We arrived at Portsmouth by minibus, some of us having never done tall ships before and not knowing what to expect, and some of us having returned for more, delighting in telling those who were doing it for the first time that there were no showers, and the toilets were buckets. Well done to martin for driving the minibus and for being the engineer of this sadism:)

After bringing our bags to challenger 1 we were given the grand tour of the boat, a pleasant mix of people being happy to be back and relief that the toilets are not buckets.

We travelled to cowes, when it came to putting the fenders back out, we had to swap them between port and starboard a couple of times. Extra clove hitch practice!

For dinner we had fajitas cooked by the pirate patrol ( take a moment to admire the iconic watch name).

Our first full day on challenger 1 began with a game of boat murder. Where we each have the name of a person, an object and a place, and if we give that object to that person in that place, we successfully kill them in the game.

We left cowes and put up the main sail, a Yankee and the stay sail, and headed for Weymouth, passing the needles along the way.

For the first time tall ship sailors, the journey was about adapting to the tilt of the boat. When passing the needles the people sitting at the front of the deck were splashed by the waves.

The first death was Evy was killed by Kitty’s glass of orange juice.

The second was Noah killed with a glass of squash at the wheel by Sophie. But Noah’s victim was Sophie, so she died with him.

We got to Weymouth where the ocean explorers (admire the watch name but agree it is inferior to pirate patrol) cooked pasta and meat balls, whilst pirate patrol packed up the sails.

next die was Frederick killed by May with a winch handle in the heads.

Finally, willow was killed by martin’s left shoe.

Before sleeping there was a game of spoons.

By the end of the day the death toll of boat murder was at 5.

We spent a day in Weymouth!

After a lovely breakfast (croissants and spread) we all very ‘willingly’ did a thorough clean of the boat because of the nightmare we had yesterday.

We started the mast climbing and got loads of different people climbing + sweating for the first time, something we always love to see.

Kitty and Evy led a very stressful dinghy pumping activity – eventually completed that successfully!!

Lunch today was filled baguettes featuring some Walker’s crisps and we ate while having a great conversation about pickles, crisp flavours and the lot.

Then it was beach time – the highlight of everyone’s day, I’m sure. After rounds of tense games and an unfortunate loss against the Challenger 3 team, ice cream and time in the water was very much needed to de-stress.

A couple of our team enjoyed the rides near the boats – positive feedback was rumoured around the boat.

Dinghy racing swiftly came around, which was heaps of laughs and fun!

And now onto the ultimately best part of the day…

Wait for it…

The fish and chips for dinner!

It was amazing we enjoyed filling our stomachs after the long day we had all had.

We’ve had a few deaths today with more to come further in the week.

Have a wonderful night, and we’ll see you later!​

The adventure began at quarter past five in the morning, when we got out of our bunks and sailed from Weymouth in the dark.

We put the sail up at dawn as the sun was rising behind a wild thicket of clouds.

We ate a breakfast of delicious, crunchy bacon muffins on deck, as the ship encountered an expanse of very tall, arching waves. But the bacon was just that good that they miraculously stayed down.

With three sails up, we quickly covered the distance to the needles. We predicted to travel at 7 knots but were doing double that for a bit!

Past the needles, the waves became gentler, and we each took turns on the helm (+Zack had a turn at the beginning).

When we started putting sails down, events took an interesting turn when the main sail ripped!!! A large seam tore right across the middle, so the sail was flapping in two halves. (Martin has the event captured on his snapchat photos.) (I(willow) was on the mast as this was happening- it was exciting)

No one panicked or stressed, and we brought the sail down successfully- for a sail to give out like that was a first for many, and we are very proud of our confidence and teamwork in handling it.

We arrived at Portsmouth, all rather damp as a direct result of the weather (as martin said to Noah, visibility was poor). We spent forty minutes once we docked to dry off, then went back up to tidy the deck. We coiled ropes, folded sails, and cleared up stray sail ties.

Boat murder update: gabby died, killed by kitty with an onion at the sail locker.

Then we had lunch- tortellini pasta with tomato sauce and cheese. We had free time until dinner, in which most opted to play card games in the salon. For dinner we had sausages, mash, carrot and broccoli, with onion gravy which Noah was rightfully proud of- courtesy of the ocean explorer’s watch.

After dinner we reflected on our favourite parts of the trip and what we found most challenging.

It has been amazingly enjoyable and character building, with everyone having stood out as extraordinary, and we have all become good friends. This is something we will remember happily forever:)