We drove eight hours from Glasgow just to get to Portsmouth, which meant that getting up the next day was especially tiring. We had breakfast at 08:30 and met our Skipper, Paul.

For lunch we had chickpea and fruit salad. It was interesting…

We then got ready to leave. First, we toured the boat, and learnt how every tool and safety item worked. Then, we fitted our life jackets and waterproofs, and we were ready to set sail!

We travelled to Cowes on the Isle of Wight, which was a very exciting journey, as it was our first time out of the harbour. We learnt how to coil rope and steer the ship. By the time we arrived, we were even more exhausted than we were in the morning!

After a hot shower and a delicious meal of soup and bread, and then cheesy nachos, we had a contented and happy evening. Today was an experience I will never forget, despite needing my bed by end of it!

By Matilda

We sat together and talked about chart reading, and what to do if there are any obstacles in the way. We also learnt about the depth of the water by using Reeds 2022 nautical almanac, which is a book that has everything to do with sailing.

We also put the sail up for the first time. We had pasta for lunch, which we had to make while the boat was moving, which was interesting. I also drove the ship.

For dinner, we’re going to eat Biryani, which is an Indian dish made with rice, vegetables and some delicious seasoning, and is typically served with chicken, but since we have many vegetarians and Muslims who can only eat halal meat onboard, we are having with prawns instead. Despite there being no meat, I bet the Biryani will be immaculate! ☺

After the brilliant Biryani, we cleaned up and then went for a walk onshore. We went to the beach and then shopped in Sainsbury’s.

By Rana and Saba’a

Today we woke up  earlier than usual at 07:15 and had our breakfast. Afterwards, we came up with our passage plan, which included weather, tides and obstacles to look out for. We were taught all this the night before, which made it much easier and quicker to do.

The Spudnick team learned clove hitch knots and the Sellkies team got to learn about the engine. Before leaving to Bucklers Hard, Saba’a volunteered to call Hamble River Harbour Master to book a space.

Then we got ready to sail and during our journey, our Skipper gave us a lesson about the five main safety hazards to look out for which were:

• Piracy
• Man overboard
• Sinking
• Medical issues
• Fires

While making lunch, the Sellkies team started getting sick one by one, so the Spudnick team kindly took over. Once we arrived at the Bucklers Hard, we made dinner, which was a delicious, mouth-watering, delectable halloumi burgers. Everyone absolutely adored them and craved more!

We then went for a walk ashore followed by showers. And as we write this, the rest of the crew are playing the game ‘Good Day Bruce’. Good night!

Today team Selkies started the day with a hearty breakfast of toast with varieties of spreads, cereal of different kinds with semi-skimmed milk as it is everyone’s preferred milk.

Selkies then cleaned up the dishes and the table, then we all updated our food timetable/rota and planned the next few days of meals.

Later that morning at 08:00, Robin and Matilda raised the enson. We then started a passage plan for today’s route from Buckler’s Hard to Warsash.

The crew fancied ice cream and some people bought souvenirs. We were told that there would be no public toilets or showers at Warsash, which was disappointing after the high standards of the luxurious Buckler’s Hard facilities.

Before we se sail, we went out rowing in the dingy, we saw a lot of jelly fish! We started to prepare ourselves to sail and wore our waterproofs and life jackets, checked out the engine and started to remove the fenders.

We then started our engine and set sail towards Warsash. During our journey, we set up our Mainsail for the first time. It turned out to be much more easy to manage than the Genoa and Mizzen, but we felt a significant difference in the boat’s stability.

The Spudnick team prepared lunch, which was bagels and cream cheese with different fillings. During our voyage, we did a recap on safety and talked about mannerisms and rules of sailing.

After two hours of sailing, Spudnick team started to prepare for dinner, which was fajitas with sides of guacamole, salsa and Florida salad. The Selkies cleaned up the rest of the day after the Spudnicks prepared lunch and dinner.

After this, we all went to the co-op to shop for new food for our new rota that we’d created this morning, we spent around £86 on two days’ worth of food.

After a long hard day, we spent some time all together practicing the cup song by Anna Kendrick and Sahana and Yagmur sang along with the beat of the cups. We later wrapped it all up and went straight to bed to prepare for another long hard tomorrow!