Written by Jacob and Kai (Port watch)

We woke up later than normal because we weren’t going to school today, yay! We got to the office to meet the minibus. Some got there very early, so early that Rachel hadn’t arrived with the minibus yet. Sharon reminded us to take our sea sickness tablets, as she doesn’t want to see us throwing up.

We were late leaving as Penny had forgotten her pillow so her dad had to go off and buy her one from Morrisons. The drive down was uneventful, Brodie and l (Jacob) did chat but also had a nice sleep.

We arrived in Portsmouth and met some of the crew in the car park. Sharon was annoyed that Rachel had lied to her, as she hadn’t told her that Monkey was the skipper, but she was very pleased that he is with us and he hasn’t sailed with us for the last couple of years.

We loaded up the trolleys and walked down to the marina, to board Challenger 1. We got to the boat and met the mate (Josh) and watch leaders (Joel and Simone). We introduced ourselves with our favourite hobbies, pets and what we are looking forward to doing on the voyage.

We got separated into our watches, learning where everything goes down below and how to make sure we are safe on the deck. Once we had got our lifejackets adjusted, we got into positions to slip the lines and we motored out of Gunwharf Quays with Isaac at the helm, everyone then got to work putting the lines and fenders away. We had to wait for the cruise ship to leave before we could go.

Over the next 2 hours we motor sailed to Cowes, on the way we practiced tying different knots, we saw a coastguard helicopter and we hanked on two sails (staysail and Yankee 2). We then had to redo them as we had managed to hank some on wrong.

Before we arrived in Cowes, Port watch started to prepare dinner (chicken fajitas) with Starboard watch running the lines and putting the fenders out on the port side. After we moored, we sorted out the deck and then dinner was ready, most people had seconds, some had thirds, and a couple of people had fourths.

Currently starboard watch is washing up, and some people are off to have an evening shower. We are looking forward to a game of Uno No Mercy later.

Written by Hope and Isaac (Starboard watch)

After a really good nights sleep (Isaac) and a not so good one (Hope – because Sharon and Rachel were snoring) we got up at 8am and Starboard watch sorted out shore power so we could have crumpets for breakfast using the toaster.

Then we (starboard) got the boat ready for the day and port watch cleaned up breakfast and then cleaned through the boat, Elsie and Callie got the joy of cleaning the heads. Once we were all done with the cleaning we went for a walk around Cowes, everyone enjoyed a trip to Sainsburys, Kai bought some lovely chocolate brownies that he shared with me (Hope). After that there wasn’t much more to see in Cowes.

The weather had changed from a nice calm morning to a cold wind and clouds, so we got into our dungarees and coats, with some layer’s underneath. We left the marina and headed out towards Gurnard point to get the main sail up, Aiden, Isaac and l (Hope) were in the snake pit, supervising the hoist. It looked hard work sweating the sails up. Then we put up the Yankee 2 and Staysail. We motor sailed out towards the needles, gybing down the channel. It was then lunch time, but as the waves and wind got larger it became harder to cook. We didn’t like Rachel’s helming at that point as we had to boil water for the hot dogs – it nearly went everywhere. Sharon managed to stay downstairs to help with the cooking and didn’t feel sick so she feels like a winner. A couple of people felt a bit wibbly wobbly, but no one threw up. So they are all winners.

Whilst we were sailing, we managed to get to 12 knots of speed, which was really fast. We sat with our legs over the side for a while, but then I got a bit choppier and people started getting splashed. When we got to Old Harry’s Rocks at the entrance to Poole harbour we had to do some tacking. Monkey made us do three in quick succession, its hard work. Josh then threw the dan buoy overboard as a MOB practice, so we had to take down the staysail and Yankee sails quickly, get the engine started, turn the boat to go back and get all the bits ready to get the casualty out the water, all while pointing at where it was (it was really hard on my arm and the sun on the water made it hard to see). But we succeeded in rescuing our casualty.

Before we headed into Poole harbour, we had to take the main down and put it away, we did this by flaking it onto the boom, it took ages as we didn’t know what we were doing. When we got into Poole we moored up and put some sails away and got new ones out for tomorrow as there is supposed to be more wind, so we need smaller ones. After showers we got to wander along the quay and look at all the bikes for biker night. We got some snacks from Tesco before we had sausage and chips for dinner, the chip shop chips were really tasty. We have just been introduced to Spoons, it’s a stressful card game with chocolate mouse and spoons, both Isacc and l got knocked out early on. But there was Brodie and Rachel left in from YAW, but Monkey, Josh and Joel from Tall Ships in the last 5. With a lot of pressure and encouragement from Sharon, Rachel was successful and she is very proud to take the spoon back to Wiltshire. Off to bed now.

Written by Elsie and Callie (Port Watch)

Our breakfast pancakes were cooked by Brodie and Jacob, the size and thickness were variable meaning some were significantly thinner than others. After we cleared up, we got the lines ready so we could climb the mast. We had been looking forward to this since Rachel told us about it months ago. Everyone had a go, some going higher than others, 2 people got to the top, but everyone else got to the first spreader or higher. Elsie got to the top and enjoyed hanging out there for a while looking at the view.

We had a very quick wander around Poole, there wasn’t much to see but it was nice to go have a look. Back on the boat we had wraps for lunch, Monkey had gone rogue from the shopping list we had given him and bought chicken goujons, it was a better idea that what we had decided on. Even though they took ages to cook.

We left just after we had cleaned up lunch, the weather in the harbour was much calmer than it was outside, so as we were sitting with our legs over the side we got splashed more and more before we finally gave up and sat in the cockpit. Then it was time to get the main sail up, so we all got sent to the front to help with hoisting it, but this is when the waves started crashing over the bow. We weren’t all needed for the hoist, so l got wet unnecessarily! It was reminiscent of our time doing the titanic pose on the bow the night before, but that time we weren’t battling the sea. Callie, Elsie and Penny really enjoyed the experience though and there were screams of joy regularly coming from them. We then put the storm staysail (its orange!) and Yankee 3 up and then we off sailing towards the Isle of Wight. We set up some long tacks to get us to the needles, meaning we could enjoy the ups and downs of the waves. When we got past the needles and into the Solent the waves and wind died down a bit, but we now had to do short tacks, Josh made us wind in the staysail for ages and ages and ages, only then to get us to take it all off. Scarlett and Aiden spent a lot of time at the helm today, really enjoying it when it was bobbling around. We found out that Jacob can sleep pretty much anywhere, proving it many times, he especially liked the high side on the long tack. Brodie enjoyed being up at the front and he had a little sleep in the snake pit.

We then needed to take the sails before we could go into Yarmouth, so we carried on and sailed past it, much to everyone’s disgust. But as we were a bit early, we would have had to wait till 8pm anyway for the tide to be high enough. Once they were down and stowed away, we got in and moored up and it became evident someone had forgotten their sunscreen – Scarlett looked like a cherry tomato! We had pasta and cheese for dinner and then headed to bed, but we were promised a lie in tomorrow.

Written by Scarlett and Aiden (Starboard Watch)

We got a lovely long lie in, as we came in late last night but also as we have a night navigation exercise tonight so will be up late. Hope cooked us some amazing bacon rolls for breakfast that we demolished. We are getting better at cooking and cleaning up and it doesn’t take us as long as it did on Monday.

We spent the morning climbing the spinnaker pole out over the pontoon, everyone had a go and most people got to the end, striking poses for Rachel who had her big camera. Elsie, Penny and l (Scarlett) helped Joel pump up the dingy and then we all had a go at rowing it around the marina, but we all made it back.

Lunch took ages to cook as the oven is tiny and there were 16 baguettes we needed to cook. But they were very good so we didn’t mind too much. We then got to have a wander around Yarmouth, its tiny, much smaller than Poole and they only have like two good shops. Sharon was very excited to go to the fancy coffee shop and have a proper coffee. Jacob got some paracord and taught us all to make bracelets. We then had a talk about tides, rules of the road, lights at night, before we split into our watches and prepared for the night navigation. Each watch had to plot a course between 5 buoys and work out a passage plan that they would use later.

Dinner was cooked, eaten and cleaned up quickly – a very good spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. So that we could get dressed in all our layers ready to leave Yarmouth at 8pm. We slipped lines at 8.02pm and headed out into the Solent.

The sun set and Starboard watch started by navigating to Kevin, there isn’t a buoy called Kevin, we renamed it. We started to get cold so Monkey started a game of Challenge assault course, on our knees, we had to clip on and navigate from the stern to the bow and back the other side going over and under any obstacles. There were lines, sails and fenders which in the dark was really quite hard. When we got back to the cockpit, we were warmer, but to keep us well fed we had a knot competition with strawberry laces, once we had tied the knot, we could eat the lace and get another one for the next knot. I don’t know who won, but we got to eat sweets so l don’t mind.

We finally made it into Cowes at nearly midnight, we helped moor the boat and then got ourselves into bed for The Gruffalo bedtime story read by the mate, Josh. It was good, but we felt he could have put more enthusiasm into the characters. The adults were all laughing in the background while eating cheese, so much so, we had to tell them to be quiet!