Price
£940
Nights
Seven
Age range
16-25
Start port
Portsmouth
End port
Portsmouth
DofE
Yes
RYA
Watch Leader
Voyage code
KT118
Bursary
Available
Voyage highlights
Take your sailing and navigation skills to the next level and join us on this eight-day Voyage of Leadership along the south coast.
This skills-focused voyage is a great opportunity to learn how to lead on board our 55ft ketch vessel, Tenacity of Bolton, working as part of a crew of other young people who share common goals and a passion for sailing.
For this ‘Voyage of Leadership’, you must have previously sailed on one of TSYT’s Voyages of Empowerment or have a similar level of experience in an alternative active outdoor learning setting.
Our Leadership Voyages offer an intense, challenging and immersive voyage experience and will involve learning to navigate, passage plan and lead a watch in addition to experiencing potentially challenging offshore and overnight sailing.
For this reason, Leadership Voyages may not be suitable for young people who have not completed the previous phases of our three-voyage journey or the RYA Competent Crew course.
If you have relevant skills and experience, but have not yet completed a Competent Crew course, there will be the opportunity to have this certificate awarded on the voyage.
Sailing alongside other young people aged 16 to 25 on a journey similar to your own, you’ll develop the skills and knowledge needed to prepare you for the RYA Day Skipper course and you will also be able to sign off some of the competencies needed to achieve the RYA Watch Leader.
You’ll sail through the Solent before heading out along the south coast. You may spot dolphins, seals and fin whales along the way, so don’t forget your camera.
Likely stopovers include Cowes or Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, and Lymington, or Poole along the south coast.
There is also the potential to journey even further west to Weymouth and beyond if the weather allows.
As a Voyage of Leadership, you will leave with a knowledge of tides, weather forecasting and passage planning as well as understanding the fundamentals of chartwork, navigation and pilotage. You’ll cover what to do in an emergency and how to use the VHF radio as well as learning how to manage a crew.
You’ll also become familiar with essential safety drills and by the end of the voyage you’ll have developed the skills to take charge of the yacht to plan, prepare, execute and review each component of the voyage.
You will take turns to lead the team in all aspects of sailing the yacht, from deck work to provisioning, cooking, cleaning and day-to-day maintenance.
This voyage is a great opportunity to make tangible progress towards achieving your goals, with time to reflect on your achievements and opportunities to learn about yourself as a leader and team player.
Each crew member will receive a personal assessment covering their leadership, teamwork and communication skills — a great addition to your CV and personal record of achievement.
The Skipper will determine the final route depending on weather and other variables.
Your Skipper can also recommend you for our volunteer crew training programme, if they feel you have the skills and attributes that we’re looking for. You can speak to your TSYT crew if this is something you’d be interested in and you’d like to find out more.
All meals on board are included.
You’ll hopefully get the chance to sign off some of the competencies needed to complete the RYA Watch Leader course while you’re on board.
The RYA Watch Leader syllabus covers the following up to the standard required for taking charge of a watch at sea or in harbour. It is at an equivalent level to RYA Day Skipper, designed specifically for sail training vessels.
- Watchkeeping
- Seamanship
- Navigation
- Safety
RYA logbooks are available for purchase on board at a cost of £6 (Skippers are only able to take cash for this).
All voyages of four nights or more qualify for the residential section of the DofE Gold Award.
Please let our Reservations Team know before sailing if you want to use the voyage for this.

