At 10:00 we left Cheshire after meeting up as our group. During the journey down, we sang songs to bring each other closer, tied our hair up and shared our food.

Considering this was the first time we all met as a group, we all felt comfortable with each other instantly. We arrived at Portsmouth at 17:00, emptied our bags onto Challenger 3 and roamed Portsmouth.

The original plan was to go bowling, which got cancelled, so instead we went to Frankie and Bennies. On the way here, Gaz got us lost for about 40 times due to his dreadful directional skills.

After the dinner, we all skipped together down to the docks, interrupted somebody’s family photo and joined in, and then settled on the boat for the night. We introduced ourselves to the Welsh group (on Challenger 2) then played uno before bed.

Waking up at 09:00, we explored Portsmouth more until 13:00, when the final group from Greater Manchester arrived on Challenger 4.

We went to the beach and then Burger King for lunch, where Gaz and Mandy gracefully paid for our lunches (not that they had a choice).

At 13:00, we met on Challenger 3 again and had a briefing from our respective watch  leaders (Els and Dan). In this briefing, we were told about kit care, where the heads and sail locker are and different types of ropes.

Mark (The Mate onboard) described the man overboard procedure to us. We sailed for proximately three hours until we arrived in Cowes. Once there, the whole crew decided to wander around Cowes. From Co-op, to Sainsbury’s, then to a shelter outside M&S for a lengthy period.

Just in front of the docks, we gave each other piggy backs for about an hour, resulting in many of us falling to floor in fetal positions.

We then rescinded back to the boat after gaining more bruises. Then we went to bed, after screaming onboard for a while.

We travelled from Cowes to Weymouth from 09:00 – 16:00. We were supposed to leave first but Skipper Adam’s pep talk lasted about 17 hours……

We put the Mainsail up for the first time, Yankee and Stormstay. A lot of us looked after the ill, as seasickness is a demon. Being downstairs sucked real bad, would not recommend.

Arrving in Weymouth, we packed the sails and lines away. We doubled up fenders and got ready to go for showers. Just to mention, we overtook all the other boats and were the first to arrive in Weymouth.

For dinner, we had shoreside fish and chips, which was delicious, but no gravy, so disappointing. We adventured to the arcade, where we played games and ‘borrwed’ pingpong balls, before going to the beach for approximately two minutes.

A storm started, so we rushed back to the boat and went to sleep.