Durban girl sails into a future on the ocean

IF YOU fail, fail forward – and if you want to sail, sail the world. That’s the attitude Durban Matric pupil Nqobile Khuzwayo, 19, has adopted.

Yesterday, she flew to Dakar in Senegal to join an all-women crew on the yacht Maiden to sail from the West Coast of Africa to Cape Town.

Khuzwayo, a day skipper from Mayville, was the first in her family to board a plane. The teen left Cape Town to pursue a career in sailing, after completing her final exam in maritime economics on Friday.

The Simon’s Town pupil was exposed to a future on the ocean when she joined the Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation and started sailing every Tuesday.

Her love of sailing saw her applying to study at the Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simon’s Town when she was in Grade 9 and was awarded a bursary.

“When I was in Grade 9 my life orientation teacher showed me a picture of a boat with people on it. I saw joy on their faces, and I fell in love with the ocean.

“This opportunity taught me communication skills, and trained me in following instructions. The more I sailed the more I loved it.

“I have a relationship with the

Your situation does not define who you are. You can achieve anything if you do your best, focus and fight.

NQOBILE KHUZWAYO

Matric pupil

ocean. It has been a long journey and I am able to take a boat out into the ocean without any help. I want young women to know that things may seem impossible but if you fail – you must fail forward.

“Your situation does not define who you are. You can achieve anything if you do your best, focus and fight,” said Khuzwayo.

The Maiden is skippered by Dame Tracy Edwards and was sailed by the first all-women crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989/ 1990, winning two of the toughest legs on the course and finishing second overall.

Now, after a major refurbishment, Maiden’s new mission was around raising awareness on the 130 million girls worldwide who were unable to get an education.

This will be done by interacting with communities in each port, fundraising and supporting community programmes worldwide all to enable girls to get into an education stream and remain there through their teenage years.