A “thrilling” experience was had by Brookeborough woman Shireen Greene who took part in the 2015 Tall Ships Races.

Sailing from Belfast to Ålesund, Norway on board the Gulden Leeuw (translated into Golden Lion), Shireen was one of 40 trainees who came from Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Egypt, England and across Ireland.

First spotting the opportunity on facebook, Shireen had an interview last December and was one of the 90 from Northern Ireland to be chosen for the “unforgettable” experience.

“The race officially started on July 6 outside Coleraine but we got there early on July 11. The route we took was past the Outer Herbrides and Shetland Islands and then across the North Sea to Ålesund in Norway,” she tells The Impartial Reporter.

Life was “good craic” on board the 1937 Dutch vessel which was originally used for marine biology research, before being redesigned in 2010 for use in sail training.

“I met people from all over the world and genuinely made friends for life,” Shireen comments.

“All of the trainee crew were split into four groups and we had to do four hour watches, so when one group was doing watch the rest could sleep, or be cleaning or playing games,” she explains.

“The watches consisted of doing navigation, steering the ship, being a deck hand, for example, being on hand to change the position of the sails if the wind changed and also doing look out outside for other ships.

“We then had ‘to do watch’ straight afterwards which was cooking or cleaning for a further four hours.” The eight hour shifts were from 4am-8am then 8am-12noon; 12 noon-4pm then 4pm-8pm and so-on.

“We had happy hour on the ship every evening at 7pm which meant everybody had to clean the entire ship,” Shireen explains.

Overseen by Dutch captain Arjen Toller, there were 40 trainees who all slept in the same quarters below deck in bunks.

Shireen competed in the first leg of the race, from Belfast to Ålesund, along with 35 other tall ships, with the Fryderyk Chopin coming first. Seventy-two ships competed in the second leg of the race from Norway to Denmark and the Sorlandet came first.

“I would love to apply next year again,” states Shireen, who describes how the ship “anchored in Hjorundfjord which was by a small village called Øye, it was a beautiful place. I admired the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, before heading on to Ålesund”.

Shireen states: “I would definitely do it again. Although it was tough and I didn’t really know what to expect, it was a unique adventure of a lifetime which I would recommend to anyone of any age.”