Today we left our home of Peterborough and set a course for a new journey to Portsmouth in a three-hour long car ride. We will be sailing for five days, and a few hours ago we docked at the Isle of Wight (Cowes), which is a few miles south of Portsmouth.

We explored the town and looked over at the waves on the sea. The journey from Portsmouth was another amazing adventure, but we still can’t forget how far away from home we are.

We left the dock at Portsmouth and sped off towards our destination; on the way we saw many huge ships and a beautiful view.

By Rayan and Kaiden.

Continuing this amazing experience, we woke up at 07.30 ready for some delicious breakfast. Today’s breakfast was a scrumptious meal including a “variety of choices” such as toast and cereal.

Afterwards, our group set up the boat for the day, while the other group cleaned up. This was challenging but also fun. After we set up the boat, we took part in a mast climbing challenge which was 100ft high. I managed to do a quarter since I am afraid of heights but my friend climbed all the way experiencing an amazing view!

Following up, we finally set sail for our long journey to Poole Bay that has beautiful cliffs and even better views! Starving, we set up for our lunch, which was sandwiches.

We also had a scary experience of the boat tilting for wind control for about an hour and a half. Finally we have arrived after a long, tiring journey.

To treat ourselves, we had a sausage and mash dinner. And this is the end of our lovely day.

By Daniil and Ivan.

As the week has continued, we woke up at 07:30, we have put up the sails and have done tacking whilst sailing. We had bacon for breakfast and then set sail for Weymouth, but first we had to wait for the fog to lift and for the toilet to be unblocked.

Outside Weymouth, we did a man overboard drill and then went into harbour. We then we went to the beach and after that, we came back and we played on our phones and then it was time for dinner, which was fish and chips. We had to cooked the fish but we already had the chips from fish and chips shop.

After dinner, we played on our phones even more and then when it was time for bed. Everyone went down and brushed their teeth and then got into their PJ’s and layed into bed until 09:30 and then we talked for a bit and then went to sleep.

By Megan and Emalee.

Today we had to wake up even earlier than other days at 06:00 and be on our way by 8:00, so we could follow the tide to Cowes.

Getting the Mainsail up today was harder, with more sweating needed, but we still managed to accomplish raising it. We identified and discussed the different parts of the boat including the stern, bow and companion way.

A few hours later, we had a knot competition using strawberry laces and pencils based on the information we gained yesterday: testing our knowledge.

After a few more hours sailing, we reached Cowes where we bought ice cream and met with the students on the other Challenger boat.

After a lovely curry dinner, we learnt how to navigate ready for our trip back to Portsmouth. When it turned to dusk, we did our night sailing back to Portsmouth.

By Sophie and Arleen.​