We all arrived separately at the marina, met some of the crew and were taken down to our new home, Challenger 2. We then met the rest of the crew and introduced ourselves, naming our favourite biscuit and a fun fact about ourselves.

We prepared the deck, putting the staysail and Yankee on. Then we motored over to Cowes, where we made tea for the crew of 16.

We moored up at the marina, and Betty and Natasha’s watch made pasta bolognese.

We are eager for bed and showers.

Angus, Ted, Hamish, Betty, Scarlett
(Starboard Watch)

The day started at 5:30 in the morning. We set off for 12 hours of sailing. Scarlett kept falling asleep.

We had to motor all the way as there was no wind. We did have the mainsail up, though; however, it didn’t catch any wind.

During the crossing, we were taught various things to help us get our certificate at the end of the voyage. We didn’t see much wildlife apart from a few birds, which was disappointing, but we saw lots of ships and some we had to give way to.

We got to Alderney and went in search of somewhere to moor. We eventually were given permission to tie up to a mooring buoy, which was done skilfully by the Skipper and Mate, but we also had a little help from the harbour guys.

Once on the buoy, the wind decided to make an appearance, which was disappointing.

We tidied the boat up and cooked dinner, which was a delicious chicken curry. After dinner, we took a water taxi to the island, got showered and then we all got snacks.

A storm slowly began to come in and we hurriedly got back to the boat, where we wrote this blog.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the island, which we are looking forward to.

By Bertie, Iyla and Ocean.

We were awoken at approximately 8am by music. We then enjoyed bacon rolls cooked by Natasha’s watch.

Later, we all packed up our things and took a water taxi to the island (Alderney) to enjoy our day on land. We put our stuff into the lockers.

Our first stop was the beach. We spent some time relaxing and enjoying being on land. Almost all of us went into the ocean and, after, we headed back to the harbour to get showered and changed.

Once everyone was finished, we divided into three separate groups, where some of us went to sit on the beach, others tried to fish and others went into town.

Unfortunately, the majority of the shops were closed. However, some of us were able to get souvenirs and an Alderney flag that we tied to a stick as we walked back to meet the other groups.

Eventually, after an unreasonable amount of Waitrose trips to get confectionery, we ultimately concluded that taking a water taxi back was better than swimming to the boat.

We had fish and chips for dinner and it is now early to bed, as we have to get up at an unreasonably early time tomorrow morning.

As Natasha’s watch cooked breakfast and John’s watch cleaned up, we had lunch on shore. Natasha’s watch prepared fish and chips for dinner.

Angus is now taking tea orders.

~ Scarlett, Ted, Betty and Angus