We got onto the minibus and headed to Portsmouth with our bags, when we arrived we walked round the beautiful Gunwharf Quays shopping centre for a solid 40 minutes before heading to the racing yacht.

When we arrived on the boat, we got given a brief overview on what we were going to be doing in the five days ahead and were assigned into our two watches, Port and Starboard.

After almost roughly two hours, we have finally set sail towards the Isle of Wight, on the way there we were given different tasks, depending which watch we were in. Port focused on the stern while Starboard pulled up the sail.

We also practiced the man overboard procedure and were taught on what to do if someone falls into the sea. Some people did the pointing, others shouted and some waited to rescue the person in the water.

When we finally arrived on the Isle of Wight, Starboard went up to clean the deck while Port stayed below, cooking some delicious fajitas provided by the head chef, David and his team. When we ate it, people marvelled over the amazing taste and it was devoured in a matter of seconds.

After that, the crew treated themselves to some showers and some free time, before heading to bed for the night.

We woke up from our first night sleep on hammocks in our sleeping bags at around 07:40 and some of us struggled to wake up (we won’t mention names). We then had breakfast prepared by Starboard watch, following the schedule given to us. We made bacon rolls and there was cereal for those that didn’t want bacon. For our beverages we had tea/coffee or squash/water.

After breakfast, we prepared ourselves for the ‘tough adventures’ that laid ahead of us. We were then given a quick briefing about our plans today and we were given jobs to fulfil before setting sail from Cowes (Isle of Wight) towards Yarmouth.

Some of us were given the role to release the fenders and to protect the bow of the boat. Then once we set off safely using the help of the fenders, we learnt the difference between tacking and gybing, then we performed the actions to the best of our abilities (I think we did a good job to be fair). Some people also had special jobs like winching and others even got the chance to steer at the helm.

In the afternoon, once we lowered our sails and docked our ship, we had an hour to explore the new town. We got to go to a café and they had pizza, chilli con carne and even lasagna.

After our hour was over and we were back on the boat, some people got to climb the mast with the view of a beautiful sunset. Mike made a delicious curry for dinner while that was going on, then we showered and went to bed. 😊

The day started out with some more mast climbing and good teamwork from the crew to get them lifted up. Afterwards, the crew set sail and managed to set up the Mainsail in a record time of 09:59 minutes, shattering the time we set the day prior. With the sails set, the crew set sail for Pooles Bay. The wind picked up, so we were able to sail.

Once in the open seas, the wind picked up and the ship for the first time on the trip was running on pure wind power and was going faster than ever before. It was exciting to eat lunch while the boat was leaned up on an angle due to the strong winds blowing through the three powerful sails. We also witnessed a Royal Marines training mission where they parachuted out of a plane down to water. We had a fun time experiencing the life of being below deck when the boat was tilted and realised how hard it was to get around.

After arriving at the marina at Pooles Bay, we went for a walk around town and had some food before returning to the ship to have the Skipper’s surprise, fish and chips.

Afterwards, we played a game of spoons, a game where if you lost you had to wolf down chocolate pudding like a dog. After the game, we had a calm game of UNO before having showers and heading to bed.