Outward Bound New Zealand (OBNZ) is a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

providing

experiential education Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is not interchangeable with experiential ...

in New Zealand. Its stated goal is to help participants reach their potential "through challenge in the outdoors". In total, more than fifty thousand students have attended the school. Like other Outward Bound International member organisations, its educational philosophy is derived from the work of German educator

Kurt Hahn Kurt Matthias Robert Martin Hahn (5 June 1886, Berlin – 14 December 1974, Hermannsberg) was a German educator. He was decisive in founding, among other organizations and initiatives, Stiftung Louisenlund, Schule Schloss Salem, Gordonstoun, ...

. Its motto is a favourite saying of his, ''"plus est en vous"'' ("there is more in you"). The school is located in

Anakiwa Anakiwa is a coastal residential village in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It sits at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranui, one of the Marlborough Sounds, west of Picton and east of Havelock. At the 2018 census, the village ...

. Its governing body, Outward Bound Trust New Zealand, operates from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

History

The Anakiwa school was founded in 1962 by Christchurch lawyer Hamish Thomas. Thomas had previously visited English

Outward Bound Outward Bound (OB) is an international network of outdoor education organizations that was founded in the United Kingdom by Lawrence Holt and Kurt Hahn in 1941. Today there are organizations, called schools, in over 35 countries which are att ...

schools, and conducted a trial course on Auckland's

Motutapu Island Motutapu Island (otherwise known as ''Motutapu'') is a island in the Hauraki Gulf to the northeast of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. The island is part of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. Its full name, rarely used, is ''Te Motutapu a Taikeh ...

(in 1961). His daughter remarked that he "gave up a successful criminal law practice and a very comfortable existence to do something he truly believed in". A guest house (originally built by the Beauchamp family, who had farmed Anakiwa since 1863) was purchased and restored using £100,000 in donated funds. The school was opened by then Governor-General of New Zealand Lord Cobham, who landed in the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori m ...

for the occasion on board an

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeal ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

accompanied by Prime Minister

Keith Holyoake Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, (; 11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 ...

and Leader of the Opposition

Walter Nash Sir Walter Nash (12 February 1882 – 4 June 1968) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 27th prime minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960. He is noted for his long period of political service, havin ...

. It was named "The Cobham Outward Bound School". The school was intended for young men originally, who attended for a period of 16 days. A regimented program awaited them. Days would begin with a 4:30 AM wake up, a cross-country run, then into the sea and off to breakfast. Outward Bound began accepting female students in October 1973.

Curriculum

Parts of the curriculum are deliberately obscured from prospective students. In fact, participants are often kept in the dark about what they will be doing next even while on the course. However, most courses share activities drawn from a common pool and modified by the capabilities of the participant group: physical training,

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

tramping Tramping may refer to: Travel *Hiking *Trekking *Tramping in New Zealand, a style of backpacking or hiking * Czech tramping, a Czech outdoors pastime Places * Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380, Saskatchewan, Canada ** Tramping Lake, Sas ...

, and a solo experience. On some courses a

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

or shorter distance run over part of the

Queen Charlotte Track The Queen Charlotte Track is a long New Zealand walking track between Queen Charlotte Sound and Kenepuru Sound in the Marlborough Sounds. It extends from Meretoto / Ship Cove in the north to Anakiwa in the south. For most parts, the track le ...

is completed at the end. The outdoor activities are not undertaken with the goal of becoming an expert kayaker, sailor or mountaineer. Rather, they are "the classroom" in which students gain in self-knowledge, confidence, and learn to work together. Students are organised into "watches" of up to 14, a group they will remain assigned to for the duration of their course. Here is used in the nautical sense, "a group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty". Each watch is named for an iconic figure in New Zealand history; examples include Hillary,

Kupe Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is g ...

Batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

, and Cobham. Watches sleep together in a "watch house", eat together in the dining hall, and spend most of their time together.

Courses

Broadly, Outward Bound divides course offerings into five categories based on their intended participants: teens, young adults, adults, professionals, and people with disabilities. The 'classic' Outward Bound experience is generally considered to be the 21 day course, offered for teens, young adults, and adults (aged 27 and up). Shorter courses are available, typically lasting five to eight days. These offer a more 'concentrated' version of the curriculum, with some being modified or targeted to particular participants. The organisation also offers to work with participant groups on custom-designed courses tailored to their needs.

Facilities and equipment

The school maintains three 10 metre cutters, small sailing vessels capable of carrying all 14 students in a watch and up to three staff. The cutters have been part of the school since its inception, and were also called ''

whaleboats A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

''. The cutters were based on an old naval design, comparable to the '' James Caird'' used to cross part of the southern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

. The original

clinker built Clinker built (also known as lapstrake) is a method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank. The techniq ...

cutters were replaced with a slightly modified fibreglass design in 2012. The school's quarterly newsletter is named ''The Cutter''. A small fleet of three powered launches are maintained to complement the cutters. One, ''Matakana'', was originally constructed as a lifeboat for '' Wahine''. ''Wahine'' sank before the lifeboat came into service, and subsequently the Union Steam Ship Company donated her to Outward Bound. Staff added an engine, deck and wheelhouse to convert it into a launch, and she remained in service nearly 50 years before the old fleet were replaced with newer Tortuga designs.

Safety

As with many

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and out ...

activities, Outward Bound participants agree to undertake an increased level of risk when attending their course. The organisation's terms and conditions state in part, "Although we have procedures in place to minimise risk, none of these risks can be completely eliminated. When undertaking any activity, you will be briefed on the risks and how to manage them." They further note that no life-changing injuries have occurred at the school in the past decade. Perhaps inevitably, students are occasionally injured during activities. Because some activities take place in remote areas of forest and terrain inaccessible to ground vehicles, helicopters are sometimes used to airlift injured participants to treatment at nearby Wairau Hospital. The need to evacuate students in this way is unusual, and they may be able to rejoin their course following assessment. In 2011 the Outward Bound cutter ''Matahorua'' was struck by ''Delphinus'', a 12.9 metre catamaran owned by a Picton

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

company. The twelve students on board the cutter were forced into the water after the impact sheared off the cutter's bow. They were later treated for minor injuries. ''Delphinus captain was convicted of failing to keep a proper lookout and was ordered to pay reparation. In its entire history, five participants have died during an Outward Bound course. However, no deaths have occurred at the school since 1993 when journalist Suzanne Consedine fell while tramping with her group. These accidents have informed Outward Bound instructor training and curriculum, following a global outdoor education trend away from acceptance of occasional accidental loss of life.

Darryl: An Outward Bound Story

In 2017 New Zealand actor and writer Millen Baird produced and starred in ''Darryl: An Outward Bound Story'', a comedic take on the experience of attending Outward Bound. Baird, an OBNZ alumnus, filmed the series on an 8-day "Discovery" course, which all the New Zealand cast participated in. Speaking of his first Outward Bound experience, Baird remarked, "It kind of set off some sort of light inside me and I took a lot away from it." Baird and John Argall won the award for Best Script: Comedy at the New Zealand Television Awards in 2017.

References

{{reflist Outward Bound Education in the Marlborough Region Non-profit organisations based in New Zealand Marlborough Sounds