At 13:00 on the 29 December 2023, nine 12-15 year olds gathered from various corners of the country- (and indeed the wider world, with Jasper even coming from as far as California and Elora travelling in from Switzerland)) to do some sailing on the stormy Solent.

We were promptly introduced to each other over a biscuit, and then given a safety briefing both above and below deck. After being issued with our wet weather gear for the trip (It promises to be nice and windy for us), we were sorted into our watches and then began to be briefed on the jobs to get the 72ft Challenger underway from the pontoon.

Once we had been briefed on the safety procedures we left under motor for Cowes. Blustery and relatively rough for the Solent, a normally pleasant and easy jaunt, was converted into a fight against the elements in high waves, spray covering the boat as if a kraken could appear at any time, the sky was a dejected grey.

Fortunately, we survived and made it to Cowes with no injuries or casualties, though battered by a light dusting of rain and a gusty breeze, we were ready for dinner, the chili con-carne served went down very well and helped to warm us up after a bitterly cold passage.

By Joel and Cameron​

When we woke up this morning, we made scrambled eggs with bread on the side, it was delicious! We then went up onto the deck to prepare to set sail. It was quite challenging, but we soon were off. During out journey, we experienced very strong winds and big waves which made me feel sick, so I then fell asleep and don’t remember a lot. We all had turns helming, a ns soon we were approaching Poole. We docked and were off to Tesco to but snacks. We then had showers which were surprisingly good!

By Olivia

We woke up and ate breakfast scrambled eggs + muffins, I ate about half the pot. We went on deck preparing to set off which took a while, but the journey was 5 hours I helped for some of it but slept on the front until the wave’s showers woke me up. I then did some helming, but the waves were choppy and massive which tired me out quite a lot which made me so sleepy I slept in the snake pit but soon enough we were at Poole harbour which was great because I took a well needed shower and ate dinner which was lovely.

By Alex H

Storms battered us in today, so we spent the day exploring Poole and keeping ourselves busy with navigation training.

In the evening we made ourselves pizzas and Olivia and Mya made brownies and a sponge cake for dessert (these mysteriously disappeared very quickly.) We also stocked up on snacks to power us through to midnight.

By Elora and Cameron

Today was an unusual New Year’s Day, with strong wind and rain for most of the day with a short intermission every so often till approximately four o’clock.

After preparing the ship ready to set sail, we waited for the entertaining annual bath race held in Poole, we saw people dressed as Oompa Loompas and other bath assisted vehicles such as a shark. The Oompa Loompas won!

Following that we set sail from the harbour, to attempt to avoid the worst of the weather later in the day.

Soon bad weather set in, and people began to go below to shelter from the storm. The few that remained on deck weathered the storm, hunkering down in the cockpit and near to the helm. That allowed the professional crew and the few remaining other crew to keep the boat moving and performing the necessary manoeuvres and navigation.

We headed into port and had a difficult time trying to moor up to the pontoon to finish the day’s voyage. We had noodles garnished with soy sauce, veggies, and Frank’s (Alex Jr.) unique Satay sauce for dinner.

By Daniel, Jasper, and Mya​