Today I woke up at 06:00 full of excitement for what I would be doing on my first day of sailing.

At 09:15, I was dropped off at Newcastle to take one of the three trains I would need to take in order to get to Portsmouth and board the boat. I stepped on the first train feeling quite nervous.

About 90 minutes into my three-hour journey, the train the novelty wore off and I did not realise how dull being on the train could be. I then got on my second train of the day, which lasted for 40 minutes but felt like hours! On the final leg of the journey I was ready to get off the train because my back was really starting to hurt due to the fact I’d been carrying a big heavy bag around all day.

After a short walk from the final train station, I saw the boat. At first I was wondering how on earth everyone was going to fit on the boat but it’s a very big yacht compared to what I originally thought.

After getting a bite to eat, I went to my hammock/bed and went to sleep. I did not care that it was a bit uncomfortable at first because I was far too tired!

By Felix.​

In my opinion, today has been absolutely fantastic. We were woken up at 08:00 but I was already up and ready by 07:00 and was too excited to sleep the whole night.

When everyone else was awake, we all had breakfast, brushed our teeth and got ready for the day ahead. After we were all ready we were divided into two watches, Port and Starboard. Each watch has certain roles and chores to do around the ship.

After that, we were all taken to the top deck and shown how to put up sails, navigate using landmarks and learnt how to steer the boat.

On our departure from Portsmouth I was really excited. Halfway through the journey I got the opportunity to steer the boat, it was lots of fun.

After four hours of sailing, we made it to our first destination, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. Tomorrow we will travel to Weymouth.

I can’t wait to see what the Skipper will have in store for us tomorrow.

By Felix.

Today was an eventful day on Challenger 1. We sailed from Yarmouth to Weymouth over the course of roughly six hours. Our watch (Port watch) was preparing the deck for our journey in the morning and preparing food in the evening.

We had all three of our sails up for most of our voyage and we all had a go at hauling the sails up the mast (the highest sail was 90ft above the deck). We were at an angle of 15 degrees at some points in the journey.

After arrival at Weymouth, we put the boat to sleep then spent some time on land at the amusements (some of us went to the beach). Then we prepared our dinner (fish and chips) and enjoyed it before having some time to relax (or wash the dishes, if you’re in Starboard watch).

By Albert.

Today was amazing! We woke up at 07:00 to have breakfast at 07:15. After breakfast was eaten, we prepared three of the sails ready for our departure. The voyage today was very different to yesterday’s, mainly due to stronger winds and choppier seas. This change of climate did have its good and bad points, such as: faster speed, fun to ride but waterproofs were a must.

The main issue today was that the sea being choppy had caused people to have very bad sea sickness. In my opinion it was best to stay at the front of the boat and only go under deck if it was essential, it can cause sea sickness if you’re under there for too long.

When the boat was packed up and we all had dinner, we were allowed to go into town and explore. We went to the carnival and went on lots of rides.

By Felix.

Today was the best day of the whole trip as we got to climb up the mast. Some found it difficult or scary but most of us got to the top. I was only scared when I got stuck under the forestay that helps hold the mast up, but I luckily managed to get out of the way and continued onwards.

Once at the top, I put down the foot rests and looked around in awe, feeling accomplished that I managed to get to the top because it was my main goal for the trip.

Later in the day, I got to helm the yacht and at first I thought that it was weird to control, but in the end I managed to figure it out and we passed a massive cruise liner.

Finally, after a long day’s work, we arrived in Poole and after putting the boat to bed, we had some time ashore. We then had a great dinner of sausages, mash, carrots and onion gravy.

After tidying up from dinner, we headed to the nicest showers of the whole trip, they were really relaxing and warm.

By Lewis.