The training ship Spirit of Bermuda has returned successfully from another expedition, after taking a lashing during rough seas last month.

A group of girl students from the Whitney Institute came ashore yesterday after five days on the sloop, a few weeks after a crew of Whitney boys had their expedition cut short.

Tremayne Bean, a crewman lightly injured when a squall hit the vessel, was back at work as the Spirit docked at Albuoy’s Point.

“It’s an extra special day because on board the sloop is the award that we just won for the Bermuda Sloop Foundation as the best sail training organisation in the world for 2015,” said David Goodwin, the chairman of the foundation.

The prize was bestowed at the Sail Training International Conference in Quebec.

Mr Goodwin said the programme was one of the only ones worldwide that offered an expedition at sea as a “rite of passage for every middle school for free”.

John Wadson, the chairman of the Sail Training Association of Bermuda, said it was important to recognise that the sailing was made possible through donations from the community as well as government grants.

The sailing programme is able to measure its outcomes through the logs kept by the young students before and after they sail, Mr Goodwin added.

It comes as the organisation plans a host of event to mark its tenth anniversary with the Spirit in action.