It’s the first day and were moored in Yarmouth. So far we’ve sailed through the Solent and seen Cowes, Ride, and Southampton on the other side. Once everyone met the crew on board we all got lifejackets and were told all about the boat and the names of different parts and places within challenger 1. We had the best ever fajitas in the world made by starboard watch, Port are now cleaning up listening to George Ezra through the loud speakers on the boat. We will probably go out and have look in Yarmouth in a bit and also play some games. We saw the isle of Whight ferry which challenger 4 had to wait to come into the marina, as it was about to leave. When we were settled earlier we could a loud microphone which sounded like there was a carnival type thing going on in Yarmouth quite close to us, well go and have a look. Zak was first to be at the helm and Oscar scoffed the biscuits down, well the bourbons. Also Isla and Ella are very pleased to have a little cabin to themselves away from all the boys on the boat! Everyone on the boat is loving life at sea and getting well with each other (… Most of the time…) But who knows it’s only the first day!

Written by Ella

The second day began with us waking up and having breakfast it was just cereal that had been prepared by port watch (with me being in starboard watch). My watch then went and cleaned the ship: afterwords the watches were given the chance to climb the mast, I just played cheat below deck with some others. After the tide turned we set sail and the mast was put up for the first time. Several people including myself went up to the front of the boat and waited for the waves to splash onto the deck and hit us. Most of us got very wet! As our speed increased the ship became angled with it tilting 30 degrees at its peak. More of us got the chance to steer the boat and they got it up to 10.5 knots. We all had to work to get the sails up when the we just tried to get to know each other better .We had a good night sleep but there was a couple loud snores , so we might need ear plugs tonight . We were almost ready to dock up but then we found out that the other boat (challenger 4) had something wrong with their boat so we had to raft up and take them to shore. At lunch time we had pasties and beans. It was delicious! Most of us had a piece of fruit on the side. We are all very tired and off to bed now.

Written by Zak , Isla and Jake

We left Weymouth at about midday, slightly delayed due to an engine cooling problem on Challenger 4. This did mean, on the other hand, that we had an opportunity to have a look around town before our departure. We arrived at Studland Bay at around 4.30 and dropped the anchor in a sheltered spot. Once the dinghy had been inflated, Steve ferried us across 5 at a time to a lovely beach where we had a (slightly sandy) BBQ and swam. After that we returned to the boat for an anchored night in the bay.

James and Dan

Today we got up and prepared the deck for our departure from Studland Bay. After the anchor had been lifted the weather turned for the worst meaning we had to change into some wet weather gear. For most of the day it was windy and wet, as we sailed past Poole and Bournemouth on the mainland and the Needles and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Everyone was in action as at one point we lifted both sails at the same time. Once we entered the Solent, the winds dropped and the sea became very calm indeed. We dropped the sails and used the motor for the final stretch into Hamble, Cowes having been too busy to stop there. Before our arrival, we had a brief opportunity to learn about flares as well as do a man overboard drill. As we arrived in Hamble at around 3.15 we found that Challenger 4 had in fact ripped their main sail and were unable to use it!

We had a couple of hours to explore town before fish and chips at 6.00. Starboard watch cleared up whilst Port watch prepared for the final departure (night sail) to Portsmouth scheduled at around 10.30pm

James and Dan