We all met for the first time today at Gunwharf Quays Marina, Portsmouth. We set sail from Portsmouth at 16:45, after we sorted out our waterproofs and life jackets and went over the safety briefings.

We began to learn the basics of operating the yacht while motoring over to Cowes on the Isle Of Wight, and this is where we will spend tonight.

Tomorrow, the weather isn’t forecast to be very good.

We cooked Chilli Con Carne for dinner and chanted a repetitive rhyme while cooking. Someone spilled their drink when we sat down to eat, but it didn’t go in anyone’s dinner, which was lucky.

After dinner, we cleaned up and then relaxed until it was time for bed.

We enjoyed meeting new people.

By Imogen, Kristin, Oliver, Jacob and Jack.

We woke up at 07:45 to rain and wind. Then the Port watch made breakfast, which was scrambled egg and toast.

After breakfast, Starboard watch cleaned the boat while Port watch set up the sails ready to set sail tomorrow.

We then sat down around the table as the Skipper went through what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We went through emergency procedures, and the Skipper and mMate demonstrated what to do when a a member of the crew falls overboard. We were shown how to retrieve a man overboard, as well as learning about pirates and flooding and harnesses. WE ENJOYED THIS.

We had chicken goujon wraps with some reasonably diced salad for lunch. After this, we set the sails up while the others made din dins for tomorrow as we have a very tough day ahead of us and will not have enough time.

Furthermore, we curiously explored the wonderful town of Cowes. We had an hour and a half to walk around and explore, and we went to Poundland where we got snacks and all donated 25p to a charity.

We then had some free time on board and got to know each other a bit more.

We then had the opportunity to have a nice warm shower at the nearby facilities. After everyone had showered, we were sat at the table waiting patiently for our dinner to be served.

After dinner, some of the crew cleaned up while the others helped to write this blog. Then we chilled on the boat before getting ready for bed.

By Ruby, Ishaan, Matilda and Luca.

We woke up at 05:30 and set sail at just after 06:00. We had cereal for breakfast. The engine over heated just after we left Cowes, so we put up two sails and sailed while Paul and Paul went to fix it. They managed to fix the engine and we continued sailing.

We got to Yarmouth and the engine overheated again, so we went back to Cowes and had soup for lunch, while the engine got fixed and tested. While we were in Cowes, there were a lot of races going on, and as one of the boats was leaving the harbour to race, we saw a man overboard. We are pleased to say, he was safely rescued by the Harbour Master’s boat, as he wasn’t wearing a life jacket.

We set sail again after lunch and the engine was working fine. We set up the Mainsail before we left the Solent, which made us go a lot faster.

The waves were a lot bigger once we left the Solent, and the boat was leaning a lot more, which made it hard to do the washing up from lunch. We then sat on the side of the boat and watched the waves.

For dinner, we had peanut butter spiced beef, but not many people ate anything as we were either too tired or seasick to want to eat anything.

We had two watches. Port were on watch from 19:00 to 22:00, and Starboard watch were 22:00 to 01:00, but many of us just stayed up on deck for the entire time we were sailing. We reached Brixham at around 23:15 and took the Mainsail down, which was difficult in the dark.

We went to bed at 00:20 and fell asleep quickly.

By Imogen, Oli, Jack, Kristin and Jacob.​

We were joyfully woken up by some uplifting music after a not so joyful night watch. We awoke to a lovely, well balanced, appetizing service of some scrumtious bacon in some delightful bread.

Some of our fellow, more mature crew mates, helpfully tidied up afterwards. We lead the setup of the sails for later on in the day and soon after explored the gorgeous town of Brixham and got some ice-cream.

We then decided to surprise one of our crew mates with cards and balloons for her birthday tomorrow. We then returned to the boat and prepared to sail to Plymouth.

Once we set off, we went into full sail and managed to see some dolphins jumping out of the shimmering blue water. For lunch we had pasties, beans and salad. It was good.

We then began to tack the boat as we headed towards Plymouth. We were soon close to arriving in port, so we began to put down the sails and started to get out the mooring lines, ladder and fenders.

While we did this, two of our crew mates started to cook our final dinner together below deck. The dinner consisted of a dish of carrots, mash potatoes, sausages and onion gravy. We began to shower, set up the surprise and went to bed.

The End.