Tall Ships Cat – Mid Summer South Coast Adventure

We started sailing from Portsmouth and when we were out into open waters I was given the Task of Helmsman steering the ship away from certain doom at the hands of the small sailing vessels before long I was relieved of this duty (much to the safety of the rest of the ship I would imagine) for someone else to take over. It was about 1 hour to Studland when we all decided that after a long day on the water that nice hot showers in Poole sounded like a good plan. It was at dinner time that we had Fajitas when Harry of starboard watch decided that he had found a taste for tabasco and proceeded to almost empty a full jar into one serving which he said he had enjoyed but most of us were doubtful.

• 8am
• Cerials and toasts
• Poole – studland bay
• Theory stuff – colision regualation
• Pastie things
• Went in the sea
• Got dingy to beach
• Got icecream n played marko polo and tag
• Got dingy back
• Dingy training
• Dinner (curry)
• Fishing

We all woke up at 8.00 to have breakfast prepared by starboard watch for 8.30, we ate cereal and toast. We then departed from Poole and travelled to Studland Bay. We anchored up about a mile from the beach. Before we could jump off the boat we did some theory about collision regulation and learned the priority list and rules to do with port and starboard side. We had lunch then went in the sea, we jumped from the bow of the boat and swam through the underneath centre of the catamaran. Afterwards we got the dingy from the boat to the beach. When we got to land we walked along and got ice cream then played ‘marko, polo’. At 17.30 we got the dingy back to the boat and Jake, from Port watch (Seacocks) taught people how to sail it. Then Starboard watch cooked a delicious Chicken Curry. And after dinner everyone went on deck to fish.

Woke up at 8 o’clock in Studland Bay to stunning weather and cooked up a breakfast of bacon butties. We then prepped the deck for sailing and each got a chance to try turning the boat using the engines – time spent spinning in circles, much to the confusion of other sailors in the bay. We then left Studland for Weymouth, and on the way enjoyed several games of cards as well as turns helming, stay sail competitions and a lunch of pesto pasta. We arrived into Weymouth at around half 3, helped to moor by a man who looked remarkably like Captain Pugwash. We then had some time to explore Weymouth and play a hotly contested game of monopoly before a dinner of fish and chips then some shower time.​

We woke up to a bang on the door at 8 o’clock, quickly go changed then had breakfast which consisted of cereal and toast. After the breakfast was done we all made our sandwiches which will be for lunch. The crew then prepared the deck so sailing and then left Weymouth with slight wind and a calm sea. Once we were out of the protection of the harbour we all got a good workout whilst hoisting up the sails ready for the stop winds astern. We split off into different watches, two hours on and two hours off, ready for the long journey ahead. With the aid of the wind we powered towards Lymington with the sea started to turn against us, must to the discomfort of a few of the crew. With the rocky sea making it an uncomfortable journey for some, each watch ate their sandwiches to gain back much needed energy. With Lymington in sight we lowered the sails and used the engines to get us thought the final leg of the journey. After some skilful manoeuvring; dodging ferries, wind surfers and parked vessels we finally docked up at Lymington. Finally, we dag into Spaghetti Bolognas for dinner at the end of a tiring day.

Started the day with breakfast at 8. As always Port watch forgot to bring out cups and drinks, but luckily the crew had already filled up on coffee. Left limington at 10.30 and motored down to bucklers hard. After a short 1 hour, we arrived and many of the crew left to go explore, even finding donkeys in the local village.Meanwhile, other crew spent time on the tender, rowing up and down the river. We were then able to race small homemade boats built in the morning, with starboard side winning by a thin margin. To cap off the day, we went to a local pub for some grub, and back to the boat for rest.

The day began with about an hour of glory in the nicest showers in the land until we were told to move the Cat up river to make way for someone else. Half of us then had an agonising 40 minute walk to the village of Beauliau to scavenge provisions for the crew but on the journey back I received one hell of a blister which quite frankly hurt. A lot. But it’s alright nothing that a good cup of tea and a sterile needle can’t handle. We also did some theory work on buoys and things that float and we also did some stuff on flares (don’t worry we didn’t set any off) we also did emergency stuff like what to do if we are sinking or burning though hopefully not at the same time. We proceeded to play a game of plague which took so long that the world was overtaken by alien overmasters.

As an afterthought here me (Alastair) Harry and Ben with our Skipper Josh have just been racing the staysail where I can say rather proudly that I got it in 3.88 seconds which was just slightly beaten by Harry who got it in 3.79 so fair game. Josh of course got it in 3 flat which is just showing off if you ask me.

Oh yeah and we saw the Red Arrows do some things in the sky.

Woke up to sun and toast, then left from Beaulieu down river and out into the Solent. There we spent some time practicing tacking and jibing as the weather grew progressively worse. We then paused for a lunch of scrambled eggs, cheese and pizza – mainly because we had already eaten everything else. We continued tacking and jibing until the weather got worse again, then we carried on to Portsmouth and moored in Haslar Marina for a clean-up and a dinner of bangers and mash.