TAMPA, Fla. — When Emil Jahrsten is out on the open sea listening only to the wind, he says he feels free. It’s why he’s loved sailing his whole life.

“It’s so calm when you’re out there and it’s only the horizon around you,” Jahrsten said. “I think that’s lovely.”

What You Need To Know

  • The T/S Gunilla, a school ship operated by the Öckerö sailing high school in western Sweden, docked in Tampa

  • The sailing high school has regularly stopped in Tampa for more than 10 years

  • Students work on the ship while also taking classes
  • The school takes five trips a year, with each one lasting around two months

Jahrsten goes to a high school based in Sweden, but his classroom is a ship. The sailing high school recently docked alongside the American Victory Ship in Tampa, as students got to experience life in America for 10 days.

It was the ship’s first visit to Tampa since 2019, but it has regularly stopped there for more than 10 years.

“When they come pierside, dockside to us, I think it’s just a great cultural exchange,” said Bill Kuzmick, president of the American Victory Ship and Museum. “They get to see what goes on in America, and particularly in Tampa, and a lot of Tampa gets to go see what they’re all about, too, so it’s a pretty neat exchange.”

While docked in Tampa, the students from Sweden went to a Lightning game, met with local high school students and visited a radio station.

“I like coming to the USA. It’s amazing to experience this country,” Jahrsten said. “I imagined when I came here at first that it would really be like kind of similar to Sweden, but it’s actually really different. People are a lot more social."

On an average day on board the T/S Gunilla, students spend hours working on the ship and three hours in class, focused on social studies. While the 44 students rotate duties aboard the ship, they live below deck and share a small room with two to three people.

“It’s kind of small but you fit, you get used to it,” Jahrsten said. “You really get to know people very well. You learn how to connect and handle different types of people.”

Students also get to know the staff on the Gunilla, including bosun Martin Tommingas who is on board with his wife and 8-month-old son.

“One of the special things with living and working on board a ship is that you’re actually off-grid and you’re actually maintaining your own society,” Tommingas said. “We do everything on board and I think it’s really boosting your self-esteem that we can make our entire world spin.”

Up in the bridge, Captain Johannes de Lind van Wijngaarden steers the ship. 

”We will go to strange, new places and they will see how people live in other countries," he said.

The school takes five trips a year, with each one lasting around two months. Earlier this year, the Gunilla traveled to Iceland, Ireland, France, Netherlands and the Canary Islands. After Tampa, the ship is headed for Cuba.

Captain Johannes also guides students as they balance schoolwork and life on board the Gunilla.

“Kids leave their parents’ house, off they go to the Army and the Army will sort of finish the education that they do, and we do something similar, but I hope in a slightly more friendly way.”

It’s Jahrsten’s last year of high school. He said while it’s sometimes hard being so far away from his family, he wanted the opportunity to explore the world and be out on his own.

“We kind of become a family here,” Jahrsten said. “Of course you miss them sometimes, but I think it’s a great way to grow and to become your own person.”

When Jahrsten looks back to this time in his life years down the line, he said he’ll remember the people he shared it with and all the places around the world they saw together. But for now, he’ll just focus on enjoying where the wind takes him next.