Challenger 2 – Tile Cross Academy – XF240319
Young people from Tile Cross Academy in Birmingham have joined us aboard Challenger 2 for a 5-day voyage. See their diary updates below.
Day 1
Tuesday 19 March
So on day one, we left Tile Cross Academy. It was a 3 hours and 30 minute journey to Portsmouth and we had arrived all in one piece. We collected our luggage and walked through a shopping centre to a marina. Before we left Portsmouth we had a lifejacket brief so we don’t drown, fall in and end up doing a tumble off the boat. When everything was amazing we set off to get diesel so we don’t get stranded in the middle of the ocean. We left the marina at 2 o’clock and arrived at The Isle of Wight around half 4. We parked up safely and one group went to have a shower and the other group started to crack on with dinner. We had tortellini with garlic bread and it was scrumptious. The group that had cooked then went for showers whilst the other group washed and dried up from dinner.
Some funny things happened. The head (the toilet) we all found funny when we had to pump the toilets to flush them. Another funny thing that happened was when Abi and Amy had to sweat the halyard and they fell on their bottoms and we nearly wet ourselves by dying of laughter.
We were very surprised to get a clean and hot shower at Cowes. Everywhere was tidy, there was no mess anywhere and it was very hygienic. I would recommend.
Day 2
Wednesday 20 March
So on day two, we woke up around 7:20 and after we got ready we did a safety brief when we were tied up alongside at Cowes. Then we practised some knots and we had a sweet as a reward for being able to do a round turn and 2 half hitches and a clove hitch knot then we were also shown the OXO knot for tying a rope to a cleat. We practised a man overboard drill in case someone ends up doing a rolly polly off the boat. We practised driving the boat and there wasn’t enough wind for us to sail very speedy. We did a man overboard drill where we sent someone over the side of the boat going down to retrieve a life float (Bob was safely tied on). We then arrived in Yarmouth and everyone had a steamy shower and we are about to have sausages and mash for supper. A funny thing that happened was when someone turned their cabin bunk upside down trying to find their phone #dramatic.
