John Wilson I was nominated to join this voyage, its great fun to put the sails, you have to have at least 1 person in the cockpit, 2 people in the snake pit and the rest have to sweat to put up the sails and after 8pm you are on watch for 3 hours then you swap teams, one sleeps and the other works on deck until 8am shifts back to normal. Weather wise it was 44 knots of wind so the crew had to put half of the sail down because if we kept it up the sail would rip  (it was fun)

Charlie Glass

I was put forward to go on this ship, and at first I was reluctant because of the fear of the unknown, but after thinking about it for a couple of nights I decided to give it a shot. I must say it’s one of the best experiences I have ever had.

The trust and responsibility that the crew gave us was good because it meant that we could prove ourselves.

Sailing this ship has been both difficult and rewarding, especially the night watches.

The most important thing was teamwork especially when doing tasks like cooking and cleaning.

I have met young people who have went through the same experience as myself and together we are sharing an experience that will be remembered.

One of my favourite parts was controlling the bow when going through the locks.

If I ever got the chance to do this again I would jump at the opportunity.

The crew have been very kind but firm with us and I have enjoyed every second on their boat.

Dillan Hendry & Stevie Wigham & Shauna Wears

Since we have been on the ship we have learnt how to put up a sail and learnt how to put it down again. We helped to pull the ship through the locks and we worked together to make sure we did it properly. We have had arguments but have been able to overcome them and have been mature about the situations we have been in. We have worked in our groups to complete tasks and do as we are told by the skipper. We have had our ups and downs but are enjoying our time on the ship with all the crew members. If we ever had another opportunity to do this again we would do it again because it would be easier than this time as we have experience on how to work the boat. We have met friends for life and we were scared to come on board as we thought we wouldn’t get along with anyone. This voyage will help us become the people we want to be. We know already that we will miss being on this boat but luckily we have a few more days on this boat.

My Social Worker asked me to come on this voyage two days before the ship departed. I was really excited about coming and in my head I thought it was going to be a relaxing Holiday, but I was so wrong.  My life up to now has been about snapchat, facebook, Instagram and looking my best, those were the things that were most important to me that and fit lads.  I never left the house without my makeup and always had data on my phone.

I found ship life really hard at first, I struggled with the jobs and making new friends this was so far out of my comfort zone.

Now I can do knots, I have driven the boat, helped in the snake pit and haven’t worn make up once. I can help cook a meal and have cleaned the ship, I have learnt new life skills.

It’s what’s on the inside that counts I have learnt that this week. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime and I think this is one of the best experiences of my life so far, and I would love to do this again.

Courtney McRae

I was put forward to do this trip and at first I wasn’t too sure about whether to come because of my fear of drowning. After realising that I couldn’t pass an opportunity like this down, I became more and more excited as the time grew closer. Sadly, a week before the voyage my grandma passed away, I was in pieces, I didn’t think I would be able to come. I still wanted to come so I made an arrangement that I would leave on the Sunday to attend my grandma’s funeral. I have enjoyed it that much that I didn’t end up leaving on the Sunday as you can probably tell by you reading this. Before this I lived on my phone, always had my make-up on and struggled with life in general.

At first the Tall ships was really hard, I don’t do very well with doing things straight away as normally I get distracted very easily, now I realise that doing things straight away can be very important. I have put the sails up, took them down, learned how to complete knots, helped in the snake pit as well as the cock pit. I have cooked a meal for 16 people and learned loads of new life skills. I will never be able to express how much the crew and the tall ships in general have helped me. My time at sea has definitely had its ups but also had its downs, it is most definitely not an understatement when they say bring warm clothes because believe me you will get cold, I am covered in bruises off bumping into things and you will have to deal with the fact that you might smell a little bit.

Today everyone was recovering from sea sickness but we still managed to do the tasks given. We cleaned the boat top to bottom, made breakfast, dinner and tea and put the sails up and down. I will be sad to leave but also happy because I can put all my new skills to the test.