Tall Ships Ketch – PERTH AND KINROSS

We arrived at Inver kip and were given a safety briefing and told what we will be doing over the five days, we have learned how to tie fenders to the boat and some other knots, learning how to set up and prepare to leave from the dock to travel to larges, we have knowledge of how the sails work and how the sails go up after today, we have learned that life on the boat is allot different to home life as day to day activities have become harder as you have to keep your balance on the boat is rocking. We had fajitas for tea made by other boat members.

Rachel & Hannah

We started the day in Largs and then after some cleaning and making the boat look presentable we set sail with the aim of making it to a small fishing town called Tarbert which is roughly 30 miles away, we set off around 10 then put the anchor down while we enjoyed some lunch (Steak pie and beans).  After an hour or two of learning more things and chilling out we set sail again. We spent the day getting accompanied to life on water, We also had a try at finding out how to pinpoint ourselves on the map while we were moving, We also learned how to do atak? When the wind picked up which then made us do zig zags and also meant to boat was flying about the water. We had pork chops for tea which were made by Ciaran and Murron.

This morning we started in Tarbert, in our teams we cleaned the boat and prepared on deck removing covers and getting ready to set sail to Cambeltown. On our way we learned how to do different knots, IRPCAS, manoeuvring and how to make distress signals using hand held flares, smoke signals and rocket flares. We also practised tacking, then arrived in Cambeltown at around half 5 put our sails away and covered them and Dylan and Serena started cooking tea which was a chicken curry.

This morning we got up and hour earlier and had beautiful bagels for breakfast. In teams we cleaned the boat and some people were hands on deck with ropes and getting ready to set sail. Gary told us the night before that it was supposed to be a heatwave. We were all very upset and freezing that this heatwave never came as we all nearly got hyperthermia. Also everyone got very sea sick but lunch cheered everybody up because it was blooming delicious. We then learned from Sam what all the buoys meant and how they work which was very interesting so we don’t crash and die. After a few coffees/teas and a sing song we made it to Port Ellen. It finally got sunny so we headed to the shop and a had a great time at the beach! We had bangers and mash with some veggies for tea made by the amazing trio. Tomorrow we head off on our longest journey to Oban…Wish us luck!

Murron & Logan