BYUH students reflect on how physical readiness, mental strength and spiritual grounding prepared them to become voyagers aboard Iosepa
The shift from being a student spending most of their time on campus to being a voyager who spends days in the middle of the ocean is not easy, and therefore requires physical, mental and spiritual preparation to become masters of the sea, said BYUH students. Wade Utai, a student crewmember of Iosepa in charge of documentation, said, “Being out in the middle of the ocean without any way back to shore can be a scary thing.”
Shaping the body
For Kaleb James Martin, a junior from California majoring in business management with an emphasis on marketing, preparing to become a voyager doesn’t start when one is chosen, he shared. He said it begins with how one lives and responds to life itself. “My preparation is based on things that have already happened in the past,” he said as he emphasized his lifestyle of regularly being in the water.
Swimming and surfing are big parts of Martin’s everyday life, he said, and so being a voyager wasn’t an impossible transition. “There wasn’t anything intentional that I had to do because I was usually in the water and was always physically active,” he said. Martin shared even his work as a landscaper contributed to his preparation, as it always kept him in shape. His preparation paid off when his main role on Iosepa was to keep watch and make sure the boat was sailing well, he said.
Utai, a sophomore from Utah majoring in intercultural peacebuilding and anthropology and cultural sustainability, said before someone passes as a voyager, they must first pass examinations and tests. “You must pass a swimming test and have a quick visit with a doctor to ensure you’re in good physical condition,” he shared.
Utai said he did normal workouts such as walking and mainly being comfortable in the ocean as exercises to prepare himself. “If someone were to fall overboard, they would need to remain as calm as they could so I would go to the ocean and become comfortable being in an area where I could not touch the ground,” he shared.
For the next voyagers of Iosepa, Martin recommended they be accustomed to being physically active even before the sail. “You end up burning a lot of calories, so work yourself up,” he said. A voyager is constantly shifting their weight because of the movement of the boat, he shared, and one must have more than enough energy to maintain that balance and keep themselves upright. Martin said a preparing voyager must know what their body needs in terms of food and water.
Sharpening the mind
“Being out in the ocean can be scary. It’s important to take care of your mental wellness because while you are out in the ocean, there is no turning back,” Utai shared. He said he prepared himself mentally by understanding the risks of voyaging and attending the training sessions they had about sailing Iosepa. “Every week, they held work days where you could volunteer at the canoe to learn and help maintain it,” Martin shared. He said these work days taught him how to tie knots and how rigs worked.
“It is mentally difficult,” said Martin. He shared being a voyager requires a person to be fully prepared to accept different changes and unsure conditions, from winds to waves. One never knows what’s going to happen, he said, which is why confidence is important.
A voyager’s confidence in their own abilities is not enough, Martin shared. “While I was learning about the canoe and how to sail in those work days, I was also growing my faith in the captain and the crew members,” he said. By learning with them and learning from them in practice sails and similar exercises, he shared he felt even more excited to go on the voyage. In one of the training sessions, Utai said their crew had to collectively think of a way to safely open a sail because of an issue with one of the lines. “These training sessions helped me acknowledge that my crew is there to strengthen and support me.”
Martin said the best way to mentally prepare for the voyage is to understand all you can about voyaging. “Mental preparation is very much tied to physical preparation,” he said, as he referred to learning how to become a voyager directly means practicing on the water. “Self-awareness is the key to voyaging and life itself,” Utai shared. He said once someone becomes a voyager, they must be ready to completely commit themselves to the voyage and believe that the destination is worth the difficulty.
Strengthening the spirit
“Voyaging is taught all throughout the scriptures, as Heavenly Father commands His children to go and find new places,” Martin shared. He said spiritual preparation is just as important as mental and physical preparation for a voyager. If a voyager isn’t spiritually ready, he shared, they might miss out on things they can learn from Heavenly Father.
Martin said daily prayer was an important part of his preparation. “I asked Heavenly Father if being part of the voyage was the right thing to do,” he shared. He said going to the temple once a week, partaking of the sacrament and reading the scriptures wasn’t necessarily there solely for the voyage, but it elevated the experience nonetheless.
“I asked Heavenly Father to teach me spiritual lessons while on the voyage and because of that, the voyage became more of a spiritual journey,” Utai shared. Throughout the semester, Utai earnestly prayed for the Spirit to expand his knowledge on voyaging and how he could use his experience to grow
his testimony.
Martin said the next voyagers who sail on Iosepa must expect to learn important truths from Heavenly Father as they sail. Utai said he thought of the ancient prophets who included Heavenly Father in their journeys. “Nephi and his family were blessed as they crossed the ocean because of Nephi’s spiritual preparation,” he shared.