Today we started the day 8 young crew members, two of whom are now no longer with us.

We then had our departure postponed due to the selfish vessels of the sea BLOCKED our passage. When we finally pushed off from the pontoon, we had a short reprieve from the choppy water before entering the Solent where the waves began to crash over the top of the Bow.

With spray from the sea reaching over our heads we perilously made our way towards Cowes. We finally arrived at Cowes!

We are now down to 5. Before departure we had a very enthusiastic watch who found it very important to demonstrate his climbing skills up the back stay (for his personal pride we would like to add that he climbed the spinnaker pole in 13 very short seconds, well done Flynn) by the end of his mission on dropping and retrieving the ensign, it was flown very and proud. Nancy on the other hand knew how to tie an ensign and shall be trusted to put it up from now on.

Deck prep was completed with the highest standards led by Cristine who guided the youth with confidence.  We went from Poole harbour to Lymington in the short space of 6 hours during this we had one seasick crew member, and 7 crazy people who climbed up the spinnaker pole.

Another key teaching moment from today was Paul who taught everyone many knots such as dragon bowline, clove hitch and rolling hitch, in a way they would understand. On our journey into the harbour, we saw the key principles of what NOT to do when mooring, for example crashing into a stationary boat with an agitated driver (beautifully demonstrated by a small motor cruiser and a green sailing boat).

The youth crew have all been instilled with seamanship skills and instinctively ran to their action stations when we saw the approach of Sophies steering and the pontoon we were to be mooring on (many fenders were placed with incredible speed).

Under the threat of being given laxatives the ships management was handled successfully with no fatalities and quick action. Led by Sophie willing volunteers Harry and Toby demonstrated what two people with amazing chemistry call face to face man overboard rescue drill (on the pontoon). In a desperate attempt to pursue a career in drama Euan declared to be saved by Harry and so he was.

The youth crew experienced their youth playing in a park where they ran, climbed, played and spun, frantically. However, upon their side quest back to the challenger 4 their navigation skills were highly questionable due to the multiple failed attempts on walking off the pontoon into the water.

Upon writing this the Challenger 4 is filled with laughter, no hope in the amount of brain cells aboard and lemon tea.

Commencing the 30^th of October and its been stared with Tequila (the song). Breakfast was prepared by watch one, also known as the necessary narwhals, and the breakfast consisted of scrambled egg with the freshest bread we could find in the storage units.

Following a scrumptious breakfast, adrenaline fuelled us to complete rigging on the upper deck to prepare us for our last voyage , this was done in the hastiest manor.

The watch leaders, skipper and first mate encouraged the youth crew to ascend to the top of the mast, with strong efforts from the people on board, 6 brave people went up and down, with no fatalities included.

Teamwork has never been so vital in an activity where humans are being placed 96ft above ground level, luckily we all come together with a special bond and very strong ropes.

As we left Lymington Paul was in control of a 72ft, 52 tonne sailing vessels with a limited crew, Christine guided the youth with grace and care, so we left the harbour smoothly and ahead of schedule. Then the games began, not only did we have the smell of brownies in the air, we also had the smell of murderous intent. Boat murder (DUN DUN DUNNN).

Each crew member was assigned a name, place and object, this caused a lot of pre-emptive thinking and will forever make people scared to pick up an apple, uno reverse card and a spoon. Once again we would like to credit watch leader Flynn for breaking yet another record with an incredible 41.91 seconds up the main mast, crew were left very proud but at the cost of having very tired arms. Toby was put in charge of putting up the yankee sail and you wouldn’t believe it but by the end of it the yankee sail was in fact up.

This week has been powered by the enthusiasm, royal accents and words of affirmation from our beloved skipper, Sophie, in which without her this would be a very sad boat with no macarena or hide and seek.

Today was also a day where we missed our former parties, there was no sick and it was not red but Harry was a successful helmsman and enjoyed it with raging passion. After our first death (which we claim it was in the boat murder game and not real life) Tilly contributed massively with deck preparations and plotting the death of others.

Now Tilly may sound like a straightforward name but the expressions on her face do not match, this made Sophie suspicious the whole day, until Tilly was killed.

We write this without the intention of boosting Euans ego, unfortunately everything we say will in fact make him smug, so here we go.

Euan is the biggest double agent in the world, instead of assisting a murder he committed one and FAILED, deceptive yet stopped by a technicality. Nancy was role model to us, she taught us how to violently grab spoons and systematically handle all challenges that come our way, even if it means accepting death in the form of a pencil.

We will leave the ship tomorrow with a sense of pride, mental growth and sadness as we leave behind our water home and our family with it. This will be a trip we will never forget and are already planning of begging “The office” as Sophie addresses it in a suspicious and yet ominous tone, to let our exact crew travel together once again.

This is the last evening blog until tomorrow and we may not have much to report but I can promise the toilet will be cleaned spotlessly as a result.