At 1100hrs we met at Royal Quays Marina, before exploring the yacht which was to be our home fir the next 7 days. We had a few team building games over lunch (declared the “best halloumi wraps” by Noah) and completed orientation, setting up our bunks and raising the Yankee, staysail and main sail.

At 1500hrs we set sail down the North Coast, with cadets working in 3 hour watches. Starboard took the first watch while Port got some much-needed rest below deck. The North Sea takes no prisoners and lived up to its name of being rough. Despite a fair few of the crew members suffering with sea sickness, spirits remained high through the first day and night and day 2 of travel, with a beautiful sunrise and exciting sighting of dolphins boosting morale on the first morning.

The second evening, we made the decision to carry on to Dover rather than stop in Lowestoft in a bid to arrive before the oncoming storm – a decision we were all very glad that we made.

The second night brought rougher seas, with more of the crew suffering sickness, but we powered on to reach Dover at around 0900hrs on 22^nd August. The crew felt weathered and tired, but proud of the progress that we had made.

Before we could run to the showers, we “put the boat to bed” – took down and bagged all the sails and learnt moany types of knots as we lowered the fenders.

The sight of a flushing toilet was more than welcome, and we were glad to wash away the grime of the North Sea.

Once clean, we walked into the town of Dover on the hunt for sickness tablets, coupled with a pitstop at Burger King. A big well done to the members of our crew who opened their GCSE results this morning – it was lovely to see many happy faces.

Our evening consisted of card games and chatting, accompanied by a lovely pasta Bolognese cooked by our skipper, Mike, who we are very grateful for – thank you!

A massive thank you to CCAT for this opportunity, it really is the chance of a lifetime.

Cassia Thurston

For breakfast we had some delicious pancakes which prepared us for the day with lots of tasty sugary toppings.

At 12:30hrs we went on a tour around a RNLI boat, we also had the opportunity to try on the kit that they wear and made a competition out of who could get ready the fastest. The boat had many cool featured like shock absorbing seats and a full 360 camera that we used to spy on the crew. We went into the gift shop after and bought a mixture of things and went back to the boat. We learnt about how the lifeboats can self-right themselves and that the numbers on the side of the lifeboat correspond to the size and type of boat needed for each emergency. Over the course of the tour, we learnt that the RNLI volunteers are incredibly selfless and work hard to keep people safe.

After the tour we returned to the boat for some scrumptious jacket potatoes with left over bolognaise.

Lake and Bella went into dover town centre to get more sea sickness tablets, biscuits and other necessities.

That afternoon we did some competent crew work where we learnt the names for the different directions of wind and where we can position the sail so that we can get to Cherbourg as soon as possible. We then went on deck where we learnt how to do all the different knots and hitches.

We prepped the sails so that we could leave Dover and navigate the British channel at night with no issues. As we readied the yacht we saw a real life grey seal!!!!!!! Whilst we were prepping the boat, the other group were down below prepping the delicious curry to be cooked so it would be ready to eat while on the waves. One of my favourite tasks to do was either the cooking down below or the washing up – I found it exhilarating to be stirring up a curry whilst being chucked about by the waves, you never really knew when you’d be splattered against the wall.

When dinner was served, we were up in the snake pit (where all the rope is) we had a speaker on and watched as the sun set, warming up our hands with the curry as the waves splashed us, decorating our hair with salty curls and making many memories with the crew. At 2000hr the shift began, and we were on shift till 0000hrs.

Hugh Barter & Lake O’Rourke

We did 4-hour shifts until 0800hr where it then changed to every 6 hours.

Our shift ended at 0000hrs, where we then had a much-needed rest until we were awoken at 0400hr, ready and refreshed for our watch. During this time, we saw dolphins, raised sails, snacked on biscuits and sipped hot chocolates to keep us going through till the morning. The other watch was then woken to take over so we could rest for the next 6 hours until lunch where we enjoyed soup and bread.

Our following watch wasn’t extremely eventful, just dodging cargo ships as we toured the channel. Later that evening I prepared and cooked a chicken chow mein stir fry for my watch which led to boiling noodles being tossed over me as we went over a choppy wave (ouch!), and Malaika helping me serve. We then dished it out to everyone up on deck and released the other watch from their duties as so they could have some much-deserved rest.

Although the journey was long, treacherous, and chilly the morale was high as everyone seemed to have had bonded over shared experiences and the occasional splash which drenched those on deck. Surprisingly, no-one was ill this time which contrasted to the Newcastle->Dover trip where the majority of the crew emptied their stomachs overboard. I assume this is due to our bodies adjusting and the need for sea-sickness tablets increased.

Hugh Barter