This morning, we embarked on a journey from Portsmouth to Cowes in the Isle of Wight.

We used the engines to get out to the wind and then we cut the power and ran off the yankee and the stay sail (smaller front sails) and our excellent skills, soon after leaving port, we performed a manoeuvre called a tack, in which you sail into the wind and then turn sharply out of the wind to move in a straight line when the wind is blowing us off course. We also learnt how to use winches to pull and hold the sails to either side of the boat and to pull them up. We also learnt to wall on the high side of the ship, which is the opposite side to the sail, we do this to keep us safe from potential swinging ropes on the side with the sail and to keep us further away from the sea. We also found out that releasing the tension of the winches can be quite dangerous because the rope is pulled away from you extremely fast if you don’t keep the tension.

Due to the boat rocking we needed life jackets to make sure if we fell in, we would be safe. They came with a hook to clip onto one of the wires in case we fell off the ship they could pull us up or prevent us from completely falling in. It was very safe though it was annoying having to clip a second hook to unclip and reclip your first one then having to unclip the temporary safety hook to move past someone else.

When we first got the life jackets most of us found a secure place to clip and then proceeded to lean backwards, with most people clipping to other people, climbing the inclines, and forming chains, which was incredibly fun!

Midway through the journey, a flag came loose which proceeded to wave in the wind. With multiple attempts to get the flag back eventually, we gave up since the wind blew it too high. The flag was blowing in the wind for the rest of the journey until we landed in the port of Cowes which was very funny.

This was most of the students first time sailing under sail and everyone performed exceptionally by quickly releasing one winch whilst tightening the other to swap the side the sail was on. When we tried to land in the port, we had to hold out buoys to stop the impact of the ship from scraping against the port.

The crew was split into two parts, Port and Starboard, and Port group had to make dinner first. We were planning on having pasta bolognaise and garlic bread which was very annoying to make since many people were tearing up due to cutting onions (unironically). It took a while and the room was becoming hot due to the three stoves being on plus the fire oven and hot tap powered by the engines, finally to top it all of the kitchen was small, so the room was also being heated by body heat and the small windows in the top of the room did very little to help. In the end it was very good and nearly all of us had seconds!

The Starboard group then had to clean up the deck by covering the sails and tidying the snake pit. Then after that they had to clean the cutlery and plates used to eat the pasta bolognaise. After this we had a short amount of free time to speak to each other and have a shower.

Then we went to bed at 10 o’clock to get up for the early start at 6:30 tomorrow!​

Today we woke up at six thirty some people did not get up as quickly as others. Then, we set sail at seven and had breakfast on the go. We had bacon baps, which were delicious. We headed from Cowes to Weymouth, and the 50-mile journey took roughly 7 hours. Some people got a bit seasick, but we realised you can either sleep it off or go sit by the back of the boat. In fact, the journey was very rocky, which made the steering quite hard. We got the main sail up before lunch; it’s the first time we’ve done it. Eventually, we managed to succeed to get all three sails up. For lunch, we had tortellini with tomato sauce. We figured out that sailing involves a vast amount of teamwork. Even though we were two days into our voyage all of us have a high moral and keep laughing. Today the crew taught us how to tie different knots such as the bowline and the 2 half-hitches. We had fun travelling through the Solent and out into the Channel. Our maximum speed was 10 knots. After that, we moored up and ventured on land. We went to a Tesco Express to get snacks to see through the rest of the voyage. Also, we used the onshore toilet and shower facilities.

By Colin, Rory and Freddie

Today was day 3 of 5 in our voyage. We got up at about half past seven before having breakfast, which was cereal. Before we set off though, we started doing different jobs in our 2 watches. Starboard watch cleaned through the heads (toilets), the dining area and the rest of the boat. They also changed the bin bags while port watch prepared the boat to set sail. We travelled from Weymouth (where we docked last night) to Poole, which was about a 40-mile sail. Eddie, one of the boys from Cranmore, steered the ship through the storm, with the help of the skipper Ian. Even with the rain, we managed to get all three sails up: the main sail, the yankee and the staysail. After that, starboard watch cooked baguettes in the oven and we had them for lunch. Port watch had to clean up. We thankfully, though, made it to Poole at half past three. The 16 of us helped dock and put the boat to bed (tidy everything up) before having a little walk around town. When we got back, port watch had the pleasure of cooking delicious fajitas for us all to eat. Meanwhile, some of starboard watch went to use the marina facilities and had a shower. After eating, we prepared to go to bed after a day to remember.

It was a beautiful day as we started our voyage. In contrast to the day before, when all of us got soaking wet in the storm, it was lovely sunshine outside.

We set off from Poole on our way back to Portsmouth in time to watch England play Netherlands in the Euros semi-finals. Let’s get our priorities straight! Today it was an exciting day, as we got all three sails up. We are getting better at working as a team, and who would have thought on Sunday that we will be able to understand the boat lingo, such as “ease”, “slack”, “winch”, “get into the snake pit” and “elephant ears” (they really do look like elephant ears) without any delay!

As it was quite windy, we had to work extremely fast to gybe not to get into the cliffs, in particular, the Needles of the Isle of Wight! How exciting and a little testing! Gybing is a more advanced manoeuvre where the back of the boat goes through the wind. We had to keep changing the direction of the sail, which involved us sweating and easing lines (please note that we don’t call them ‘ropes’ ????). We do this because the wind was going the same direction as our path to Portsmouth. With such nice sailing weather, it was fabulous to see the Needles so close and in such detail.

In the evening, as we docked at Portsmouth, in Gunwharf Quays, and after we put the boat to bed, we set off to have dinner at Pizza Express and we got a chance to watch a football match in the open garden. The atmosphere was fantastic; all of us were buzzing with excitement, skippers from both boats joined us, and it ended on a high, as England won 2:1. Result!