Once crippled by obesity, 14-year-old Kjeld Steede is now fighting fit.

At the age of ten and on the brink of diabetes, he weighed nearly 200 pounds and suffered from dangerously high blood pressure.

But a 2006 trip to Dockyard aboard the Bermuda Sloop Foundation's newly-launched

Spirit of Bermuda fired Kjeld's passion for sailing.

And a 2008 Bermuda Diabetic Association trip aboard the schooner proved the turning point in the long journey of reclaiming his health.

Kjeld says doctors now say: “Because of my weight loss, I have put an extra 50 to 60 years on me.”

Back in shape again, the CedarBridge S1 student told

The Royal Gazette: “The Diabetes voyage triggered it. It changed my life. That's where my health really started to turn around, where I started really seeing it happen.

“My blood pressure's under control, my weight is now exactly where I need it not over, not under. I'm on the average. I've come a long way, from nearly having a stroke or having a heart attack. I was 180 to 190 pounds as a kid, and my heaviest was 196. So it feels good to be where I am.”

For the Diabetic Association voyage, twelve boys all at risk of developing Type II Diabetes were required to spend three days and two nights aboard the

Spirit exploring Bermuda waters. As well as exercise and education, the trip furnished Kjeld with an understanding of nutrition vital for getting in shape.

“On the Diabetes Association voyage they advertised for obese males in the Island and took them out around the Island. They gave me basic information about diabetes: eating right, testing your sugar, and little jokes to control your eating. Every time someone goes on the boat they always say they want fried chicken as soon as they get off, ice cream or something like that. They always tell you those things back on shore have closed down.”

By 2009, when he returned to the

Spirit of Bermuda for one of its middle school learning expeditions: “I was 13, going to Whitney Institute, and getting right down to normal weight. You go out five days on those trips. We sailed from Hamilton, docked out at Castle Harbour sailed up North Shore and docked in the Great Sound and then came back.

“I was on the mizzen watch. You learn about Bermuda, the parts of the ship, how to make knots it's educational. In public schools it's part of your PE grade. She doesn't dock on land; she stays out in the water, so we spent nights out on Great Sound, Castle Harbour and St. George's harbour.”

Last July, the

Spirit of Bermuda retraced the historic course taken by the

Patience and

Deliverance from Bermuda to Virginia's Jamestown settlement 400 years ago.

Joining the team for its return to the Island, Kjeld said:

“Sailing across the Atlantic was totally different from any other voyage. You have more responsibility. Out there it's genuinely a life and death situation, because we were going at 12 to 16 knots. If you fall off and the boat's going 16 knots, the chances of being found out there are slim. The boat's going fast and the waves are huge. The boat spent a whole day and a night tilted, the waves were so high.

“The stars were very bright at night. I remember when we were closing in on Bermuda, still about 500 miles off, and we could see right up into the whole milky way. And once we got closer to Bermuda the water calmed. But a lot of people got seasick out there. I was lucky; I didn't get it personally, but a lot of my watch mates did.

“By then my health was excellent.”

Captain Simon Colley, director of operations for the Foundation, said: “The fact that Kjeld took part in that tough summer voyage says a lot. It's been inspiring that he's overcome such considerable personal challenges to get out on the water. I'm proud to have him on board and working his way up.”

The Smith's boy says combining exercise with diet and nutrition was his key to pulling back from a dangerous weight.

Now a couple of months into working with the Sloop Foundation's chartered trip programme, he said his main passion of the moment is the Youth Parliament.

“It's a replica of Bermuda's real Parliament down to a T, and it's heavily about debate. This is my third year involved, and I really want to take it further. As Youth Minister of Education, I want the Youth Parliament to be out in the community and known Island-wide.”

Going from possible diabetes or organ failure to a normal 14-year-old's weight has been a tough lesson

Kjeld said: “It's still hard to put down a bottle of Coca Cola and pick up a bottle of water.”

Getting healthy again “was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And it's still hard to this day.”