ‘‘While learning happens in a group environment, what Outward Bound does is very personal. It can teach someone who is cocky, to be humble, a drugdependent participant at rock bottom in life can walk out clean and determined to look after his wife and kids, and a sports star can gain the confidence to take risks, to go further.’’
Taylor says Outward Bound is not for everyone. ‘‘There are other ways for people to achieve the same goals and among those who come to Outward Bound we do have departures for medical or motivational reasons, or because it’s the wrong time. But even if participants leave as early as day five, usually something has changed, and often they come back to finish the course.’’
Outward Bound staff have also been profoundly influenced by their experiences at Anakiwa. McDowell says the Outward Bound journey has given him ‘‘much more confidence and clarity’’ in his own life.
‘‘What Outward Bound does is help you to know yourself well. It gives you the confidence to be adaptable, and to work out what is really precious to keep in your life, and what to let go, to move forwards.’’
Allan Norfolk was an instructor at Outward Bound in the early days.
‘‘I started in 1963. I’d been teaching and was a keen mountaineer and yachtsman. They offered me £350 and keep. We only had a couple of days off a month, but you were doing what you wanted to do and being paid.’’ Conditions in these early days were tough. As canoeing instructor, he remembers living in a tent at the Pelorus Bridge in the middle of winter. ‘‘I stood up one morning and my tent shattered – it was frozen stiff. There were no wetsuits in those days either.’’
He remembers the first death at the school.
A distraught Hamish Thomas came to see him. ‘‘We’ve lost a boy,’’ he had said.
The accident had happened when a rope failed while a group was crossing a river.
‘‘We had to be attentive the whole time. You had to always be careful not to become complacent.’’
Since 1962, 45,000 Kiwis have completed an Outward Bound course. Mclean says Outward Bound has become an iconic New Zealand rite of passage.
‘‘There is something very precious about the sense of possibility that Outward Bound represents.’’