Today was our first day on Challenger 3. Although everything was new, we still put in 100% of our effort to have an enjoyable first day.

Firstly, we boarded the boat and learnt what was where and how it worked, then we climbed up onto the deck and learnt about how to stay safe onboard and how to put on our equipment.

Afterwards, we put up the sail for the first time ever. We worked as team, in pairs, to collectively prepare and hoist up the sail.

We also learnt how to tie three different knots: clove hitch, round turn and two half hitches and OXO in the cockpit while we sailed from Portsmouth to Yarmouth. It was a great first day!

Early in the morning we woke up, had a speedy breakfast and then started setting up the boat for our departure. We used good old combustion power to get us out past the docks and started setting one of the front sails. Since this was done the night before, the task was an easy one to undertake and was quickly done.

Then we saw the natural miracle of the Needles, which was originally a cliff but erosion caused the cliff to merely become three ‘Needles’. We then set about raising the Main sail and had multiple teams working hard to complete this hard task. However, this caused the boat to lean heavily on one side which presented a few problems to people, even making one scream *ahem* Josh.

Cold, tired and wet, we sailed for a slow few hours and eventually arrived at around 16:00.  We are now docked in port at Weymouth.

By Rowan and Muhammad.