Hot and sunny Glasson

Crew all aboard safely, we have had a lovely evening and ate our dinner on deck in the glorious sunshine.

Back onto our Berth

Today was our last day on the ketch, we have spent it cleaning the boat and eating alot of lemon pancakes!

In the morning we woke up at 8am, had some cereals and then we passed through the lock up to Glasson Marina, which was more challenging than we thought as the wind was blowing hard so it was difficult to moor the boat back on her berth. At one point Roan was left stranded on the jetty as the boat had to motor away to make another approach.

The week on Tenacity has been a challenge for all of us and very eventful and fun for myself and James and everyone else on the boat. So thanks to Colin and Mary because they were just awesome. All and all the week has been very knowledgeable and we hope to come back again soon

Oli and James

Back to Glasson

Today was our last full day on Tenacity. It was not the most exciting (Tuesday was the most exciting for me when we sailed across to Peil) but still fun as every day has been.

We woke up to a bright blue sky with the sun shining down on us. Mary and Colin said it would be a great day for activities on the water. We decided to take it easy for the first part of the morning and did some reading and fishing. We then all took driving lessons in the dinghy (more like a collision course) around the buoys at Peil Island. We had lunch which was scrummy hot dogs. We then got the engine started and set sail for Fleetwood.

We were sailing in the sun but also blustery winds which sent sea spray over the whole crew. The journey took a bit longer as the wind dropped and after 3 hours we reached the place to anchor for dinner. After the best meal of week of fish and homemade chips we set off again and motored around to Glasson where we are now moored in the lower basin. In the morning we will have a short trip through the lock to our marina berth.

This week has been a great experience and I hope I will have the chance to come on the boat again.

Max

A dodgy knot!!

Today was our third day on Tenacity and it was an eventful one. We went ashore at Peil Island to explore the ruined castle, when we arrived back at the jetty we discovered the knot tying up the dinghy had come undone and it had floated away!! We were stranded on an island without a way to get back to Tenacity!

We then saw the dinghy floating far away in the distance. Luckily we found another dinghy to borrow and Colin, Luke and Alastair rowed across the bay to get it back. We then had to spend a couple of hours stuck on the island with 2 sheep and lots of dead crabs.

In the afternoon we went for a sail near the wind farm and did some tacking practice but there wasn’t much wind so we motored back to anchor at Peil Island for dinner. For dinner Luke and Alastair cooked chicken Korma and Roan made delicious apple crumble, the best Colin and Mary had tasted!!

Early Morning Scrape out of Glasson

We had to get up at 4:50am today in order to catch the tide out of Glasson. Most of us took some waking up, we are not used to getting woken at that time in the morning! We got up and headed straight up on deck in our waterproofs and lifejackets. We found out this morning that our destination for the day was to be Peil Island near Barrow.

Getting down through the lock was pretty straightforward with the lock keeper doing most of the hard work, our challenge this morning was to get across Glasson Dock as the high tide was not a particularly large one, meaning that more than twice we touched the mud on the bottom and had to reroute to locate the ever so slightly deeper water. We made it though and as we went over the sea lock had a full 50cm of clearance underneath us. As we set off motoring out into the sea there was a rocking on the boat but as we progressed there was more turbulence and a few of us started to be sick. Also most of us got to steer the boat and be the helmsman. We worked in our watches and did an hour on sailing the boat and an hour of resting at the back of the boat.

The journey to Peil took us about 3 ½ hours of sailing and when we arrived everyone felt exhausted so we had about 2 hours of rest. During this time James Key slipped and cut his eyebrow on the table. For the rest of the day we motored up to Barrow and Mary took James to the hospital for a check up – even though James said his eyebrow didn’t hurt. While James was gone the port watch cleaned the heads and the deck and everyone did a bit of fishing and crabbing. Starboard watch prepared spaghetti Bolognese for tea.

James returned at about 7.30 and we set off back to Peil island where we had our expertly prepared evening meal and did a little more fishing under the back drop of Peil Island.

Alistair and Jonny

Showery and windy and not enough tide

Today was our first full day on this homely boat. After an eventful first day, getting to know and explore the boat, we are all ready for a good night’s sleep as we are to get up at 4.50 to catch the tide and head out for our first sail.

Today we woke up at 8 and had a very tasty breakfast of scrambled egg and toast. During the morning Colin and Mary taught us several safety drills and handed us our waterproofs and lifejackets.

After our lunch we had a visit from Mr Whitmarsh (the creator and builder of Tenacity of Bolton). On his visit he kindly gave us a brief talk on the history of Tenacity and showed us some pictures of her while she was being built.

The weather today has been very windy and we have had showers on and off throughout the day also the high tide that happened at about 5.00 or so was not large enough for us, so the tide and the weather combined meant that we couldn’t sail today. Whilst we are not really looking forward to getting up at 4.50 in the morning we are very much looking forward to getting out into Morecambe Bay for a sail.
Aiden and Luke

Another Rainy Day in Glasson

The start of the third year 8 week looks like being a wet one, showers are forecast all day and wind of up to F7. It is quite windy here currently but shouldn't stop us getting the lads familiarised with the boat this morning.

Our plan at the moment is still to spend the day getting familiarised with the boat including all about the safety bits and bobs on board, finding our waterproofs and lifejackets before spending time this afternoon learning about tieing the boat up, a skill that will be vital if we make the short hop around to Fleetwood late this afternoon.

Keep looking at the blog we hope to have our first posting from the lads this evening.

Leaving Tenacity Today

We started the day with sausage, bacon, fried egg and scrambled egg which Ian and Mary made.

We then sat down and Ian told us which jobs we had to do and people volunteered for such as, Heads (toilets), hoovering (which I got), and polishing the wood on the boat (which Drew and Dougie got).

Then we had a big game of cards (sevens, which Ian taught us before and everyone got addicted to.) Then Mary cooked us hotdogs in Baps because there was no buns left.

I’ve just been told I need to round the week off and I think I speak for all of us when I say that this week has been an experience that none of us will ever forget. It has been full of laughs!

Our last full day on Tenacity of Bolton

Today started with a lovely cooked breakfast of eggy bread made by Drew and Ollie. We then had a big knot tying race in which everyone battled it out to tie three knots as quickly as possible. Drew, Alex and Sam ended up as the clear favourites due to their “knot obsession” last night, but Sam won with 18 seconds! We had to tie a bowline, clove hitch and a round turn and two half hitches.
We then made a mad dash from Fleetwood to Glasson Dock. We had to make it in ninety minutes or face heading straight back. Fleetwood dock was late letting us out so we had to cut a corner heading back to Glasson and briefly bumped over a sandbank. Some of us sat up by the bow and had waves splashing over us. When we finally reached Glasson, the gate was half closed. Luckily the lock keeper saw us arrive and lowered the gate, the light turned to green and we went in.
For tea we had fish and chips followed by pancakes in which we all cooked our own. Drew, Matty and Dougie discovered it wasn’t a great idea to eat a Mars bar in a pancake. (Yes, you did read that right. To clarify: they put a bar of chocolate in a pancake and attempted to eat it.) Drew and Sam again tried the knot tying race and it came to a win today for Drew with a phenomenal 15 seconds, including a 1.5 second clove hitch. However, Sam would like to say it was a matter of milliseconds and he will beat him tomorrow. Watch this space…

Josh and Drew

Gusty in Fleetwood again

Hello to all you Tenacity of Bolton fans!

It’s Paddy and Dougie typing in Fleetwood where we have been stopped for the past 24 hours. Some people are singing badly (HELP). This morning half the group, Dougie included, lowered the dinghy and motored around the boat (which is awesome!!)Some people took lots of tries to start the motor but some did it in one!

The other half were given the task of taking down the Genoa sails from the front of the boat which was hard work because it was very gusty. We had to lay on it while Colin and Mary folded it, because the wind was trying to take it into the dock. We then swapped and the second team then had to put up a small sail called a Yankie.

For lunch we ate Jacket potatoes, cheese and beans. We ate the cake that was made yesterday it was made of biscuit and marshmallows (can’t go wrong with that!)At this point the wind clocked a 32 knots on our wind speed gauge so we decided not to sail today.

After lunch Drew had to clean the toilets (heads) but forgot to use the shower to rinse until the end. We made cookies (YUM YUM). Paddy and some others went and bought Crab line from the shop. For the rest of the day we perfected our knots and had a race to take the sail out them wrap it back around the mast. Josh, Alex and Max won with a time of 50secs! We then had a full team effort and got the time down to 33seconds.

For tea Dougie and Matty made chicken korma and apple crumble (It tasted amazing.)

P.S. We got free ropes to practice our knots when we get home!

Snoozing on the job!

Sunny sailing

After a fairly noisy night at anchor by Piel Island we had sausage butties and cereal for our breakfast. Once kitted we picked up the anchor and set off down the submarine channel out towards the wind farm. On the way we spotted some seals both in the water and on the beach.

We were on our way to Fleetwood under sail, the seas were rough stirred up by the gale seven winds. The boat rocked side to side going over at some points to 250, this caused Dougie, Matthew and Alex to be sick. The weather was lovely wall to wall sun. After tacking up the Lune Deep channel, which Dougie was especially good at, we arrived at Fleetwood to enjoy a late lunch made by Max.

We had chance to wash ourselves and the boat in the marina. Tea was made by Alex and Oliver we had pasta bolognaise and was scrumptious, most of us managed to eat it except Alex who dropped half of it on his trousers. After tea we learnt some knots and went for a wander around the marina.

Max and Alex

Sailing at Last!

This morning we awoke at about 6.30 for the first time and then snoozed again before getting up properly at about 7.00. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs on toast expertly made by Matthew, Max, Dougy and Josh.

After a tidy up we spent some time looking at and learning about all the safety items on the boat such as our life jackets and waterproofs, flares, life rings, life rafts etc..

At 11.20 we set off from our berth in Glasson and waited in the middle of the marina pond for the lock gate to open, the lock keepers were a little preoccupied painting their fences so we had to wait a little longer than we thought we would. The locking down was fairly swift but then again when we got to the bottom basin we had to wait for an age for the sea lock to be opened. From Glasson we travelled down the River Lune and so into the Irish Sea (well Morecambe bay really).

The sea started off quite flat but gradually the swell got larger. We set our Genoa (the sail at the front of the boat) to help push the boat along and then soon after as we got to the deeper water we set the Mizzen followed by the mainsail. The engine was turned off and we were sailing totally under wind power. Alex started to feel sick as the swell increased in size and then not long after was sick and amazingly totally kept his sense of humour.

Because of all of the shallow water in Morecambe bay we had to go along way around to get to Peil. We had to navigate along channels from Glasson to find the deep water and then also up a channel to get to Peil Island. The channels are all marked by green and red marker bouys. While we were out in the Bay we saw the wind farm that is off Barrow.

We are now anchored near Peil Island in a sheltered place for the night. For tea we had caramelised pork chops with stir fried veg and rice followed by a very popular chocolate fondue. Tonights meal was cooked by Port watch which is Dougie, Max, Mat and josh.

Written by Matt and Ollie

Not a breath of wind in Glasson

Well the week ahead couldn't look much more different than last week. It seems from the forecasts that the wind in the North has dropped (although the South of the country is protesting about strong winds) and totally changed direction (from South West last week to North East this week). The lads have arrived on board and started settling in, they are very excited about every aspect of life on board and what experiences their week might bring.

Our plan at the moment (as we head to bed) is for an early start, breakfast then a safety briefing before heading down through the lock and out to sea around midday tomorrow. From there we hope to head up to Peil Island (the illusive destination from last week) for and overnight anchorage.

Look out for more blogging from the lads as the week progresses

Windy end to our first year 8 group

The forecasts on Thursday night led us to believe that the wind would drop during the night leading to an almost guaranteed sail back to Glasson. Unfortunately as happened every day during this week the wind continued to blow, and in fact got stronger and reached our weekly high during the Thursday night of 39.1 knots so our plans had to be changed once more. We stayed on in Fleetwood, missing the tide slot that would have led us to get back to Glasson and cleaned and packed the boat up at Fleetwood, rearranging our pickup backto school.

Before the boys left they wrote in the crewbook about their experiences on board and included some advice for future groups:

• For those lucky enough to sleep in the stern remember your midnight snack!
• For those in the bow bring a crash helmet
• Never go below deck at sea - its horrible!
• Unfortunately we had terrible weather and didn't get to sail but we still had a great time

Good Luck and Enjoy!

From:

Rajan Bharaj, Alex Boulos, Adam Greenhalgh, Andrew Keat, Max Whitwam, Robert Stanton, Liam Jenkins, Callum Smart, Peter Harland.

Lots of knots, of wind and rope!

This is our last full day on board Tenacity. We are still in Fleetwood marina as the weather still isn’t good enough for us to sail. Today we had knot tying competitions, Adam is the champion as he has thrown over 200 figure of eights knots. Rajan is the fastest at tying a clove hitch, round turn and 2 half hitches and a bowline in 22 seconds. We went for a walk to see where we were anchored on Tuesday. We looked out to sea and could see lots of big white waves. We had ice cream and played skimming stones and Max won with 10 skims. We made rice crispy cakes with Mary and Peter won the extra cake by playing, rock paper scissors.

Storm bound in windy Fleetwood

Woke 9am - Peter and Robert made bacon butties for breakfast.

10am - We split into 3 groups to learn about the Genoa and Mizzen sail and the dinghy. There are lots of different ropes to loosen and tighten, main sheet, kicking strap and furling line. We all drove the dinghy in gale 7/8. Some of us bumped into the jetty but it was ok.

Lunch - Jacket potatoes with cheesy beans and bacon cooked by Andrew and Rajan. NO Spillages!!!

After lunch - We did more sail and dinghy handling.

5.30pm - Ian taught us all how to throw a figure of 8 knot. Max was the champ with 64 in a row!

7.30 - Alex, Adam and Max cooked stir fry veg and pork chops with special sauce. Yummy! We all made our own pancakes for pud and Liam's went a bit wrong and he threw it all over himself and the floor.

9pm - Colin broke us the bad news that there was no sailing tomorrow because gale force 9 is forecast!!!

10pm - played cards and then went to bed.

Channelm News report 5th May 2009

How to Be Sick on The Tenacity Of Bolton!!

The crew awoke early at 5:45 to be washed and kitted by 6:00. We left Glasson Dock at 7:40, with everyone having the first part of our breakfast, cereal. We went through the lock with Liam and Callum making sausage baps below, and everyone ate as we exited the marina and entered the sea.
With having a day yesterday of staying in the marina everyone was excited by the prospect of going to sea. But excitement soon changed to being cold and ill, for only three members of the crew. Unfortunately the inevitable happened. The first victim on the rough seas was Callum. We got to see what a sausage balm looks like after being regurgitated half an hour after it was eaten. The second victim was Andrew, who had the pleasure of being sick twice. Finally Adam who fortunately had a cup that he was drinking from, to be sick in. After the vomiting had finished, the morale was low.
Our aim for the day was to get to Piel Island off Barrow unfortunately because of the weather and the illness of the crew, a decision was made to stop at Fleetwood. We anchored outside Fleetwood Marina waiting to enter when the tide was high enough. Therefore there was plenty of time for Andrew and Rajan to make dinner, which was awesome pasta bolognaise. During this Rajan learnt how to triple task by stirring three tomato sauces, at once!
Shortly after dinner we pulled up anchor and made our way into the marina at 9:30. After mooring up, we went back into the boat for pudding, chocolate fondue and fruit. After the mad grab for the chocolate we cleaned up and wrote this.

Andrew & Robert

Another wild day in Glasson

We woke upto a rocking boat the wind was raging around the mast. Max wind speed on our anemometer was 38.1 knots, force 8. Breakfast was a lesuirely affair taking longer than we thought but scrambled egg was enjoyed by all. We had a morning of finding all the safety equipment on board both down below and up on deck. We also got issued our wet weather gear consisting of waterproof jacket and salopettes. On top of this we fitted our lifejacket and learnt how to use them, not by jumping in! We all looked very smart in our red suits shame our wellies aren't matching.
After lunch the press arrived to have a look around the boat and chat to us about the first year 8 trip. There were reporters from Sailing Today, M channel and Manchester Evening News. The weather was still windy and wet and it was not very pleasent on deck, thank heavens for our magic red suits. We manged to have a nice evening stroll after a Turkey Korma dinner.

First of the Year 8's!

We arrived at Glasson Dock to get on Tenacity of Bolton the boat that we will be staying on for a whole week. The first thing that we did was to find our bunks and put our stuff on them and unpack. Storage for each berth is very large if you are at the back of the boat and if there isn’t enough space to fit your whole bag in the locker they are big enough for the contents of your bag.
After unpacking we had dinner of Bangers and Mash, which was very nice and we discovered later one of the only meals that Colin and Mary (our skipper and crew) will make this week. After dinner had been served Ian(the third crew member) arrived and nicked some food off us.
Following dinner we went for a little walk around the basin and saw a boat go through the lock that we will be going through on Tuesday morning and Colin explained how it works, then we went to play football and frisbee on the local (rather overgrown) footie field.
After our walk we made hot chocolate - very nice, and then took the piccie above. Over hot chocolate we discussed our watches for the week, Port and Starboard, and how the teams take turns in scrubbing the decks, making meals and washing up etc..
Now we are off to clean our teeth and then off to bed!
Written by Adam and Alex