As we travelled down from Gloucestershire most people felt excited and nervous. When we got off the mini bus, we had a stroll around Portsmouth and got food, bear in mind there was 10 of us and we were not all friends/knew each other.

On our first sailing trip we sailed from Portsmouth to Cowes, there wasn’t much wind so it was a nice way to get us used to being on the water. It took us around two hours to get to Cowes. We finished the day with amazing fajita wraps and then went off to bed.

On day two we got out of bed at around 07:30 and ate bacon rolls for breakfast. After that, we set sail to Poole, which was around six hours away (playing music the whole time), there wasn’t much wind to put the sails up, so we weren’t going very fast.

When we got to Poole, we harboured up and cleaned the boat while waiting for Nick (skipper) to go and get fish and chips. Shortly after that we went to the shops, showered and got ourselves into bed.

On day three, we got out of bed a lot earlier to catch the tides. Elle woke us up with some music. Then we got ready, sorted the boat out and had breakfast on the go!

After breakfast, we set sail at around 08:00 to catch the tides. On our way, we put the sails up as a team and all had a go behind the wheel. The wind was really strong, so we got to have a taste of proper sailing, which was much fun!

When we arrived at Cowes, we cooked spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread, which was fantastic. We then got taught about buoys and night watch so we were prepared for our night sail on Thursday.

Nick and I had shared memories yesterday on deck in the sunshine, of the Spitfire and the meaning it had to me of my late father. As we prepared to hoist the head sails I heard a shout from Nick to look up. Above two Spitfires were approaching. With some overexcited and energetic waving they came over quite low, a very special and a little overwhelming memory made even more special when we saw them again as we were docking in Cowes. (Miss Jevons, Staff Member)