Day 1. Twelve o’clock. We met our assessor who showed us to the boat. Then we got ourselves orientated with the boat and berths and got lunch. Then we had safety briefings and fitted our life-jackets and we were off! We got ourselves used to the boat and Ellen helmed. Then Alex helmed us in to Cowes marina. Then Starboard watch made dinner which was chicken pasta, port then washed up and then we went to bed.

Day 2. We got up and had breakfast at 8. Then Port watch went shopping and Starboard washed up breakfast. Then we learned how to check an engine safely using ‘wobble.’ Then at half ten we set off for Southampton. Halfway to Southampton James started helming and then Alex took over so we could learn to plot a course and then we had lunch. Afterwards Immy helmed whilst James, Lilian and Alex plotted a course to Gosport Marina with the others assisting. When we got into Gosport we started to make dinner which was eventful. Afterwards Starboard washed up and now we’re about to do a quiz. We thoroughly enjoyed learning how to sail the catamaran.

To be continued….

Day 3. We got up and did our engine checks, put the Ensign up and prepped the deck and sails. We then had bacon sarnies for breakfast. Our assessor Chaz came (with donuts) and we plotted our route to Osborne bay. Lucy helmed us out of Gosport and halfway to Osborne bay and then Shannah helmed us the rest of the way to Osborne Bay. We anchored and then port watch cooked pasta for lunch. After lunch port watch plotted the route back to Portsmouth. Then we raised the anchor and put the jib up and then Lilian sailed us out halfway to Portsmouth. Odette then took over and helmed us into Portsmouth and docked us. Starboard watch then cooked chilli con carne for dinner. Chaz gave us t-shirts and then left. Then we went to bed.

To be continued…

So today I woke up around 6:00 and later around 7:15 I got out of my bunk and woke everyone up, port watch was doing breakfast, we all had various cereals and toast. I was made some hot chocolate but I gave it to Lillian because it was too watery for my personally. Myself, Ellen, Lucy and Odette started navigation after starboard watch had cleaned up breakfast and the saloon. We were plotting the chart to Beauliau River, we struggled with the navigation because at some points we couldn’t see the buoys. We left from Gunwharf bays, I would have loved to have made some friends with the neighbouring boats, as they were of similar age. The wind got very wild later in the day, weather wise, before we left we went over what would happen if MOB was shouted (man over board). “Oscar” (the boat fender) was thrown in later in the day and this happened while Alex was helming, Lucy had helmed later in the day. I really enjoyed the navigation of today because we were faced with challenges but overcame them, by lunchtime we had been too fast so we sailed around for a bit, myself and Ellen prepared lunch while Alex and Lillian prepared the table. We all had wraps with chicken and ham, as well as some salad and crisps. And as a great we set out some Mr Kipling treat cakes. We continued down the Beauliau River and I and the girls hung around by the front of the boat, while James kept Alex company while he helmed. We arrived with beautiful weather. Soon we docked and we discussed our aim, we all left with Mrs Philbin besides Jim and bushy. We set off on our walk, and we ventured out into the wilderness, we went and got the codes and then we set off on our 45 minute walk. We managed to get to the town, but by the time we arrived all the shops had closed and we could not purchase our ice cream. We were disappointed. Me and Lucy sat on the floor and jokingly chanted for ice cream. We left five minutes after and we realised we needed to switch our aim to nature, but still keep the idea of litter. We only managed to pick up half a bag by the end. We made our way back and port watch started on our dinner. I think we all had a really fun and successful day. And I think we definitely worked as more of a team. Good night all, thanks for reading.

Shannah 🙂

Today we woke up, had a breakfast consisting of cereals and toast and then began the deck prep. The starboard watch had to clean the deck because of some pesky starlings who had a good time 😉 After, we had a quick morning workout where we rowed the dinghy down the river at Beaulieu as a part of our competent crew qualification. Immy and Ellen went first and did a spiffing job, but then the really good people went, Odette and Lucy… They even went around the bridge pole and back. They also incorporated some sneaky 720s. Shannah and James were in a pair together, which needless to say did not go very well, ending up with Shannah in a sulk for about 10 minutes. Alex and Lillian went last and had a blast. James popped the spuds in the oven, it was splendous! We set off towards Alum Bay, with Shannah at the helm who stayed put for about 2 hours. The weather took a turn for the worse, the wind picked up substantially and we had a slight bit of drizzle, these factors combined meant we couldn’t make our way to the bay and we had to turn around and head back to Gunwharf. We had lunch midway whilst sailing, the meal was one of the best that we had made all week. It was jacket potatoes, we had fillings consisting of tuna, cheese and beans. When we got back to Gunwharf we put the sail and boom covers on as this was our final day sailing, whilst starboard began to make dinner and everyone else began to pack up. We had to coil up all of the ropes and raise the boom.  Then it was time for dinner, we had spaghetti Bolognese and it was also one of the best meals we had eaten on the ship. We packed our bags up so we didn’t have to do it in the morning and then we went to bed, ready for our final day of cleaning the cat and getting ready to go home. We thoroughly enjoyed this trip and hope to go on some more voyages in the future, and hopefully do our gold DofE on a boat!

Port Crew