Today we boarded the Challenger 3 at Gunwharf Marina. We were introduced to the boat by skipper Terry, first mate Paul and watch leaders Reuben and Tim. We met the rest of the crew and were assigned our watches, and bunks in our crib. So comfortable and spacious! After having a tour of the yacht and learning some key terminology, we put on our waterproofs and lifejackets and set sail, heading TOWARDS Yarmouth (you should never say ‘going to’ because you might not make it…). But in this case we did make it. On route we put up the sails and sailed at about 245 degrees, to the right of the cardinal buoys along the North side of the Isle of Wight. We saw the Napoleonic forts which were very cool. We practised tacking with impressive success and also did a MOB drill with a dan buoy, where we learnt the 4 steps to take in case of a MOB emergency. Our skipper Terry had to moor the boat in strong winds from a challenging direction blowing across the side of the boat. We tied on to the pontoon and held out massive heavy ginamorosaurus fenders at Yarmouth and the Port watch made a gorgeous ‘spaghetti’ Bolognese while the Starboard watch packed the sails into their sailbags. We explored a little around Yarmouth and walked on the pier where we saw some people fishing.

Today we lay in until the glorious hour of 0730 hours. We had bacon baps produced by the Port watch and then the Starboard watch cleaned up the nice greasy pans. We had a briefing of the day’s plan, which due to the 35 knot – wind out at sea were limited to sailing theory and planning for tomorrow’s passage. We were split into groups assessing different critical aspects of the passage; tide, charts (refuge ports, distance, time) and weather. After about 30 minutes of hard work, we shared our findings with the rest of the crew to create an optimal passage plan. We have decided to leave at 0730 hours tomorrow morning so the tide will take us in the right direction. Then Starboard watch made a scrumptious dish of ricotta and spinach tortellini with a marscapone sauce, with lots of snazzy spices. After scranning, it was time to accomplish what was quickly realised as the most important mission of the day, some may say, the week, some, our entire lives. Following much debate and pondering, we reached an agreement that our ultimate goal for this trip is…………………………………………..

To learn and improve our skills to help us to work efficiently as a team!

To do this, our main goals are communicating, asking more questions, cooperation, contribution, working together and keeping morale high and having fun.

Reuben showed us all of the points of sail and taught us useful vocabulary about parts of a sail and of the boat. Paul then showed us the ‘WOBBLED’ method for assessing the boat’s engine, Perkins, then we caught a speedy tan in the UV4 sunshine on deck (with SPF50+++ of course, safety first).

The D of E crew went shopping and acquired 2 sweet potatoes and one pepper. We cut everything up and after an emotional onion-induced group cry on deck, started to cook. Starboard watch cooked up an insanely delish curry which everyone agreed was the best meal they had ever eaten, or perhaps ever made in history. We had rice with it using the Ruby Rice method, and some naans and mango chutney. Port watch washed and dried up (we say Port watch but we mean Ellie and Jess). Then we wrote this wonderful blog. Hope you enjoyed, Starboard watch over and out xoxoxo J

Today we woke up at 6:45 and started the deck prep and we left Yarmouth at 7.15, 15 minutes before we planned. We then began sailing towards Weymouth. We managed to get the main sail and the yankee up and sailed at 12 knots using just wind power. We passed the Needles, Jurassic coast and the army firing zone which caused a delay as we had to detour around the zone as they were firing at that time. We made some lunch of pasties and beans while sailing and continued on our way to Weymouth. We finally arrived outside Weymouth port and started taking the sails down. We then motored into the port and tied up to the pontoon and put the sails away into the bags.

We then went to explore Weymouth, we got homemade ice cream, swam in the sea, played volleyball and came back to the boat to some homemade fish and chips by the DOE participants.