When I heard the plane was turning back to Jersey halfway through our flight, I was scared because I thought we would miss a day on the ship, but when we eventually landed in Southampton and got to the boat, I was so excited!

We explored Gunwharf Quays for two hours, which was fun and we had lunch from Tesco. We got to know the boat and motored out of the harbour. We put the two head sails up, Yankee 2 and the Staysail.

There wasn’t much breeze, so we motor sailed down to Cowes. Starboard watch made spaghetti bolognaise and Port watch cleaned up our mess! Then we all had showers.

After that, we sat outside and talked for a while. And that was our awesome first day of the voyage… we didn’t capsize!

By Jamie.

I woke up this morning at 07:25 after a good night’s sleep. Breakfast was great, we had sausage and egg baps. Port watch are working on team building, working together on cooking, domestic rotas and synchronisation while hoisting the Mainsail.

Today we explored Cowes and went to the Musto shop. We also went to Sainsbury’s and bought the essentials, like hot chocolate – of course that’s an essential!

Today we left Cowes at around 10:30. After that, we sailed for about a kilometre before we raised the Mainsail for the first time on our journey so far. We carried on for a while until we saw a navy frigate and the aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales. Just after we saw the ships, we also saw a seaplane landing right by our boat!

Later, we passed by the Needles (a sheer chalk cliff). After that, we carried on, and gybed towards St. Alban’s Ledge before the wind shifted 90 degrees and died. We talked about knots with Lucas and he taught us how to tie clove hitches and bowlines.

We then did a trivia quiz, which Port watch are currently winning , but it’s yet to be finished! We were also taught about cardinal marks and hazards.

Now we have arrived at Weymouth and it’s very pretty. Tomorrow, we’re going for a swim at the beach before we leave.

Tonight, we’re going to have Green Thai Curry, which Port watch have been cooking while Starboard clear up the boat deck.

By Sam.

This morning’s wake up by Lucas was followed by a long lie in for us, with the crew off to the beach for some swimming (or pathetic wading as it was more acurately described). Swimming was followed by showers and cereal for breakfast.

Watch Leader, Lucas, confidently took us off the dock at Weymouth and we hoisted all three sails (for the first time) and even got an exclusive view of some of the Team GB squad training in Portland Bay, with one of the kite surfers giving us a show!!!

Lunch today was baked potatoes with a choice of tuna, sweetcorn and beans, which was delicious, though challenging to eat while under sail.

This was followed by Oscar taking a planned dip for some man overboard practise and some quick sail dropping followed (Richie was not having a good time with all the mess) and we successfully recovered Oscar. This was then followed by a snack time of crisps and to the crew’s parents’ delight, fresh fruit.

We then headed for Warbarrow Bay and dropped the anchor for some time to relax, or so we thought. Some chores then followed and then the crew had a go at pumping up the dingy. The dingy was hoisted into the water and all the crew had a go at rowing, which was good fun to watch.

The crew were then given a chance to go swimming and muck around in the water (much to the stress of us leaders)!!

Luckily, they were then hungry for a warm dinner of chilli and rice, which was wolfed down and many went back for seconds. After dinner, the watches split up for cleaning and packing up the deck. This is currently ongoing and the staff are about to have our evening brews…mmmm….delicious….

Now for the highlight of the day, after all the chores are done we are sitting down for our anchor watch briefing, which is to prepare us for our watches tonight, with myself and Richie taking the 04:00 – 06:00 watch with two of the young people.

When almost all of the crew were asked what they wanted to do, anchor watch tied at number one with going up the mast, so it’s good to be able to do it, although we will see how they are feeling come the morning.

By Charlie (Youth Leader Starboard) and Richie (Youth Leader Port) the perfect semi-responsible adults.

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