Challenger 3 — Queen Katharine Academy
Day 1
14/06
Firstly, we explored Portsmouth and we all had to take a COVID-19 test. Then we boarded the ship (Challenger 3) and headed to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
We practised the ship language terminology (for the left-hand and right-hand side of the boat) for example port and starboard, we also had a tour of Challenger 3! After that, we had chicken fajitas for dinner. Throughout the evening we discussed as a team what we liked and what we wanted to achieve on day two.
Day 2
15/06
We woke up and had breakfast. Then we had a sail around to get to a beach called Studland Bay. We had to put up three sails the names of the sails are Main sail, Yankee sail and stay sail.
We had a lot practise to put up the sails (it was hard work 😣). We had to put the anchor down to get to Studland Bay. After that, we inflated the dingy so we could go to the beach. When we came back to the ship, we dried ourselves off and got changed ready to eat Spag Bol with cheese.
Day 3
16/06
Today was awesome. The main reason for this is our Skipper Mike had the best cheese-based jokes we’ve ever heard. Our favourite was – ‘What happened after the explosion at the cheese factory? There was DeBrie everywhere!!!’. 🤣
When we woke up, we had breakfast but after that we had a chance to climb the mast (it was high!). After climbing the mast we put up the sails that are called Main sail, Yankee sail and Stay sail.
We sailed from Studland Bay to YARRRmouth, [Yarmouth] to walk around. For dinner/lunch we had meat soup or vegetarian soup with some bread rolls. For tea we had Bangers and Mash!
What’s not to love? Alfie was wearing his awesome onesie. 😉
Day 4
17/06
Today we had a lay in (8 o‘clock) and when we woke we had crumpets for breakfast.
When we finished eating we tidied up then went for a jolly walk around lovely Yarmouth. We got some ice cream 😋.
We then went back to the ship and started to label the stuff on the ship (winches, mast, boom). After that we had a quick lesson about flares and their use. We then put the main mast up and had jacket potatoes for lunch. When we finished eating we put the Yankee sail and the Stay sail up.
After that we set sail to Cowes but the weather turned against us… it started to pour it down. We stood strong and proud. So, we put on our waterproofs and corrected the sails and ventured out into the rain and waves. Later on we docked at Cowes and had showers and cooked vegetarian curry.