CHALLENGER 1 – RIVERSIDE SCHOOL

We heaved our immense bags onto the plane, desperate for a hint of adventure coming our way. The plane ride was strenuous, as was the train ride, but with good music and of course our phones, we survived. Finally we arrived at our destination, Portsmouth, a key port city of the British Isles. Here is where our challenging, complex and thrilling adventure began…

This was the promised day, a day of intriguing sights, smells and experiences. When morning came, we dragged ourselves out of bed and into our new habitat, a cabin inside a tall ship. At first the day went as expected, we visited a naval exhibit, Portsmouth Historical Harbour, where gargantuan battleships were kept for the viewing pleasure. We also got our daily dose of history: a brief entailment of the life of famous sea Captain, Lord Nelson and his valiant deeds in the battle of Trafalgar. Following this, we spent our remaining free time exploring the wonders of the harbour and the shops. Then we returned to our designated ships, Challenger 1 and 3, where we were taught the ways to operate the ship in order to successfully sail to our next destination: Sandown Bay.. And before we knew it, we had set sail, which was an exuberating experience for everyone. The weather was ideal for our trip, as the sun was brightly shining and the wind was blowing enough for us to hoist the sail. Lastly, after the physical work had been completed and we reached our chosen destination, we anchored and began our transition to a peaceful slumber, anxious to experience the upcoming day.

By Adrianna

Today we woke up at 6 am and set sail. We discovered that it takes forever to prepare the ship for it to set sail. We were on deck for about 2 hours before everybody went back down stairs and took a nap. We took turns steering the ship. It was amazing, but then something really amazing happened. We found an amazing, ugly and old life ring floating in the sea, which we recovered. Our perfect lunch was prepared by great chef Admen (Adam) and Adriana. For lunch we had some delicious sandwiches.

After lunch things started to get more interesting. We had really important discussion about the safety on boat. We got to the port around 3 pm and had to take down the sails and organize the deck. After that we went to the beach and bought some chocolate chip cookie crumble ice cream. Than we put on our swim suits and went swimming. It was extremely hot. (Like flaming hot Cheetos)

It was getting colder and so we decided to get back to our beautiful ships. After we took shower we went back to our tall ships and enjoyed dinner. For dinner we had pork meat with vegetables and more vegetables and butter. Important to mention that Adam was fighting with the meat the whole time. Overall we had great day today. We experienced so much stuff and we are proud to call this day-a adventurous day. So far all the people on board are amazing. Next time try to avoid using the word ‘amazing’.

Written by Anna 8W and Matyas 9A

By today we were very exhausted, but ready for a new adventure. Woken up really early without breakfast, we dragged ourselves to the deck. Hungry, but prepared, we set off to our destination: Brixham. After leaving port and putting up the sails, we finally made some breakfast (by Victoria, Adam and Adrianka). The Chefs made a tremendously delicious meal: Bacon rolls. Hard work took up all our energy and we were desperate for another meal: potato patty. Some had gummily whitely white cheese, baked beany beans and buttery butter. Sailing, sleeping and sitting was fun, but tiring. When we arrived in Brixham, we went shopping looking for the tackiest souvenir in order to win the prize from the skipper. But there was a twist…it had to be under 3 pounds. Hard and desperate we realized that finding something in Britain is almost as impossible, as breathing in space. However, there was free time. Suddenly, some people ran into some shops with candy, ice cream or with some cheesy games. Then we made dinner, very British Fish and Chips, also by the exact same amazing chefs. Now filled with delicious food we are lingering here and typing this blog. Wish us good luck!

By Viktorie & Adriana

We all woke up to Neville’s voice calling out, ‘Wake Up!’ once again and then we all slowly drudged out of bed. After breakfast we felt the anticipation of a day that would bring some good sailing. The wind was howling! We all worked hard to get the boat out of port: bringing in the fenders, heaving in the moor ropes and prepping the sails. Luckily we were able to finish our prep work way before the other group so that made us very happy because we were always the ones that were a step behind them. Then we started pulling up the sails – because it was so windy, we got to pull a sail that we haven’t seen before called the stay sail, so that was fun. After we were done many of us started feeling a bit sea sick, we were all laying around on deck looking at the ocean which was getting progressively nearer to our faces due to the high winds. We had a lot of sails up and the boat was on a tilt of twenty degrees. I (Adam) decided to go downstairs and try to take a nap however I slept a lot longer than I thought – I later found out that three other people kept trying to wake me  but they couldn’t so that is how I missed lunch. When we got to Portland we visited Chesil beach which was a sight to behold – pebbles and ocean as far as the eye could see. After a hard day of sailing, we could hardly wait for dinner, a feast of burgers, pork steak, lamb kebabs and salad.

By Adam and Brennan