Today we woke up at 6.00 in the morning to prep the ship to make sure we could have a safe journey from 7.00 onwards. We started by getting the main sail and we did this by sweating it up to the top.  Through the day we hung around the ship keeping watch. Then our watch made lunch which was posh pasta. The watches were then separated into two, first watch did 1 till 3 and then second watch did 3 till 5. The wind picked up, so we started sailing. By the end we had all the sails up and was sailing very well. When we got to the entrance of Harwich, we tool the sails down and got the boat ready to go into port. We docked very well bearing in mind we had the sea going all directions. We had chilli con carne for tea with tortillas which was also cooked by the watch that didn’t do lunch. Overall, it was a very successful, but long shattering day. In the end got through it which is a massive improvement. Just another long day tomorrow.  Woo Hoo…

By Lillie

Today we were woken up to a lovely serenade from Hugo of the lion king, which at first was un-welcome but it quickly changed when his energy transferred to us allowing us to wake up fully and not suffer as much from tiredness. We were able to get the boat rigged and ready to go by 8 o’clock which allowed for lots of sailing time. We were able to completely stop using and turn off the engine to enable us to get some time truly sailing which was a lot of fun. It allowed us to helm the boat in conditions with high winds and mild waves. Some had severe seasickness throughout the day – one of which had too much squash which resulted in interesting results for some. There was sunburn all around even for those covered in sun cream so we whipped out the after-sun and are waiting for it to calm down. We are docked and, looking forward to showers and what day 5 has to offer especially after learning how much hard work is valued and what happens when we don’t give our full effort.

Jasmine, Chloe and Teagen ​

Today started with a 7:30am start, to which we were greeted with breakfast. Following this we learned that we would be staying in port in preparation for a 24-hour sail tomorrow. We began by giving the yacht a spring clean to ease the weight off of our shoulders. After this we had the opportunity to climb the roughly 30m mast and surprisingly most cadets climbed the full length, Hugo our first mate attempted to climb the mast in under 60s to which he failed miserably scoring a staggering 1m 55s finish. Following this we had dinner which was sandwiches, and we were given permission to plan our meals for the rest of the week, before being given permission to go onto shore leave to explore the local area for the remainder of the day. During this time, some of the cadets went on a wonder to the local beach and played a few games of rugby (we bought a ball a few days before). It was at this point we realised that the time was slipping, and we had little over half an hour to get back to the boat, bearing in mind that our journey to the beach was a 45minute walk. Thankfully however, we made it back to the boat with 6 minutes to spare after finding some shortcuts we arrived back to the boat with dinner prep going into full swing, we were having a chicken stir fry which was absolutely delicious. After dinner and clearing up, we went to play touch rugby before showering. Which brings me to this moment, to where this blog ends.

Oliver Reid

We woke up at 7.00 am to start our day off with rigging the boat as one of the watches prepped breakfast starting with bacon sandwiches. Our watches started off with 4-hour long periods, heading towards Blyth. This was going to be at least a 29-hour long trip. After breakfast the watches split up one going to bed the other staying on watch at the cockpit, this rotated for the full 29-hour trip. We then made lunch with options such as tomato pasta or tuna and sweetcorn pasta. The shifts then carried on.  We put the main sail up and the yankee up to get us to Blyth.  Tea was made which was jacket potatoes with variety different toppings. As the night went on temperature increasingly dropped with lows of something that felt like 0 degrees. Many layers proceeded to build upon our bodies. Sun went down which was really pretty.

Throughout the night many games were played to pass time while we were on watch to keep us awake but still allow us to be aware of our surroundings. As the day began, we continued our watches with 4-hour intervals with a breakfast of pain au chocolates and crepes and fruit. Lunch was tomato or chicken soup which we warmed and served however the conditions made us regret our choices of meal rather quickly – some more than others. We made it to Blyth at the estimated time however we were unable to dock there so after much debating we made the decision to continue on to Newcastle – our final destination – where we finished for the night with a meal of pasty’s, mash and gravy.

By Teagen, Lillie, Jasmine & Chloe

At 8AM on this fine exquisitely beautiful Friday morning. I and the gang begun our brave treacherous cooking; full English breakfast. After the rather scrumptious breakfast we begun prepping the deck. I however, for the past few days, I have been taking roles almost as mate. Our mate, Hugo has really inspired me to become like him. So, I have been attempting to do jobs like him with some help. Deck prep was one of them. After prepping the deck, we sailed out just on the outskirts of Geordie Land.

During this we went over points of sail and tacking. This is done with a working winch and a lazy winch. The working winch takes 3 turns and pull tight the according sail and winches it tight. The lazy sail on command (take off safety turn) removes the safety turn. After the command (lee ho, let go), we remove the rope from teeth and take turns off until one turn and then let go. After everyone took a turn at loosening the staysail; yankee, tightening the staysail; yankee, we took our magnificent sail down the river to see the world class/famous Millenium & Tyne bridges where we took pictures.

After, we headed to the Newcastle harbour and docked up to conclude our amazing Tall Ships voyage. However, work is not done… We began operation cleanup. This involved cleaning the boat from head to toe. I was given the wonderfully, tremendous, magical job of cleaning the kitchen from every cranny possible until it was spotless. And now we start cooking our lasting meals of this voyage, Fajitas. Vadim is cooking it, so here’s to wishing we don’t get salmonella. Once we have finished dinner and cleaned up, we will follow our usual ritual of showers followed by chill time and then bed.

By Michael