waddled in brggy oil-skins and layersof bulky clothes, I totter on to thepitching deck and clutch a railing.This is my first time at sea, the secondnight. Manchurian gusts

- achingwith the cries of tormented dogs -are blowing rain horizontally before the brig-

antine's red, white and green running lights.Sails overhead crack, whip-like, distended andraw. The 46-meter hull rises, wags across theblack horizon, dips to one side andTHUUUUUMPS into a sea swell foamingwhite.

I am a trainee, reporting for midnight watchduty. As I strain to hear the count . . . one. . .

two . . a deluge of Japan's Black Currentarches across the two-master and slaps me inthe face. The brine is warm and tastes of soda.

"This," yells the shivering watch officer, "isa full gale. \7ear your harness!

"You, Reiko? Wake the engineer. Theengine room bilge warning lights are on. Andget your helmet!"

"You two, forward lookout. Peter, take thehelm?"

I am busy wiping my fogged glasses. As oneof 16 novices aboard the Kaisei, a new sailtraining ship on the final leg of its 15-month,5 7,000km maiden voyage from Spain to Japan,

Iefr: Man battlingagainst tbe elements.Centre: Build,ing teamutork a.mong a. cross-

cultural creutRigbt: Eating is a

balancing act on boardtbis "rollercoA.ster"

I am an integral part of the crew. That's thepoint. Anyone can - for a price.

The thrills of the Kaisei are available toanyone, ro matter what race, gender, nation-ality or sailing experience.

Anchoring in Misaki, Japan, jusr sourhwesrof Tokyo, the ship has tentarive plans thatinclude voyages aroundJapan and calls at HongKong, Phuket and Singapore from its winterbase in Okinawa. The Kaisei, along with Out-ward Bound's Ji-Fung in Hong Kong, is onlythe second such vessel in Asia out of theapproximately B0 accessible sail training shipsaround the globe. The rest of the esrimared 300square-riggers are for merchant mariners ormilitary sailors exclusively - the price herepaid for in terms of time.

"Our 'sail training' is neither," says KaoruOgimi, the suave, bi-lingual founder and chair-man of the Sail Training Association of Japan(STAJ), the Kaisei's owners. The goal of thefive- tol4-day cruises is ro instill young peoplewith respect for teamwork, physical enduranceand nature. Lectures about the Kalsei's work-ings, sailing theory, navigation, weather, eventhe stars, are just part of that process. Ogimi,winner of the double-handed Melbourne-OsakaYacht race in 1987 , says: "'We teach by living,not by preaching."

Trainees are divided into watch teams offive to10 people with whom they work, eat andrest for the duration. About halfway throughthe voyage, the experienced watch leaders"disappear". Trainees - 75 pet cent of whomare female, 30 per cent students - must thencrew the ship in shifts totalling six to 11 hourseach dry. So, a housewife from Osaka can endup commanding an American editor fromTokyo, a banker from Manila and a studentfrom Taipei. Although it feels like the blindleading the blind, it forces listening, commu-nications and interdependence from relativestrangers: Team work.

And work it is. All the more-rhan-lOOpolypropelene ropes that raise, lower and coo-ffol the Kaisei's 15 sails must be pulled byhand. Ary time, dry or night. And they'reheavy. The effort needed to haul up a big nylonsail in a stiff breeze turns trainees into contor-tionists. Soft hands and flabby muscles get arude awakening. In addition, trainees mustclean, swab, scrub and polish an hour or twoevery duy, regardless of weather. There's also

maintenance work. And, of course, galley duty."The more the work, the more the bond-

itg," says the Kaisei's captain, Chris Blake.\7ith 32 years at sea, 15 of it commanding sailtraining ships in Britain, Australia and HongKong, Blake is one of the most experiencedtraining masters afloat. He says the Kai.sel is

actually designed to be inefficient so traineesmust work as a team. \Uith a grin, he adds:"Nothing brings people together like a srorm."Amen.

As I prepare to take the helm of our 180-tonsail ship in Force B winds and high seas, I studythe current helmsman - a bureaucrat fromHokkaido - cramming his yellow boots intotwo blocks spread a metre apart and hunchinghls body against the big wooden steering wheel,his chin thrust forward to see the compass

swinging under his nose. He looks like a weakwater-skier about to fall.

As I reach over to hook in my safety harnessnext to his, the teak deck lurches to a 40.degree angle. My feet immediately go sideways

and down I slide across the bridge, off threesteps into water gushing over gunwatres

around the corner and astern.For 3 B hours, the storm,

which becomes a typhoon,presents life at 30 degrees. Port-holes below deck look into anaquarium without fish. But walk-ing and sleeping on this rollercoaster is easy compared to eat-ing. One hand must hold theplate aloft like a painter's palarewhile the other stabs for food.Drinks are part of washing up.Since most of the trainees feelseasick anyway, there's plenty

of space inunderstand.

the mess room name I now

While the Kaisei is not necessarily a ship forcomfort, it is a comfortable ship. Bunkroomssleeping six to eight have bathrooms with hotshowers. The diet - mostly meat and rice -is bountiful and tasty. And the Kaisei is

equipped to be safe. From its global positioningsystem (GPS) satellite navigator and two dif-ferent types of radar to dual skin life rafts andrubber speedboaff, all rescue contingencies are

ensured. The eight officers, with more thann0 years of global sea experience betweenthem, also make sure safety comes first.

But the most memorable part is the excite-ment and the beauty. Furling a sail on a yard-arm 30 metres above a sea so dark blue that itlooks black, riding the bow sprit as it crashes

through white-capped waves flinging manes ofspray or competing in the Kaisei's daily"olympics" is unforgettable. As is gaping atgleaming arches of porpoises as they jump-dive, jump-dive, jump-dive, a crab floating byon a banana leaf miles from land, or the MilkyWry glowing through the mast rigging. Eventhe salty-dog pros pause to bask in the glow ofthe ocean turned silver and red at sunset. Afterall, the name Kaisei means "ocean planet".

STAJ's Ogimi and Blake, as well as twelvecross-cultural staff and crew, are comrnitted tospreading the Kaisei's non-profit message ofteamwork, physical life and nature throughoutJapan and Asia. And more than 50 volunteersfrom Japan and Hong Kong to Australia andPoland have donated an estimated 10,000 hoursto refit, maintain and crew the ship testi-monial to its appeal.

The Kaisei will sail around Japan throughthe summer and plans to call on Asianports, such as Hong Kong, Manila, KotaKinabalu, Danang and Kaoshiung from itswinter base in Okinawa. Voyage lengthvaries. Current all-inclusive price per day:Y13,500 (US$ 110) for students andY18,000 (US$140) for others. Contact:Sail Training Association of Japan, 2F,I-14-4 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 1 13.

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ASIA MAGAZINE 17