CHALLENGER 3 – RIVERSIDE SCHOOL

The craziness started this morning at 7:56, when we woke up to different kinds of Cereal waiting on the table for us. The Cheerio’s we ate were tremendous! We later set off to the Portsmouth historic dockyard, where we visited HMS Victory, the ship which Lord Nelson died on during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

As we walked onto the ship in the morning, we were given audio devices to guide us. There was a smell of dust and the sound of emptiness. We walked past the rows of cannons and into the hallways of hammocks. It was fascinating to see the poor conditions 850 people had lived in with only 6 toilets!! We learned that some even used a rag to wipe their bums; this was then towed in the water behind the boat! After this marvellous tour we had lunch from a market near us. After the delicious food, that made all of us full, we went to the interactive activity zone, where we turned into ninjas for an hour.

After the morning of fun, we boarded our ship. When the introduction to everything around us was finished, we were ready to work. The sun shun on our faces, as we lifted the sails. We then set off away from land, into the depths of the salty seas.

Fajitas were eaten and cake was munched. The laid back evening ended with the singing of happy birthday for our teacher, Mr. Wagner’s, 45^th (?) birthday. We were then anchored in Sandown Bay and all fell asleep in instant.

Our first day was blast, ready for tomorrow’s adventures!

Michelle and Marie

The wake-up call disturbed us from our sleep at 6:00 sharp. We slowly stumbled to the kitchen table half awake and had our morning meal. Quickly, we raised the anchor and started the engine in order to pass through St. Catherine’s point by 8:00 am.

Despite our tiredness, the weather turned our great and made smiles appear on our faces. The sea was incredibly calm, allowing us to relax in the warm sun shine and take naps in the snake pit. We spent the most of the day on the deck, enjoying the beautiful views and delicious snacks. During the day, the Main sail was raised along with the Yankee, enabling us to go as fast as possible with the small wind there was. We also started working on our ship flag, team name and chant. Just before we reached the Weymouth port, we all enthusiastically participated in a ‘Man over board!’ drill and went over some safety precautions.

When we finally reached Weymouth, we cleaned and prepared the boat for our overnight stay. After the hard work was done, we left the ships to explore and enjoy the beach in Weymouth. We stopped along the way to buy some scrumptious ice cream. Although the water was cold, the majority of us jumped in and swam and splashed around the long and shallow beach.

Later on in the evening, we showered and ate a tasty dinner. Then we enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out on the ships with our friends.

We’re all quite tired, but excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Dora and Yuina

The day started very early: 5:40 am. After getting dressed and preparing the deck, we left the port at 6:00. Breakfast, bacon rolls, was served whilst sailing. The day was, again, very sunny and peaceful. We enjoyed the calm sea and relaxed on the deck until we reached Brixham.

Once there, we waited for the other ship to arrive. During that time, we decided to start our ‘Tackiest Souvenir’ challenge. We were split up into two groups of three and set off to find the most random, tacky and unwanted souvenir that we could find. After 45 minutes of souvenir hunting, we met up at an ice cream store where we bought delicious refreshments. Then we had some time to shop and buy things we wanted, whilst the other ship arrived and started their souvenir challenge. During this free time we bought sweets and souvenirs and we played in the arcade.

For dinner, we had the traditional British fish and chips. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with our friends and walking around Brixham. The souvenirs were presented by the groups from each ship and the two best, one from each ship, fought for first place. We went to bed exhausted but anxious and excited for day four.

Dora, Michelle and Kristian​

The next morning we got a later start waking up at 7:00, leaving the docks at 8:00. The weather was overcast and windy, the first ‘real’ sailing day (without the use of a motor). The wind was so strong we managed to sail at 7 knots! We were all feeling sick and tired, we slept a lot throughout the day.

We ate scrumptious pasta for lunch, made by our great sailor, Rob. This filled us up and we went back to hibernating in the ‘snake pit’. After this we woke up to an incredible sight, dolphins!! They were black and white and swam right up to our boat, jumping in and out of the water. They were the highlight of the day. Later we finished our sailing by packing away the sails.

We arrived in Portland in the evening and visited a rocky beach nearby. We watched the sunset and played games, this made great pictures. Then, we went back to the boat and ate BBQ style food for dinner, followed by some terrible jokes.

We showered and went to bed late at night.

Written by: Michelle, Julia and Marie