Challenger 2 – St John Fisher Catholic High School
Their four-night voyage has been supported by Cross Keys Homes.
Read their blog to find out more!
Day 1
Monday 25
We left school on the minibus and approximately four hours later we arrived in Portsmouth!
After meeting the crew and having our safety briefings, we made our way to Cowes from Gunwharf Quays.
After an eventful journey, one of the groups made their way down to the kitchen to cook a delicious meal of Spaghetti Bolognese. Group 2 helped with washing up after dinner and now we are making our way over to the showers!!
After showers, we are going to chill and play cards before going to bed.
What a great first day on the boat!
By Dawid, Dexter, Ema, Gabriela and Aleksander.
Day 2
Tuesday 26
Today we travelled seven hours on the boat. There were many ups and downs physically and emotionally, however we were better off when we used teamwork, which enabled us to reach our destination. When we got there, we were very relieved and the wind was very cold.
Once we had packed the sails away and had tidied the boat up, we went to explore Poole. It was great to get our feet on land. We came back and had fish and chips for dinner.
Then, it was showers and time to relax and chat on deck getting to know each other.
Overall, today was a challenging, eventful and adventurous day.
By Evelina, Ainah, Karolina, Jude and Matt.
Day 3
Wednesday 27
We set sail from Poole and went to Cowes – it took 6 hours to get across. We used three sails to get across to Cowes, and on the crossing everyone learnt about flares and how to tie different knots.
Once we got Cowes, we took the sails down and went into the harbour. We packed the boat up and then spent time ashore in Cowes. We came back to the boat and had dinner and then cleaned up. We are now going for showers and waiting for the storm to go away.
Signed,
Starboard Watch
Day 4
Thursday 28
Our day today was very interesting and exciting. We woke up, ate some nice breakfast and right afterwards we climbed the mast, which was very thrilling and exciting. We also had some lessons about the boat and Man Over Board.
After that we had a nice lunch of jacket potatoes, beans and cheese. We then prepared the ship to go for a nice sail, learning more about points of sail and improving our tacking and gybing before it was time to return to Portsmouth.
We packed the sails and boat away before the rain came, and then we ate a nice dinner together. As we have done all week, we washed up and went for showers before bed.
Overall the day was great and very exciting – we all enjoyed the mast climbing and most of us got to the top. It was a ‘bish bash bosh’ day!
By Jude, Karolina, Evelina, Ainah & Matt