Challenger 4 — St John Fisher Catholic High School
Day 1
Summer Solstice (longest day of the year)
AFTER all of us testing negative for our Covid tests, we had a tour of the boat and an on deck and below safety briefing.
We then collected our waterproofs and headed out into the rain. We began to sail towards the Isle of Wight, it was really windy, damp and rocky, and the waves were quite high.
Chrisaldo took the steering wheel with a big smile on his face just as we saw the Isle of Wight get nearer and nearer. On the way there, we saw a huge coast guard helicopter, and the world’s last remaining commercial hovercraft while having a cup of tea and demolishing a whole box of biscuits! 😬
Eventually, the port of Cowes came into sight and soon we came into port. We threw over the fenders, which protect the side of the boat and the first mate tied the boat to the pontoon. We were given a briefing afterwards, and were asked to sum up the journey in one word, words given included- wet, damp, windy, brilliant, fantastic and green!
Soon half of the team called the Starboard watch began to cook and prep fajitas. We all sat down to a lovely dinner thanks to starboard watch! After that, Port watch washed and cleaned up. Lights out at 11 o’clock, tomorrow we look forward to sailing to Weymouth!
Day 3
23 June
TODAY we sailed from Weymouth to Lymington, which took us around eight hours. It was a much calmer day than yesterday, and was very sunny for most of the day, so morale on the boat was high.
We raised the Main sail, much quicker than yesterday. The Yankee and Staysail were also raised successfully, led by Crisaldo and Sabina – fantastic teamwork was shown.
Part of the journey was spent learning what to do in a ‘man overboard’ situation, and learning how to tie various knots – the bowline, Admiral’s fist, and clove hitch.
The bowline is one of the most versatile knots, used for tying the sails and mooring the boat. The Admiral’s fist is used as a stopper, and the clove hitch can be used to tie fenders on for mooring.
One of the most exciting parts of the day was where the whole team participated in pole climbing. Everyone got to the top and made it back safely! When we moored in Lymington harbour, we had spaghetti bolognese for tea, which went down very well with the entire crew. 😋
Crisaldo and Erin 😊