William Gardner isn't old enough to drive a motorcycle, but that doesn't matter for the Spirit of Bermuda's journey to Charleston.

"I had a tour when it was built and I had this instant desire to sail her," said the 15-year-old.

While William has several years' experience sailing smaller boats, this is going to be his first ocean crossing.

"I wanted to do an ocean crossing. When this rolled around, I thought it would be a fun idea," he said. "It's going to be interesting living next to a group of strangers, but hopefully by the end of the trip we'll all be friends.

"It'll be a good experience living that close to people for that long."

Despite the fact that he's never been involved in an ocean crossing, William said that he's not at all nervous about the trip, although there are parts of it which are less attractive than others.

"I'm not really worried. I like boats, I like the ocean, but I'm not particularly pleased about getting watch waking up in the middle of the night, putting on a raincoat and dragging myself on deck," he said.

The teenager considered applying to join the Spirit of South Carolina, where one of his friends is assigned, but in the end, the Spirit of Bermuda won out.

"I know someone on the Spirit of Charleston, but nobody on the Spirit of Bermuda. On the other hand, Bermuda has electric wenches very, very nice."

William still isn't sure what he wants to do once he graduates from high school, but he said he has ideas.

"It'd be nice to come back and be on the Spirit," he said. "I'd love to do this more."