Day 4 

The day started with scrambled eggs and bacon on toast for breakfast. We left East Cowes and motored out into the Solent. There were strong winds (force 7, gusting gale force 8), so the boat leant at around 30°, added to the fact that there was lots of spray due to choppier seas than before. Our lunches, sandwiches, were eaten sliding across the deck. We only used the mainsail and the Yankee, but dropped the Yankee at intervals. We moored in Osborne bay for the evening, but will continue later on through the night.

3:00 am, Friday…

We’ve just finished putting away everything. We left at about 10 and navigated by ourselves via various buoys’, to North Sturbridge and then Outer Spit Bouy by sail and then motored into Gun Wharf Quays. It was a smooth journey, even if both the navigators fell asleep.

By Matthew

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Day 3

One word: Wet, wet, wet!

Today we left the port of Warsash, it had been raining in the morning as the forecast had predicted, with gale forces of up to eight. We had delicious bacon for breakfast.

We sailed to Southampton, where we saw a huge cruise ship called Royal Princess. We then turned around and sailed back into the Solent, where the weather took a turn for the worse; the rain left us feeling like drowned rats. After practising a man overboard situation, we turned towards Cowes and docked in East Cowes for the night. Shoes are still soaking from the rain; however after a night of drying they’re still wet. 

By Rory G, Ben & Nicholas

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Day 2

We sailed from Cowes into the Solent where we hoisted the mainsail and the Yankee. We were scared!!! The weather got worse and very foggy. At the end of the day we followed the huge oil tanker “Clipper Moon” into Southampton, then stayed the night in Warsash.

There was a sandy beach nearby. For dinner we had chicken curry and it was nice. 

By Reece, Michael & James

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Day 1

Went down to Portsmouth by train, got onto the yacht, were given a tour of the boat and then travelled to West Cowes by motor. We also made dinner (chicken fajitas). One of the highlights of the day was Michael Jones overloading on hot sauce!

 By Charlie Johnson & Matthew Lewis

Day 4

Yesterday morning we began our journey in East Cowes. The weather was moderate with clouded skies and waves reaching about half a metre. We put all three sails up; the main sail, the staysail and the Yankee sail. We departed pontoon B where we were moored. Then we sailed up and down the Solent with winds reaching up to Gale Force 8. The boat was heeling at nearly 140 degrees and waves were crashing over the boat soaking everything in their path including the crew!

But we had hot jacket potatoes to warm us all up. At around 1500 hours we anchored off Osborne House at a water depth of about 3 metres. We packed away our sails and retreated to the saloon area and went over the man over board kit. Then we all had some spaghetti bolognese for supper prepared by the port watch. After supper we planned a route to get back to Portsmouth avoiding two imaginary mine fields created by our first mate for a night sail. Port watch navigated us halfway and starboard took over successfully taking us all the way back to Portsmouth although there was a bit of traffic and we had to change course resulting in us arriving in Portsmouth at 0200 hours.

By Edward Langley, Ubaid Mussa & James Meridith of Dulwich Prep London

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Day 3

We woke up at 7:30 and half of us prepared breakfast for the rest; we had bacon and scrambled egg sandwiches, which was delicious. We went onto deck and were met by rain and wind; it was force 5 most of the day. We put up the storm sail and prepared to leaveCowes. We sailed in a circle and then had a race with the other yacht, challenger 2, and we won!

We had a lunch break of cheese and ham baguettes. Then we put more sail area up so we could go faster which was tough going. Afterwards we had a man-over-board drill with a fender and we rescued it! After a hard day we docked inEast Cowes and dried off. We had fish and chips for supper, which was very tasty. Then we showered at the dockside and played cards until we had to write this. We will go to sleep at 10:30.

Charlie Bielby & Aashish Misra

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Day 2

We were woken up an hour early in the morning which led to anger in many of us. However we had to wake up that early because we wanted to get a lot of sailing into the day. We began by pulling up the foresail and fenders-a very tiring, but entertaining job- and made our way out of Cowes. While on the ship we came across fairly stormy weather which caused to turn sharply. While waiting for the weather to calm down we were taught lots of different knots, which was very confusing.

Eventually we got used to it (but some still struggle with a round turn two-half hitches). For lunch we had pasties and beans which were tasty. A few of us were rocked to sleep by the waves. We came into Southampton at 4:00 and port watch made a lamb curry which was tasty and filling. We then went to sleep at 10:00.00.

George Finlay & Christopher Hughes

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Day 1 

We left school at 9:45 and walked to Gypsy Hill train station. We then had two train changes before we arrived in Portsmouth Harbour. We were split up into two groups of nine and were assigned boats. We then put away our bags and set off into the Solent without any sails, and we motored the way to Cowes.

When we got to Cowes after a sunny and relaxing journey, we docked the two boats together and started to cook dinner. For dinner we had chicken fajitas cooked by Ubaid, which were extremely tasty. We then to Sainsbury’s and bought lots of sweets, then came back and had a very nice warm shower. We then brushed our teeth and returned to the boats for a very nice sleep in our hammocks, (for some of us).

Madoc Start & Ashley Austin

Day 1

To day was a great day because we have come to sailing trip, for one week break from collage. We had a great time in here and the staff are very friendly. I we all had a great time in here. We have sailing the boat from Portsmouth herbal to Cowes and it was nice tripe to cows.

We thank every one for inviting as back for the sailing trip. It was great to meet new people and learn some new skills an also to bee confidence. Once again thank you every one for inviting as back. It was a great day to start the week.

Thank you from

Md Kibria Khan & Jack Gunning

Day 2

We woke up to a sunny yet cloudy day. It started with a chilly morning however this did not stop a few brave risers from playing a fun but one sided game of monopoly. After a tasty breakfast of eggs and crumpets we began to clean and scrub the boat in order to have a healthy environment to pursue the morning’s nautical activities. This meant that the crew had to split up into groups to tackle separate tasks. Such as washing the heads (toilets), washing up the cutlery and dishes and mopping the floors and deck.

Then after a refreshing drink and biscuits we set sail on our voyage back to Portsmouth. On the return journey we learnt how to tack and jibe, as well as each taking a turn at the wheel. After returning to Portsmouth we gave the ship one last scrub before packing our bags returning home for a well earned rest.

By Challenger 1

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Day 1

When we arrived at our yacht, the Challenger 1 which was moored under the Spinnaker Tower, we were given a warm welcome by the crew. We went through a safety demonstration and were told how most of the parts of the boat worked.

We left Portsmouth at about 6:30 with boys stationed holding protective fenders and others untied the mooring lines. Once we were clear of the quay, the fenders were brought in and then we were free to enjoy the view for a while. However shortly after, the call of ‘All hands on deck!’ went out as we were going to put the front-most sail up. Some boys were required to haul the ropes and others were used to guide the sail. While this was going on, the two Oliver’s made refreshments for the whole crew.

After watching the sea go by for some time, we were treated to a fantastic dinner of spaghetti bolognese. After we had all finished a couple of boys were put on washing up duty. An hour later, we were moored up in Hamble, where we bagged the sail. Following on from this we got ready to go to bed as it was already 10:00 and we had an early start the next morning.

By Challenger 1

Day 1

This morning we set sail from Portsmouth and the weather has been beautiful we have been using the winches to get the sails up we have been feeding the line through the runners and also cleaned up the down below we have made sure all equipment on the boat was successfully stored in the right places to avoid health and safety accidents we have had such a good day we went through the brief of the life jackets and also the brief of what we are doing tomorrow we had pukka pies for dinner which were really nice and for tea we had reggae wraps which were cooked beautifly…..

By Kaylam Megson, 16