Tall Ships Cat – DEBDALE OUTDOOR CENTRE

Today was a good day we drove boat to East Cowes and then Nicholass stole Ryan’s coke even though it had no added sugar. We also realized that Nichola had an accent which made time sound like tame. After we annoyed her about this she still would not let us have de coke. There was a lot of wind, and big waves. We ate fajitas.

Today we set off from Cowes to go to Poole and after we motored the first part, we sailed at 6 knots without any engines. We used all four sails; the genoa, the stay sail, the mainsail and the mizzen. We are near some big, big yachts. Some of us fell asleep at the table and now our backs hurt and I think it could have been the ropes, because they hurt your hands. The fenders are interesting and they keep the boat safe from bumping into the pontoon, which is a good thing because damage is very cost worthy to repair. Ahmed put on a tune. Also, some of us learnt about plotting our position on charts with two methods – using the GPS and triangulation. For lunch we had vegetable soup and baguettes. We practised tacking (which involved lots of winching to haul in the sails and go faster which was really fun, but it was very hard and we all had to work together as a team) at old Harry’s rock and we did very well, we also did very well at putting the sails away and back in the bags. We also sat at the back of the boat and practised our knots we practised the bowline and the clove hitch and we relearnt them so we can remember them. After we arrived at Poole we went ashore, but the only shops that were open were Tesco and Sainsbury’s. We bought loads of sweets. Then we ate curry, kindly cooked by Andrew.

By Owen, Dylan, Sam & George

Today we had bacon butties for breakfast or cereal (Ahmad and Dylan.)After that we got the boat ready and went to some shops we then found out we had to be at Weymouth by 5 o clock but we had enough time. After leaving the harbour Ahmad was at the helm for a while and even though the sea was really rough he kept us sailing smooth. As we moved farer down our course the waves were getting even bigger. We had pasta for dinner undergo with Joe on the helm. After dinner the wind dropped and the sea was a lot calmer and we all fell asleep on the trampoline. We then entered Weymouth after taking a detour around Portland harbour. Once we moored up we walked around the harbour and the beach and had ice cream then Ahmad Nicola Joe Owen and Martin collected sea shells and pebbles. For tea we had fish and chips from the chippy (but Andy had cooked the fish.)

By Joe, Jack, Ahmed and Ryan

Today we departed Weymouth at half past eight, and had our breakfast on the move – toasted bagels and cereal. Sam had a little spillage with his coco pops. We got three the sails up and managed to get up to seven knots without the engine. There was also a mayday relay when a kayaker accidentally set of a personal beacon (the coast guard had to look for them). For lunch we had pasties and baked beans. We sailed past Cowes to do some tacking and gybing practice. We also saw the tall ships challengers and the ketch, who took some pictures of us. Then we went to West Cowes. Tea was bangers, mash and more beans.

By Owen, Dylan, Sam and George