Today was our first day on board, it was a relaxing day. We completed our safety briefings then proceeded to set sail towards Cowes.

It was an unhurried journey and very soothing. On the way over most of us hung our feet over the edge of the boat and watched other ships pass.

Everyone got to know one another through the day and through shared experiences and events.

When we got to Cowes we had spag bol for dinner and then cleared up. Afterwards we went for a walk and then some of us had showers.

By Sam, Joe, Josh, Owen and Steph.​

Today was our second day on board, it was a day filled with hard work and determination and started at 08:00.

The day tested our team-working skills by giving us tasks such as tacking the boat (the zig-zagging motion that takes you up-wind), putting up the Mainsail, which required at least four people, and a lot of coordination and technique .

We also learned new knots such as the figure of eight, monkey’s fist, bowline, admiralty stopper, clove hitch and a round turn and two half hitches.

After five hours of tacking we eventually moored at Poole Harbour where we packed up the sails, lines and ropes.

In Poole, we had luxurious temperate showers before cooking a lovely Chilli Con Carne. After finally finishing all of today’s work, we went to explore the beautiful town that is Poole.

Formally composed by Seb, Bailey, Liam, Jules and Mason.

This morning we all awoke to do our sailing duties, when up on the deck we discovered an elderly man in a nearby dinghy, singing songs on his guitar. His songs I believe were made by himself and he actually sounded very nice. He then stopped singing and floated over to us, where he lectured on various political standpoints and his views on the governmental hierarchy…

After we left Poole, we measured a nautical mile using the transit poles, in which we timed the amount of time it took to travel the mile, which allowed us to calculate how fast our boat was going. It took 00:10:30 and so the boat was travelling at slightly less than six knots.

When we had downtime while sailing a few of us began to race to see who could tie some of the knots that we learned the fastest. We raced in tying a bowline and a figure-eight knot the most, because those were the ones that we could do the quickest.

We arrived in Weymouth and packed the boat away. We then had free time and explored the delights of Weymouth. The beach was nice, the music was good and we had fish and chips for dinner.

By Josh, Joe, Owen, Steph & Sam.

Today started off like most days. But deep inside of us, we knew we would have a long, seven-hour haul ahead of us. We originally planned to make our way to Yarmouth or Lymington but they were both fully booked, so we went Cowes for the night instead to prepare for tomorrow’s trials. 

Along the way, we were taught by our Skipper about the different types of emergencies, what to press on the radio and how to act accordingly in said emergency. We discussed the various types, such as fire, flooding, medical and M.O.B. (man overboard) as well as piracy and flooding. We even heard a mayday on the radio where a boat capsized, but luckily the lifeboat rescued the person.

We also discussed etiquette whilst using flags when we encountered a Royal Navy vessel. We lowered our ensign as a form of respect and surrender, to demonstrate the fact that we weren’t here to attack. In response they lowered their ensign and we were free to traverse the open sea. 

With little wind during our journey, we took on the difficult challenge of climbing out to the end of the spinnaker pole. It took a lot of muscle strength and communication skills. Most of us made it halfway and some of us made it to the top while being timed. Perry (AKA Seb) and Bradley (AKA Bailey) held the records of nine seconds.

We were on cooking duty for tonight with chicken curry and rice for dinner, but a problem struck us as when we went to get the ingredients but we only had one onion, so skipper had to go to the shop and get some. While we waited for the extra onions to arrive we cut up the peppers, chicken and the one onion that we had but the fumes from the onion started to make everyone cry. When it came to cooking the rice, things went a bit wrong and it was overcooked with lots left at the bottom of the pan – the cleaning crew weren’t happy about it whatsoever.  

As our journey comes to an end this Friday, tomorrow will be our last day of sailing and we are hoping to be doing a bit of night sailing and mast climbing, which will be a lot of fun!

By Liam, Jules, Bailey, Mason and Seb​

On day five of our voyage, we awoke once again to the watch leaders’ voices telling us to wake up. This was because inevitably we had turned off the alarm to wake up since we worked ourselves to a thin brittle the previous day.

After dragging ourselves out of bed, we were met with the task of setting up breakfast, consisting of brioche and cereal. Following this, we prepared the mast for scaling, for those who dared to reach heights of over 90ft. The view from atop the mast was exquisite to say the least and we managed to get a watch leader to the top of the mast in under 45 seconds, which we were delighted with.

We then set sail heading for the horizon with no particular destination – after letting our minds marinate, we decided to course for the Southampton main channel, circling and admiring the colossal, captivating and curvaceous cruise ships that were laying elegantly upon the glass-like marina water. After this, we aimed toward the harbour of Cowes which we had previously resided in – we did not plan to moor up at said marina however, and we instead tied up to a buoy as we had a night sail ahead of us.

Subsequent to this, we hunkered down for the meantime as we had a delectable supper to craft and digest. On the forthcoming, we sit here writing this blog whilst our fellow crew cleanse the dishes to be stowed away, awaiting their next meal to be laid upon them.

We will shortly be met with the task of prepping the deck ready for the dark maritime sail through the gorgeous and calm waters on which we currently lay.

Sincerely,

Perry and Pheine AKA Seb & Joe​