Challenger 1 – South Coast Exploration and Adventure – age 12 to 15
We have a group of young people aged 12 to 15 joining us for a residential voyage along the south coast this week… the perfect way to spend the summer holidays!
The young person who makes the biggest improvement over the course of this four-night Voyage of Exploration will be awarded the Eddie Dunhill cup. Keep an eye on our social media to find out who!
Check out the blog below to see how the week is going so far.
Day 1
Monday 21
Cowes
It was a steady departure out of Portsmouth, unfortunately running on the engine as the haul of traffic was coming towards us for the lunchtime arrivals. We headed out of the bay and then made a u–turn towards Cowes.
We steadily voyaged along, and our Skipper, Bushy made the call to put up the Yankee 2 sail, unlike Challenger 3 who cheated and kept motoring as we all made our way towards tonight’s destination.
Highlights:
- One of the sailor’s on board who will not be named (definitely not Byron) had sprayed sun cream into his mouth.
- Tyler broke the toilet brush shortly after departing Portsmouth (precisely one hour after as stated by the suspect)
- As the day comes to an end, Sam is preparing the half-cooked sausages after chaotically defrosting them and everyone is beginning to settle down for the evening.
By Henry and the boys.
Day 2
Tuesday 22
Heading for Yarmouth
We left Cowes at around 11:00 and set off to Lymington .
However, the tide was against us so we made very little progress at first but after doing a lot of tacks and pushing through, we made it past the current and anchored down in the middle of nowhere!
Highlights:
- Harry fell and tripped over at least five times
- Amber reached a top speed of 8.6 knots
- Tyler broke the toilet again (new record!)
- Successful cooking for a change
By Harry, Amber and Beth.
Day 3
Wednesday 23
The day started with a gentle breeze as we were anchored up for the night just off Yarmouth.
Everyone was up by 7:30am for the early morning start as we were heading off to Weymouth for the next stop on our voyage. One of the favorite parts of the crew’s day was the fact that we were allowed to climb the spinnaker pole and dangle over the water.
The voyage was slow – we waddled along the Solent as we were using the motor for the duration of today. This was due to the very low winds, meaning the sails were unavailable for the primary use of sailing.
Highlights of the day:
- Going up the spinnaker pole
- Everyone getting a chance to helm challenger 1
- Exploring Weymouth
By Port Watch (Tyler, Louis, Henry, Mariah, Rachel and Sam)
