We arrived in Portsmouth at lunch time, travelling to Cowes. For some of us this was the first time sailing, but all enjoyed.

After we got kitted out and had safety briefings etc… we hit the open seas. We got the sail up and raised and ended up raising two of the 3 sails and went on our way.

We learnt how to use the winches and sweat (pulling ropes to rais sails). We also cooked dinner consisting of fajitas. We also tacked which was changed the directions of the sails to go as fast as possible, we also ate our dinner and did a debrief then wrote this while watching the sunset

First, we cast off, quite a while before the other boats. As we sailed off, we promptly raised the main sail.

After allot of sweating and ropes, the sail went up! Whilst we were performing this incredible manoeuvre, the other challengers attempted the same, after motoring some distance past us.

Upon noticing their speed, we got straight to work raising the other sails in order to swiftly overtake them, a task which they failed to complete until several hours later. We know it’s not a competition, but if it was, we’d have won and they’d have been disqualified. Besides, as long as it gives us motivation, I personally think it’s fine to think of it as a competition.

Once all our sails were up things slowed down a lot as we rather smoothly transferred into open waters. We each had a go at helming the ship on our way out and beyond. Unfortunately, after we entered the open seas, we were struck with several impromptu cases of seasickness. Despite this we ploughed through the waves, even through a tidal race!

As we neared the marina, we made the decision to flake the main sail. Through the slightly unstable conditions, we sent Aron up the main mast regardless, where he pulled down the main sail into a spot where we could flake it. Then we all congregated on the port side, from where we began flaking the sail.

After an arduous process, we were left with the most beautiful main sail flake the oceans have ever seen. With all our sails down, we proudly advanced into the marina, being the second to do so, but with by far the best flake.

We started the day by waking up in Weymouth marina. The day followed with various activities, starting with climbing the mast which involved a family hoisting their mum who was our one of our leaders.

We were than aloud to walk around Weymouth with the crew from other boats and spent A LOT of money on ice cream.

After lunch was the beach Olympics! This included a knot tying competition, tug of war and a human bowline, to which we won absolutely everything and smoked all other boats 😊 Well nearly!

We then spent about 30 mins having fun at the beach with the other crew. we then proceeded to our boats and raced on our dingy boats, and we won again being the best at everything of course, well nearly! We ended the day by making dinner which was a chicken tika masala. This was a fun ending to the day. Then we sat down and wrote this blog.

After a decisively early start, we readied the sails and prepared breakfast in our respective watches.

After flocking to the galley, we promptly ate our Weetabix before heading up on deck to sail off into the sunrise. The other 3 challengers left the marina before us; however, we didn’t let a bad start stop us. After which we promptly raised the main sail, stay sail and the Yankee. Due to our prompt preparations, we were able to stay ahead of the other boats for a while.

As we sailed past the coastline, bacon baps were being prepared to finish breakfast, as we didn’t have time to prepare them because of the early start. Once they were prepared and ready, we ate these before clearing Lulworth range and entering the tidal race. Once we cleared the tidal race, things were quite peaceful from there.

We sat around, practiced our knots, took helm of the boat, and altogether smoothly glided toward our destination. After further time, we ate our lunch, which turned out to be frankly brilliant (halloumi and falafel wraps)! We did our fair share of tacks, lowered the main sail, and readied the fenders and mooring lines as we prepared to dock in Lymington.

After docking we went to purchase ice cream, before exploring the nearby town. Once complete, we came back to the boat, prepared and ate dinner, took part in team building activities, laughing with each other, then we went off to bed ahead of our early (0530) start, so we wouldn’t get stuck in the mud in Lymington.

Looking forward to seeing what happens tomorrow