We started the day in the comfortable hotel beds (which we definitely took for granted) and met the rest of the group downstairs for Premier Inn breakfast. After stacking our bags up in a cupboard, we walked back in town, which was a route that had become familiar to us after walking up and down the High Street the day before. We split off into smaller groups for lunch and discovered a Wendy’s and a Taco Bell before a brief walk down to the dock early. We met our skipper Terry as he was collecting his laundry and he took us to the boat, where we met the rest of our crew, Martin, Lauren and Mel! After a safety briefing, it was all hands-on deck as we set off from the dock. We started with the engine but were then taught how to sail and put up and down the sheets. We reached Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight, and we learned how to dock a boat. Lauren A is now an expert at the fenders! It was our turn to make dinner, and our group made it out with only two injuries! We made chicken curry with naan bread and plenty of onion. The facilities were an amazing surprise as they came with Wi-Fi, clean showers and even hairdryers! Then we hopped back onto the boat, tried on our oils picked up our Tall Ships t-shirts and put all of our stuff away.

Saw no fish today ☹

Lauren!! and Bee!!​

We had an early morning, waking up at 6.15 and leaving the Yarmouth harbour at 6.24 in our pyjamas! After we had left the harbour and got on track, we started to put up the main sail, this sail weighs ½ tonne so it was quite the workout. We used all our strength but still couldn’t make it rise the all the way up. However, we will try again tomorrow. Along with that we also put up the front two sails. At first the sea seemed deceivingly calm, but as we began to eat breakfast (cereal and fruit) the wind got up to 18 knots, and the sea became unstable causing majority to feel seasick (which wasn’t the nicest feeling). Then it was lunch time, we had wraps with various fillings, which some of us ate! During the afternoon we also passed by the Jurassic coast, the needles and Durdle door whilst living our best life dancing and singing to some amazing songs, however doing the macarena was a challenge on a tilted boat.

After 8 hours of an unsteady ride, we finally reached Weymouth harbour at 1.30pm, here we moored up our boat. We then enjoyed some ice-cream before heading to the beach for a (freezing) swim. We then wandered back to the boat and had a refreshing shower. Our final activity of the day was climbing the 29-metre mast, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and almost all of us made it to the top. For tea or dinner, we had fish and chips, and peas.

……we FINNALY saw some fish as well!! 😊

We started our day with plenty of Skippers “power pancakes” and lashings of different toppings to get us ready for the voyage from Weymouth to Lymington. The day started with calm seas, keeping sea sickness to a minimum. From Weymouth we set off on “Terry’s tour” of the beautiful Jurassic coast. We got to see this area up close, which usually is not possible due to being in the army training danger zone. This made the view a very rare and breathtaking experience. We got to see Durdle Door and even got to go into Lulworth Cove during a quiet morning without many boats docked in the cove. Dancing to Terry’s tunes led by Laura continued before lunch, which included a Grease mega mix and even a reenactment of nautical scenes from Mama Mia. Now it was time for a lunch of jacket potatoes and yet more toppings to choose from including beans, tuna mayo and cheese (give cheese a chance!). This afternoon we raised the main sail with 2 reefs in it to make the journey passed the Needles and towards the lovely Lymington harbour. After deck prep and a quick trip to Tesco’s, we all tucked into spaghetti bolognese, with vegetables expertly chopped by Clara (starboard watch). The pasta was drowned in cheese (give cheeses a chance!) and demolished, and now we’re writing the blog! So excited for tomorrow and another attempt to raise the full main sail!

Evie and Clara 😊

Hello guys

Today is the last full day of tall ships, saw no jellyfish (ugh) waves were too diabolical. Quite windy to be honest almost blew off shoutout Sophie for saving me. 10/10 sleep on deck like a baby being rocked to bed, the wet gear wasn’t so bad kept me warm and weighed me down did get completely soaked dried quick as the wind blew everything. Had more sleep in the snake pit I also ate lots of biscuits and fell asleep again. I also did lots of work on deck today which made me absolutely shattered. We had our legs over the side very fun luckily no one fell in then had another sleep very relaxing then got woken up by terry as we needed to take the sail downs and prepare to moor at cowes looking forward for our showers and our sausages and mash for tea. Very sad we are going home tomorrow but excited for slug and lettuce.

Sleeping in a F8 amazing

Written beautifully by

Juliette, Jorgie, Jess