There was a sharp onboard timing of 16:00hrs. Fortunately this is not military timing, so the voyage crew arrived within the hours of between 14;00rs and 16:40hrs.

From the completion of everybody’s arrival the skipper, first mate, and two volunteers introduced themselves: or maybe attempted to introduce themselves within a small space of time. The voyage crew proceeded to be put on the spot to introduce themselves with an interesting fact and why they chose to live with strangers for 11 nights exploring the Bay of Biscay from Portsmouth harbour. With introductions concluded we were put into work attaching the yankee, … (OTHER SAIL I CAN’T REMEMBER), and the main sail. For a yacht this required using the muscles of 16- to 24-year-olds to lift them from the ??aft hatch (within the belly of ship). By this time one of the volunteers had started cooking dinner and required assistance. It was down to the loser of a ‘rock, paper, scissors duel between three people. The loser then grated 700g of cheese to feed 15 mouths.

Since this was the crews evening on the ship, we had a lot of downtime to socialise and get to know the basics of locating the ‘heads’ (toilets) and choosing which bunk to sleep on. There is minimal privacy on a boat this size, so you must be inventive on how to change without being seen. Some creations included changing flat in the bunk with a sleeping bag for cover. This required risking your limbs bruising on the sides of the ship. Otherwise, there was a convenient wall between the watertight shutters. Both worked well, but I feel like you are here for how the trip is going and not how one should change clothes on a ship. Females and males were divided onto port and starboard side which is helpful when keeping some sort of privacy.

So, each voyager found some oileys in the wet room that roughly fitted them. These oileys consisted of the waterproof trousers that a lot of fishermen are seen wearing, but a little bit more warn over time. Then came the hostess demonstration of how to put on a life jacket; how not to pull the red leaver, that is hanging out the bottom left of the life jacket; and how the thing must always be warn above deck, even when you are about to be seasick. The yacht stayed in Portsmouth harbour the first night so no need for those awful night watches that ruin your sleeping routine. Crew were allowed to leave the ship to use the mariners’ showers and toilet for a number two. A curfew of 22:00 allowed for quiet time for people to sleep early as they please.

For the first night of sleeping in a not bed like hammock creation the crew’s ability to have a good night sleep varied. For most the new environment put their senses on high alert despite the marina and yacht itself being very safe. Not forgetting all the bell like noises from other ships which can keep someone who is used to sleeping in silence up for hours.

I almost forgot to mention the request for a 05:00hrs departure from harbour to cross the English Channel. This meant having all the kit prepped the night before to sleep in as long as was possible. To set off there are a lot of stays to remove from the side of the yacht that need packed away. There is a reason the kit list requires voyage crew to take seasickness medication before the voyage as was found out from a few of the voyage crew on this fine wet day of channel crossing. As the advice holds, one who feels nauseous should not stay below deck and look at the horizon above deck. In the fresh air. This is to allow the balancing system in your ears to orientate with what the eyes are seeing. A few people were caught short from this advice and one voyager proceeded to vomit into a bowel, since this was the nearest catching object to stop vomit spraying on all the furniture. A couple of other voyagers sought comfort of lying flat above board to mitigate the feeling of nausea and they stayed there for most of the day till we arrived at Cherbourg harbour.

The channel crossing weather was worse than expected making some very wet voyagers. This meant a lot of rain making people on deck sodden through, even with their oileys on the water found its way to the dry clothes underneath. By now the watches had started with Port side sitting in the worst of the weather first. For Starboard watch they had the pleasure of cooking dinner on a boat at 20° angle using a gas stove and oven using metal pots and pans. For somebody who has never used a gas oven it can create some problems. In this instance, the alarm went off and would not turn off despite efforts from the first mate, volunteer and voyage crew attempting to manually switch it off. Finally, the screeching noise subsided and the attempt of making edible food continued. There were two challenges faced when cooking food on a yacht. Firstly, there is the knowing of quantities for how much is enough for 15 people. Then there is the skill of cooking with very hot equipment while being thrown across the galley from the movements of the yacht.

Navigating through the channel meant crossing a shipping lane, which can be a little stressful when large cargo ships could potentially cross paths. But having a knowledgeable skipper and using the willingness of the crew the sails were altered smoothly so nothing crazy bad happened. Being closer to the French coast the weather had formed a mist, reduced visibility, while still raining heavy causing a bit of concentration from the skipper to help his crew navigate the harbour safely. For this to happen, the yacht was reverse parked into a floating platform. The time of arrival was 22:00 (ship time), 23:00 French time.

After a generally more comfortable sleep in our hammock beds there was a wake up at 08:00 to navigate the yacht from the floating platform to a more solid position that was attached to land. Since we had arrived in France there was a need to check in with our passports in France before the crew were free to explore. Fortunately, there was time to shower and look more presentable to customs using the marina facilities. In comparison to Portsmouth marina showers where the shower privacy door was a third the size of a normal door, Cherbourg marina had clean smelling facilities with a shower curtain, between the changing area and shower to prevent your clothes from getting wet. After customs were happy with everybody’s passports the crew were free to roam the first French town. Cherbourg town was accessible within a 5-minute walk with pliantly of restaurants to access the French cuisine. Most locals spoke English so there was not language barrier but if you wanted to practice your French, they were very friendly by responding in French. During this down time the laundrette was available with payable washing detergent inside, most of the instructions were in French but the pictures became a god send for translation.

By 14:00 the crew were back onboard the Challenger prepping for departure while the tide was in. The weather compared to yesterday was comparatively opposite with clear skies and warm weather, worth the application of suncream and short sleave tops. Preparation for departure included the crews first happy hour including the cleaning of the heads. Once the yacht was ship shape the release of the mooring lines proceeded to release the boat to its new destination. Only 35 hours away setting the crew up for their first overnight watches. For watches to function port side started at 20:00 sitting on deck watching for any other ships or random objects in the ocean which could threaten the course of the boat. This concludes the end of the day from Port watch until 00:00 when Starboard watch is due to change watches.​

Starboard watch had the lovely pleasure of being woken up for the graveyard shift where the sun does not rise. Normally though the moon has risen by this time and there is ambient light available to make the sea visible. Unfortunately, without any sun the heat goes too leaving you cold in the open ocean with no land coverage. This night was particularly cold since the night was clear meaning extra layers are needed to make the watch barrable. This continued while starboard swapped with port watch. By 5am you could see the light creeping from the east before the sun was visible a couple of hours later.

By 09:00 the sun was up and L’Orient harbour was visible in the distance. Some port watch stayed up to watch the arrival into harbour and some attempted for an hour nap before helping stow the main sail. It is normally possible from this point that we have a port location for the boat to harbour at but there was a slight miscommunication between the harbour team. This miscommunication involved not having a berth available. From the skipper talking with harbour comms and harbour comms sending a speed boat to look for a berth we were fortunate to have a space available. However, the fun does not stop at the harbour miscommunicating about berth availability. The berth space was five ships down the platform and with moving boats manoeuvring in and out of the harbour. Initially attempted reversing out with our 22-meter yacht but after many failed attempts at reversing into the middle of the harbour, the French pilot suggested moving all the boats to free a berth closer to the exit. Once moored, we had the afternoon free to explore the harbour near L’Orient. The weather was unbelievably hot suggesting minimal reason for showering because you would become sweaty in under an hour again. Most of the voyage crew did shower then explored the beach coast near L’Orient by walking down the beach where lots of French people were enjoying their Sunday on the beach. A few people took the chance to swim in the ocean while others attempted to find some ice cream.

On the second day of being in L’Orient, the voyage crew had more of the day to expand on their exploring by going to the marina museum, borrowing a bike to cycle the French roads, or find a French McDonald’s. From my experience of day five, cycling the French roads was a mirror to English roads as the cars drive on the right so you must be alert of traffic on the left side, rather than the right. Compared to Cherbourg there was little to discover in the fact of town shops but plenty of beaches to sunbath while trying not to burn in 28°C heat, no wind.

By now we had adjusted to the French time being 1 hour ahead, but the boat still had English time making the curfews slightly difficult to follow. For instance, the Skipper had offered to cook dinner to let everyone have more onshore time but when the phone is reading French time and the voyage crew are talking English time, the numbers become a little confusing. Nevertheless, nobody was late and some of us assisted the skipper in creating an edible, hot meal, for a hot day.

We were back on night watches since setting off from harbour at 19:00. Instead of four hour watches the watch leaders had made an executive decision to commence with three-hour watches. This is great for people who are tired and struggle to stay up past their bedtime for a few hours. But on the flip side, for those on the opposite watch it is very difficult to wake up after about two hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation is not very good when trying to look out at a black sea for any lobster pots, other boats, or seaweed. Some crew managed this sleep deprivation by talking about all the children programmes they used to watch as a child. It was from here they wanted to describe the programmes to their fellow crew mates who were very tired too. An example programme discussed in great length during this night watch was about “In the night garden” from CBeebies. It may be easier to save your own ears from the description of each character and how they would live in a cave polishing rocks all day. Fortunately, the other watch relieved the current watch to sleep by 6am. In the summer you can expect early sunrises at 05:00 and late sunsets and late sunsets at roughly 23:00. This means shorter dark, cold nights and more time to sunbath with a breeze coming from the speed of the boat. So, by 5am near the channel island the rising sun was full of autumn colours and by 08:00 it was warm enough for shorts and vest. Warm weather reaching 29°C does require a regular appliance of suncream to prevent t-shirt tans or burning. Nevertheless, as everyone on this voyage was an adult they chose suncream to be optional. This led to some of the voyage crew turning into the colour of a red lobster while those who applied suncream remained their untanned skin colour.

Arriving at Alderney after a long night of three-hour night watches we arrived at Alderney harbour. Here there were mooring buoys available to park the boat so no need for halliards and fenders. Here we needed to get a water taxi ashore so spent the night on the boat where everyone was bantering and having fun washing up. In the evening, we played a card game where each person had three cards and had to pass one card to the left and gain a card form the players right. The aim was to have three of a kind. Once one person got three of a kind, they raced their hand forward for a spoon to which everybody else had to race for the remainder spoons until one person was without one because there was one spoon less than players playing. As bland as the game sounds, the pace pf passing and then eight hands racing forward to retrieve a spoon was carnage. Players were screaming and tackling other players for the last spoon. Apart from the game voyagers had the night off which meant another full night of undisturbed sleep which, by now, is like receiving an all paid for holiday in the tropics.

Today we got the water taxi nice and early so that we could spend most of the day ashore. Most of us hired bikes for a few hours, whilst the others explored the town by foot. We had drinks at this nice café nearby, and some people had brunch whilst there. Entering the afternoon, the majority of us went to the beach near the harbour to swim in the sea and to relax. After a week of really warm weather, we were expecting the water to be warmer than it was. It became a really short swim and a few chattering teeth before we gradually made our way back to the top of the beach. Here is where the fun really started. One voyager had bought an inflatable dolphin e which turned out to be too small to keep most of the voyage crew afloat. Instead, we buried the dolphin in the sand. Alongside the dolphin one of the guys wanted to be buried in sand from head to toe so five of us got to work completely submerging him, minus the head, with sand. It is possible the mound of sand atop was a meter high and starting to landslide into his face. In a fun attempt the buried voyager was given the chance to uncover himself from this large mound of sand, which he managed in less than six seconds. Most of us then had showers back at the harbour, before heading to the pontoon to catch the water taxi back to our boat. While starboard watch were cooking dinner, which was pasta with tomato sauce and chicken, port watch were allowed to jump off the side of the boat into the bay water. After eating, Port watch were cleaning up and washing up, whilst Starboard were preparing the boat for departure. This time, we were properly sailing tonight with a four-hour watch pattern.​

Firstly, we crossed the channel, and this was my first time doing this. A lot of people were seasick which I found funny because I wasn’t. However, I may have taken a few too many seasickness medications which made me drowsy for a couple of days. The weather was bad on the first day however this made everyday since more enjoyable and more appreciative as the days of sailing continued. When we got to a random French town, called Cherbourg, I think. I want to be imaginative with my food as we were in France, so I ventured to the closest McDonalds. I got this meal deal that tasted better than the McDonalds from England. But still not the best food I have tasted. After leaving Cherbourg harbour, we proceeded to take a 30-hour sailing trip to the next destination. In this time, I slept, wept. From my perspective I thought the watches weren’t that bad. This is because I got to sleep loads through the day. In Lorient I had some beach fun and enjoyed getting a good tan in hot weather. We had the afternoon off on the first day, so I look the chance to try French food (more like their homemade pizza). Finally, on the day pf departure to our third destination we spent the morning cleaning the boat. I thought this felt like hell and I never want to clean a boat again. I tried to clean the toilets, but this was not the satisfactory level of the bosun, so I tried again. ​

So far, these past few days have been AMAZING! I got to explore Lorient, which included spending time on the beach. I may have got people to bury me in the sand and make me look like a mermaid. I was then covered in sand, but that was easily fixed by swimming in the sea. It was very refreshing in the sea as it was hot on the beach. I also had an ice cream from a nice ice cream shop on the seafront, and I’m pleased to say that it was delicious! We then got pizza in the evening, followed by hanging out in the bar and possibly vibing to some funky music. The following day, we did some chores on the boat, which included a clean through of the boat and deck, stock taking of supplies and food on board and general maintenance on the boat. I changed a couple of light bulbs, which kept me busy as I like that sort of thing. After that, we were let loose once again to do what we wanted to do. I ended up walking about 30 minutes to a shop to do a good deed for Seren, who needed some double cream (or whatever the French equivalent was) for a dessert. Whilst I was there, I bought myself an ice cream again, which I think I deserved, being that it was hot outside and walking 30 minutes there and then back. To round everything off, I’ve loved spending time exploring, and especially hanging out with the voyage crew, who couldn’t be any nicer and supportive towards me. That’s me done for now – PEACE OUT!

Again, what a brilliant time sailing to and exploring Brest, France. Once we moored up ad but the boat to bed, we were let loose to wonder around and discover the streets in Brest. The group that I went exploring with went past a nice patisserie/bakery to grab a cake or whatever they wanted to get to eat. We then walked up to a memorial at the top of the hill, followed by walking 10 minutes to Domino’s Pizza as Logon was desperate for a Pizza! He made a head start, while we were still exploring, but we then caught up with him as he had to wait for it to open. Nevertheless, he seemed to enjoy it. On the second day, myself, Gordon, and Lauren were tasked with getting some food shopping from the shop nearby, which was about 20 minutes each way. We managed to get what we needed, though it was hard walking back in the heat with somewhat heavy shopping bags in our hands. All of us then needed to wonder to the police station to visit customs, so that we could have our passports stamped prior to leaving France. It was then discovered that on the boat, we were out of cleaning cloths. Fear not, Toby to the rescue! As the other shop didn’t have anything suitable, I ventured to another one about 20 minutes the other direction to buy some more cleaning cloths. I’m happy to say that I managed to succeed in this operation, as well as buying some more Fanta cans for Jasper! Don’t worry, he plans to buy me some snacks at Alderney to reimburse me. With that said, we are now currently sailing to Alderney having left Brest at around 4ish. We have been on a 3 hour watch pattern so that we take it in turns to sleep and be up on deck. I’m afraid that’s all I have for now, but I’ll be back with an update in a couple of days. SEE YA! 

The first day started at 5am. After setting the sails we began crossing the channel with a favourable breeze. It was choppy and following my breakfast I was very ill. I missed most of my first channel crossing to seasickness though the weather turned foul anyway, with lunch also coming up again not long after. I slept for as much of the day as I could and only appeared after mooring in Cherbourg was complete. The next morning, we checked in and moved the boat. We explored the town, getting breakfast at McDonalds and arrived back on board ready to depart around 4pm. We then sailed for 40hours straight from Cherbourg to Lorient in the Bay of Biscay. The 4-hour watches were pretty uneventful other than somehow allowing my watch (Cameron, Logan, Lauren, Katy and Toby) to see sunrise and sunset both days. We were tailed for most of the voyage by a pod of common dolphins which was amazing. We also caught a glimpse of a seal on the second day. I was on deck majority of the time now as I had overcome the sickness. I’ve learnt what every rope does and how to helm and are now often left to do long stints in complete control of the boat. On the second night we had spotted a 134m cargo ship on AIS and had to take avoiding action. On the first day in Lorient, we headed to the beach where we had savoury crepes before some of us swam and other had a drink at the bar. The second day involved a full clean of the ship; I was on deck duty with Jasper which was probably not a bad job considering the blistering heat. After the deck was scrubbed, we ticked off another box on the competent crewing list by racing the tender around the marina. Me and Thomas won and shortly after we were joined by Gordon for a cycle to the submarine museum. It was an interesting museum though the 2-hour bike hire time severely limited us, as did the fact that Brittany seems to grind to a halt on Mondays. I was fascinated by the fact that the submarine pens, built by the Nazis was the penultimate place to return to allied control in the entirety of France. When we got back, we got ready to leave for Brest and set of at sunset. As I steered by the stars, and shooting ones appeared too, I am incredibly satisfied with the journey so far. Everyone gets along well and while the wind hasn’t been great the sailing has still been amazing so far. Hopefully it continues in a similar fashion! 

After we left Lorient we then motor sailed back up to Brest where we had a day and a half to explore the town. I would describe the town as modern abandoned. There are many buildings that have beautiful architecture but have been left to decompose. However, many of the buildings have paintings of maritime jobs such as fisherman and sailors. During are stay there me, Matthew and Jasper wondered around Brest in order to find a supermarket for Jasper to buy MORE sausages from. Once the sausages and other goodies were acquired, we then wondered around the town to see what else the quaint town had to offer. We found a small shop there that had some goodies that where great as presents to bring back to England for family and friends. Jim was kind enough to take dinner into his own hands and cooked up a storm which everyone demolished including Cameron with his beige version, however, a stray chilly flake found it’s way into his pasta and he was out of action for a good hour. (chugging water and milk).  

The second day in Brest we had a ship tidy up and then had to venture off to the border patrol to be checked out of France. But when we got there the station was closed for lunch and we had to trek ALL the way back to the boat where we had lunch before travelling back to the station again. our trio grew as Seren and Katie joined us in our escapades through Brest. We went on a mission to find ice cream and a good place to relax for the afternoon.  

The Biscay voyage has been an incredible adventure. I’ve been to places I had never heard of and seen landscapes and wildlife that have left me in awe of the beauty of our natural world. I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge and experience on this trip, not only in terms of sailing but also in terms of connecting with people. Collaborating with others in a confined space is difficult especially when working with strangers and I feel that over my time here this has taught me a lot about myself. The journey has been a physical and mental challenge and has definitely tested our resilience. The crew have been amazing, especially our watch leader, Lee, who has supported Starboard watch without question or hesitation through every calm and challenging moment. TSYT has changed me for the better and I am going to walk away from this voyage a more knowledgeable, more empathetic and more confident person. ​