The first part of our adventure was right after the bus picked us up at Peterhead. Here we were, Ashley, Paul, Caitlin, Rhianna, Reinis and Rob… all excited for meeting the rest of the gang and then the wheels on the bus were not going round and round. The brakes had stuck, and we were unsure if we would have to change the coach due to the amount of squealing.

When we finally got underway and picked up Amy along the way we headed off to get the rest of the scallywags who were waiting at Aberdeen Foyer in Marywell Street. Off we drove to Dundee and got treated to a cheeky McDonalds… this was the start of us confusing one of our coaches. Frappes, Lattes, Frappuccino, Toffee lattes, pancakes with syrup, with sausages and so on. What confused Rob was one of the orders (which were banging) had ‘add sauce bro’ on the ticket. We also found out that Reggi has hollow legs as he managed to eat 4 hash browns + his breakfast.

We then got back in the van and drove for a while and then eventually arrived at Babcock Shipyard in Rosyth. At first, we went to the wrong gate but then short drive round to the right one and they let us in.  Sarah and Kirsty met us, and we got to listen all about the lots of things that they do, got some PPE on which was funny as some didn’t fit. We got a full tour of the site (which was pretty dope) shown how frigates are made and put together which was a bit like LEGO on massive scale. We got to view them up on the gantry in the build yard which was high up and pretty cool. We saw the engines that had just been put in as well. We also got to see the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier which was HUGE. Its 284 meters long cost a few billion pounds to make! That’s a LOT of hash browns!

After we had done the tour, we drove for AGES and got stuck in slow moving traffic while heading to Greenock to board the ship. We went on board but were held up once again this time by Ashley as she accidentally slipped and sprained her ankle… the good news is the boat is OK haha. At the time it was just lowkey inconvenient.

We got on the boat and went through all the safety stuff, main thing was learning how to flush the toilets properly, and we would say we’ve got that down to a T. Anyhow, we set sail and Caitlin was first to steer the ship out of the harbour which was cool. We sailed for a wee while and ended up in the Holy Loch where we moored up for the night. We also made ourselves into teams so Team Funky and Team Wavy were created. We had our first meal on board that was banging spaghetti bolognaise, compliments to the chef. Some of us then went for showers but they turned out to be ice cold. Amy braced it, Ashley did not. Reggie didn’t even go there.

Anyway, first night on the boat and some of us did not sleep for ages as there was a lot of snoring, speaking and someone being sick. It was a little grim but nothing we can’t handle, and our day ended with us all sleeping as it had been a long day for sure, the rest of the week will probably follow suit. Learned loads, had fun, wee bit tired but so far enjoying it, hell yea!

Team Funky – Amy, Ashleigh, Rhianna, Paul, and Reggie

Breakfast at 7:30 AM, Team Funky setup breakfast table – Team Wavy were meant to do it. However, change of plans, Team Funky took over the dishes for breakfast. Deck prep came next, where some of us climbed up the mast to prepare the main sail, put the halyard on and take the main sail cover off.

Late morning, safety briefing. VERY IMPORTANT!! We learned safety hazards which included potential life, death and threatening scenarios where we also learned man overboard, piracy, grounding, what to do if the boat/crew is in danger etc. etc.

After late morning afternoon – we put down the sails for docking at Largs marina dock. Then afterwards we had free time which allowed us to explore and “meet the locals”. We found a little gem of a store. Team Wavy prepared curry for lunch then the other team cleaned while Team Wavy typed this blog.

Yours sincerely,

Team Wavy (Conor, Leo, Bethany, Reinis, Catlin & Jasmin)​

Day 3 started with the lovely Paul the ships mate sharing his fab playlist with us. There’s nothing better than waking up to the sound of Guns & Roses Welcome to the Jungle… allegedly.

We had breakfast which was croissants and toast that ended up with Reggie (the bucket) and Rob having a ‘croissant off’ so their filling concoctions may have become the stuff of legend… peanut butter, banana, jam… shall we try this as well. NO!

We went and set up the deck ready to sail and then we set off towards the isle of Arran, and we got the chance to see a couple of seals and some porpoises. The views were stunning, we got to see Mount Stewart and Amy claimed it as hers – we set off to towards Tarbert and the weather was so sunny we all got burnt… Rob’s legs could be mistaken for a Squashie or used as the port navigation light.

Paul and Rhianna steered us along the way, and they would make great sailors with their new navigation skills taught by the lovely crew. We also got the chance to climb the Spinnaker Pole that was over the side and Ashley beat the boys with 13.14secs from bottom to the top. Connor who represented the boys wasn’t a bad loser at all haha.

We had banging tunes playing, got to enjoy the sun and then the skipper gave us an explanation of the different names of the things on the vessel such as stern, bow, port and starboard, the mast the boom – we thought it was ironic the poop deck was something completely different. We even had Andy from the crew showing off his knot tying skills and we learned how to make a clove hitch and a bowline. Reggie impressed us with his beatboxing skills that man is totally rad, and Rob found out that Caitlin is hyper intelligent and is going to be a neuroscientist! Speak about having a talented bunch of young people to work with and be around.

We got to Tarbert, got the deck cleaned up ready for the next sailing and we had a lovely fish supper prepared by our team and Sarah from the crew – it was pretty yummy. We had some time to explore, grab a shower and some of us played Uno before went to bed and got ready for another night’s snoring… It really was a great day.

By Funky Watch (Reggie, Amy, Rhianna, Paul & Rob)

The saloon was a buzz with chatter about the mornings breakfast being bacon buttys.

After we prepped the deck, some people volunteered to climb the 96ft mast. It was cool, exhausting and the view from the top it was stunning and breath taking (I won – Caitlin)

During the sailing voyage, we suddenly got the rare opportunity to practice a “buoy” overboard drill. (totally planned by the skipper – Conor)

On the voyage we got to practice our clove hitch, a round turn and two-half hitch, finally bowline Knots for a while to make use of our time up on deck taught by Andy and sarah which I appreciate. (finally figured it out! – Leo)

We pulled back into Greenock for the final time from where it all started.

While we were getting ready to put the boat to sleep, I learned the proper pronunciation of the brand Napapijri being ( NA-PA-PUR-IE ) thanks to that sweet ass Finnish pronunciation by the only Finn onboard (Jasmin) -BETHANY ????

Dinner prep was chaotic, 50 bangers and SO MANY POTATOES. No sweat for team Wavey tho, no big deal, easy peasy suckers. (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH ???????? – Reinis)

We put in the time and effort while on this trip, and now we’re tired & ready to say goodbye to the crew and everyone who helped us all out, we really appreciate the time given for this opportunity and experience we hope for the very best in life to all who were onboard on our journey across the west coast of Scotland <3.​