Hi, I’m Ffion and this is my second trip onboard a Challenger. After a long four-hour drive to Portsmouth, we got there two hours early! When 13:00 finally rolled around and we were allowed to get on the boat, our Mate picked us up from the gate where we met some new people after greeting them all and a brief five minutes of losing Mark.

We finally got on the boat, put our things away and then we got on with all the jobs that needed doing while there was some maintenance needed on the boat’s batteries.

After that, we finally set sail for Cowes. When we were out of dock, I had a go at helming for quite a while, it was very fun. Then I was eventually relieved of the duty by our Skipper,  Jim for a refresher course on the different  knots and then after, we put up a few sails and did some real sailing!

When we docked up, my watch were putting the sails away while the other watch started to cook our food for supper. I cannot wait for tomorrow and to see what to see what it brings!

Today we sailed from Cowes to Yarmouth, the waves were rough, so we faced with the challenge of putting the Mainsail up and down a few times. During our time sailing, we got splashed by the waves and we ate lots of biscuits. We did a MOB (man overboard) drill and learnt how we would save a life, increasing our knowledge at sea.

We had jacket potatoes for lunch, which was good and we all enjoyed each other’s company and had fun sailing.!

Coming into Yarmouth, we had to all use our superhuman strength to do various onboard tasks! Once we had docked in Yarmouth, we had a journey to the rocky beach and did some litter picking!

The Welsh Tadpoles watch won the competition for the most amount of litter collected and the Avenging Penguins came second.

To finish the day, we went to the showers, had curry for dinner, which was made by the Avenging Penguins, played Uno and are looking forward to sleep soon.

By Alanna and Len.

Our names are Keira and Sofia and we are on a TSYT Voyage of Empowerment this week.

Yesterday, we left Yarmouth and went through the Needles. We also put the Mainsail up, which is fun, but difficult. We were sailing downwind. We did lots of winching and tying ropes and sweating.

The boat was really rocky and we all felt sick, but we pushed through for our team. We did a tack but because some of us were still seasick we sat in the cockpit until we felt better and managed to eat our pasta for lunch.

When we were near Weymouth, we took the Mainsail down and met up with the Challenger 4 crew, before following them into Weymouth.

We all helped with to moor the boat before leaving to explore Weymouth as a group and we went to the beach.

Overall, yesterday was really fun, and every day you learn something new! ​

Today we arrived in Brixham, on the way there we practiced knot tying, which was very interesting and fun to do!

Once we had docked in Brixham, we made dinner (which was beef stew), and got ready to go to the showers. The showers were really nice, but it took a while to walk to them.

After that, we all sat on the front of the boat and chilled out for about an hour before going back below deck to discuss our plans for tomorrow, then we went to bed.

By Alanna.

Today we got up and had breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and breakfast muffins, it was yummy. After that, we did a speedy clear up while deck prep was even quicker! We then had some time down in town.

After a quick return to the boat, we headed to the beach to paddle in the sea. We eventually got back to the boat and got ready to set sail and off we went, it was only a quick sail today as we have had a long couple of days!

We then had lunch, which was pasties, and beans (if we wanted them). After lunch, we sailed for a bit until we got to the place we’re staying for the night (Salcombe). We anchored there and packed up our boat, while Challenger 4 was parking beside us.

We are going  to have sausage and mash tonight, yay!

By Ffion and Alanna.