Tuesday 30 June 2009

We couldn't find any treasure on Piel island

Today we woke up to an early start (6 o’clock- oh dear). We motored from Fleetwood dock to the middle of the sea – near Peil Island. The journey took approximately 4 hours. Some of us had a chance to steer the boat and some had some necessary sleep. We saw dolphins! They were near Blackpool! When we were near Peil Island, we spotted lots of seals that were noisy. We ate breakfast on the go which was bacon sandwiches that were made by James.
We arrived at Piel Island and anchored. We then took the little boat (rib) over to the Island and took a very unhealthy picnic. On arrival at Peil Island, there were 2 gorgeous black Labradors that were very friendly (called Sophie and Meg). We ate the very healthy picnic and then went for a wander. There were chickens and turkeys that were scary. We went up to the castle ruins and helped an old man over a small hill! After that we had a long walk all around the beach with James and Callum- supposedly looking for treasure! We were very unsuccessful but we did find Oystercatcher’s eggs and a fishing wire.
Once we had finished our walk we headed back to Tenacity where Mary had baked us bread rolls to have with our soup. It was Starboard’s turn to make Tiffin cake so Port learnt how to drive the little dinghy with Callum. When Starboard was driving, Port learnt how to tie the clove hitch, bowline, round turn and two half hitches and the figure of eight knots. Then we had a chill-out session- where much reading was done. For tea we had Spaghetti Bolognese which Starboard prepared and cooked. The onions were obviously too much for some (crying was unavoidable)! Mary baked an amazing Bread and Butter Pudding. We were very unsuccessful with our fishing attempts.

Zoe and Emma

Monday 29 June 2009

First day aboard


Hi Jess and Mim here!

Jess: Hi it has been great so far! We have settled in quite well! We arrived and then relaxed in our cabins for a bit. Then we had tea. It was sausage and mash! The food is very nice here, better than I thought it would be. It has not even been two days and it has been jam packed! On the first night we went for a walk which was very peaceful. We saw a horse and two crazy dogs. (I will leave it to Mim to tell you about that!) This morning we went through the safety procedures, as you can see above, (that’s me!) It is very complicated!!!! Then we set sail to Fleetwood at around 3.00 but had to wait 2 hours for the gates to open! It was worth the wait though! We are currently in Fleetwood now. We have just had tea. It was Caramelized pork chops and a vegetable stir fry! We are just about to have a fruit fondue! Can’t wait till tomorrow! Missing you all at home and yes mum I am ok! Not over board – yet! I will hand over to Mim now so she can give her views on things!! x

Mim: Well, where to start? First about the mad dogs. Zoe dropped her beloved hat on the grass by a Boxer dog on a lead. The dog then continued to sort of, guard the hat and wouldn’t let anyone near it without being jumped up at. So whilst we were all making a desperate attempt to retrieve Zoe’s hat, another small dog appeared and just began running round madly and bumping into things at high speed, it was very entertaining to watch, meanwhile Mary the skipper had successfully retrieved Zoe’s hat in one piece. We ended up having quite a lot of spare time to spend, and were eventually lowered to discovering that there were 409 wooden planks along the jetty at Glasson dock. Pretty desperate, I think you’ll agree. Mary explained that we will have cooking and cleaning duties in two different teams, Port and Starboard. I am with Corin, Georgina and Emma in the starboard team, evidently, the better team in the races up and down the boat and the port team consists of Jess, Zoe, India and Rebecca. (For the record, the hat still hasn’t left Zoe’s head!) Fleetwood isn’t as nice as Glasson by far. The place is currently mobbed by seagulls. No need to use a foghorn when Corin’s asleep her snoring decibels are surely passed dangerous levels!!! But we’re all fine and having a great time!!!

Sunday 28 June 2009

There's no lumps in our gravy!

Everyone is aboard and has found a bed. We have had our dinner and for the first time we had lump free gravy! We have just been for a lovely evening walk around Glasson to see the lock we will be passing through tomorrow to get to the sea.

Route of the Current Year 8 Week

Keep a lookout on the map below, if all the technology is working then you should be able to track where Tenacity is and what her route has been during the week

Friday 26 June 2009

Goodbye and farewell!!


Today is the last day of our five days at sea. We cleaned up the whole boat and everyone chipped in. When we had finished we walked for an ice cream and Roger nearly got savaged by a dog. When we got Roger back, we went back to the boat and cooked bacon butties for lunch. We are all very sad to leave and here are the tenacity moment awards…


Funniest moment: Andys impression of a jellyfish.
Scariest moment: Wednesday night’s rocking.
Saddest moment: Finding out Michael Jackson had died.
Happiest moment: Every second. (sailing)
One to remember: Sing-song at the back of the boat.
Grossest moment: When lissy cut her finger open.
Embarrassing moment: lissy falling over and spilling all the cornflakes.
Best roger moment: when he was tied to the mast


People awards:
Worst at concentration: james
Best cleaner: lizzy burns
Best chef: Hannah L
Loudest voice: annabel
Funniest: annabel
Best hair: Ellie
Best tan: Ellen
Worst burn marks: Hannah b
Best French plaiters: Ellen and lissys
Best sailor: Hannah L
Messiest: Annabel
Best dancers: Lissy P and Hannah B
Best dressed: Hannah B
Quietest: Anna
Best potato peeler: Ellen and Annabel
Best sleeper: Izzy
Best hoodie: everyone with pirate one
Best dingy driver: Hannah L
Most accident prone: Lissy P
Best tenacity week: this one!!
Bestest Captain ever- Mary!!!

Thursday 25 June 2009

Today everyone was tired...............


Today everyone was tired. And we mean everyone. Even Rodger was showing some signs of sleepiness.
None of us slept very well last night due to the naughty anchor chain banging on the boat. And add to that the feeling of spinning around in a plug hole. The boat rocked a lot and some girls in the bow (cough Lissy cough) got very worried and jumpy. But we were all saved from a sleepless night because a pillow came to our rescue! Yes, a pillow! (Mary wrapped the chain in it!)
We sailed back to Glasson this morning and hit top speed with Hannah driving during some very rough waves. But we all thought we were like something out of pirates of the Caribbean!
We got sort of bored sailing back so we got Mary, Andy and James to play concentration. And Andy’s impression of a jellyfish was something I’m sure we’ll all remember!
Coming back to Glasson meant we could all shower and we’ve finally got rid of the rotting smell that was beginning to follow us around!
So French plaited, clean and tired we’re all finishing up our fish and chips and making the most of our last night with the tenacity! We’ll be sad to leave our new home!

Roger!


Wednesday 24 June 2009

Roger meets Royalty/camera overboard




At 6am this morning most of us were woken up by the lovely sound of the anchor dropping. We then had breakfast and Anna and Hannah went fishing. Anna caught a rare specimen of seaweed. We then all went in the dinghy over to Piel Island. Roger then met the King and Queen of Piel Island. We asked if he could be knighted but the king was too busy.
We all explored the Island and mingled with Royalty, we found out that Prince Harry often came to Piel. Anna, Ellie and Annabel all decided they wanted to live on the Island.
At 2 o clock we went sailing around Barrow wind farm. Lissy P.’s camera fell off the edge of the boat. We spent a long time chasing it and trying to get it out of the water with a fishing rod. Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Pepper Davies but the camera isn’t currently working… ;)
Anna and Hannah decided that by the end of the day they would catch a fish. They cast the lines and after an hour or two a fish was on the end of Anna’s line. So after a lot of effort to pull up the line and after we saw the fish, it escaped.
On the way back we all sang lots of songs and Anna invented a new knot. Andy said that a knot needs a use so the “Jingle Jamm” was invented so that if you saw pirates trying to hijack your boat you tie the “Jingle Jamm” in all the ropes. Once the pirates take you hostage they have to untie the knots, and while their backs are turned you attack them. Well it was funny at the time…..
After the sail we went down stairs and found Roger jammed between the Vice. Poor Rodger.
James made a great curry which almost made up for his cruel treatment of Rodger.
Night, Night.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Today we had a great sail!


We woke up to find Rodger hanging from the rigging. We got ourselves up and ready to go and Ellen had the first shower of the week so at least one of us doesn’t smell.
Today was very tiring for us all and even stuffed animals (Rodger the hamster). Before we could set sail to Piel Island we had to go down in the lock. We gave the lock keeper some ginger cookies we made yesterday and we watched the water drain down to make it level. On the 7 hour sail to Piel Island we sailed past the wind farm and saw some cute Seals. We also spotted a rabbit cloud. We all had a chance to steer the boat and we all pulled out and put away all the sails.
Whilst we were on the way to Piel Island we convinced Lissy we saw a shark fin and she was getting very scared so we told her we were joking. James also tied Rodger to the fan at the back of the boat it was rather funny. Lissy, Ellen, Hannah, Izzy, Lizzy b and Annabel had a very nice sleep in the sun and none of us have been sick so far which is good. When we were sailing Ellen, izzy, Annabel, Lizzy B and Hannah were all singing and making up songs as we went along.
We are now currently anchored next to Piel island and now we’re going to go and watch the sunset so night night.

Monday 22 June 2009

Not so Jolly Rodger!!!




Good evening tenacity followers! Annabel and Lizzy (Burns) here reporting for blog duty! We woke up this morning at eight. It was a bit of a struggle but we all were up within 10 minutes. We then made scrambled eggs for breakfast with toast. This was very nice. Next we got up on deck and put are sailing suits and lifejackets on. We looked very professional in our new outfits in our opinion! Next we practiced clipping on to the boat and raced along from bow to stern. Port won, as usual! (Port consists of Annabel, Lissy (Pepper), Hannah, Anna and Hannah and Starburst is Lizzy (Burns), Ellen, Izzy and Ellie. All of our names are very similar!) After a lovely lunch made by Starburst we than chillaxed on deck and sunbathed (with Rodger!)
We then split up into groups of three and did three different activities. The first was looking at the safety equipment, charts and started the engine below deck with Mary. Next we learned various knots with James and can do them all with our eyes closed (quite literally!). Finally we went out in the dinghy to learn how to steer it. This was when James cruelly threw a soon to be not so jolly Rodger overboard! We then played throw Rodger and steer too go and pick him up which was hilarious! We then returned to place him to dry on deck. We joined him sunbathing.
For the remainder of the afternoon we sunbathed, fished and made cookies. The cookies were great! For tea we made caramelized pork chops, stir fry and rice. It was really nice. We then went on a walk around the village and played some games in a field. When we set off we soon realized we had left behind the beloved Rodger. After a sprint back we recovered him. He looked happy!
We returned to the boat to cover our faces in chocolate fondue with fruit and it was scrumpdidelyumptious! We aren’t too sure if that’s a word but we like it! We are off to bed now so night!

Sunday 21 June 2009

The Pirates Descend

We are writing this with our mascot, Roger you may also recognize him as the fat hamster in bolt. Today we arrived, settled in and blasted Busted through the speakers, we found all the secret stashes of chocolate and chilled out. Annabel, Ellen and Lissy peeled potatoes and Ellen nearly broke her thumb (well clipped her nail.) We took some pictures and then set the table, meanwhile Annabel got over excited when she thought she saw a shark fin, whilst carrying out her floating or non-floating test. Potato’s sink and potato peelings float for a while and then sink, in case you’re wondering.
Then we served dinner bangers and mash mmmmmmm…. TASTY. We gave some of this to our next door neighbour Chris. He has very long dreadlocks and has sailed across the Atlantic seven times on his boat!
Now port wash up but mainly Annabel whilst the others listen to old tunes and “starburst watch” (starboard watch) chill out and get ready to go for a walk.

Bye for now

by Annabel, Izzy and Ellen.

Friday 19 June 2009

Fry up Friday

Hello and welcome to the last blog of this trip. Today we got to lie in because it was too windy to sail back to Glasson Dock. We got up at 8 and had a BIG fry up of EVERYTHING left on the boat. It was huge but we still managed to eat most of it. After the breakfast, Frankie and Grace washed up for the first time and while they were washing up we all started on the awards.

The Tenacity of Bolton 6 awards are:

· Best Chef-Ellie
· Best pudding chef-Mary
· Worst dingy driver-Grace
· Worst washer-Grace
· Most untidy-Grace
· Loudest-Frankie
· Most likely to set off alarm-Frankie
· Best eater-Elisha
· Most grumpy at night-Elisha
· Funniest laugh-Lottie
· Best ketchup and nutella eater-Lottie
· Best dancers and choreographer-Scarlett and Lottie
· Best butterer-Scarlett
· Quietest person-Abbie
· Worst boat driver-Georgie
· Most likely to speed boat up-Georgie
· Best photographer-Trevor
· Best ‘knotter’-Trevor
· Most relaxed and best lookout-James
· Best pancake maker-James
· Evilest laugh-Eleanor

After making the awards we finished off cleaning the boat we just relaxed and got ready for the long drive back to school. We are so excited to see all of our friends and family but we are also very sad to be leaving one of the best experiences of our lives. We will miss Mary, Trevor and James as they have taught us a lot. Whilst living with them 24/7 in such close confines you get to know them more thoroughly.

We have deeply enjoyed this experience and it is a memory we will have forever!

Frankie xxxxx


Just a brief note from the staff to say well done to all of the crew for remaining positive, upbeat and understanding. Because of the weather conditions, we were forced to stay at Fleetwood Dock for the majority of the trip, however morale remained high throughout the week. I would also like to mention that we could not have safely completed our passage to Piel Island without you all up on deck on lookout and sounding the fog horn when we encountered poor visibility.
Well done everyone!

Burning calories in a gale!
















An early morning breakfast highlighted with warm bacon baps. Mean while radio 1 was blasting in our ears, so we thought what more of a right time to text into radio 1 requesting don’t trust me- 3oh!3.
As the winds were still blowing a gale and the boat still rocking we learnt how to tie some more knots we also learnt more dingy skills with James and we were all ready for a rowing race with the sea cadets but they feared Eleanor’s amazing skills so they backed out!
While some were travelling the seas in the dinghy, other fellow sailors (Georgina, Grace, Abbie, Scarlet, Lottie and Ellie) were making the beloved tiffin cake!
Then we had lunch -jackets and beans.
We then went on a long energy consuming walk along the water front to the beach to burn off those dreaded calories collected from our tiffin cake. We could see the huge crashing white waves of Morecombe bay in the distance. On our walk we had an ice cream followed by a play on the park.
Lottie decided to bring a memory back from the walk- the beach in her wellies!
When we came back we made, then ate fish and chips (basically finishing the ketchup). Instead of cleaning up Lottie and Scarlett practiced their dance to ‘Boom Boom Pow’. After ‘everyone’ had cleaned, we watched ‘The Simpsons Movie’ whilst eating pancakes; meaning Lottie ate the rest of the Nutella.
Finally, we cleared most of our mess, and ‘hit the sacks’. The boat was silent whilst the Stern dorm meditated and did their ‘strength training’ (???). Eventually very early in the morning the boat was peaceful, only disturbed by the rocking of the restless wind.
See you soon
Lottie and Eleanor xx

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Combatting cabin fever




Hello and welcome to today’s blog contributed by Grace Brookes and Ellie Pickard
We woke up to a stormy sea day. The wind was howling and the heavens of the rain opened which DRENCHED the dock .The night before we left the hatch open thinking it would be a good idea and it clearly wasn’t as we found out when we were woken up by a heavy down fall of rain. For breakfast Mary kindly prepared eggy bread for us followed by a round of cereal. We then cleaned the boat whilst listening to radio one. Through the kindness of the lovely crew we were granted an extra shower so we shouldn’t smell next week. Due to a slight faze of boredom we made a wall of fame from the cut outs of the many magazines we seem 2 have accumulated through the stay.

Lunch time came rapidly as are stomachs were ravenous, so we had soup and hotdogs they were very nice. Pictionary was then played on a mammoth scale with brown paper and marker pen, this was quite amusing. Mary then had a brain wave to make bread this was a very good idea as we liked it very much. (Grace and Elisha put chocolate inside theirs and Lottie used MOST of the nutella on hers).Monopoly was then played but soon abandoned due to lack of interest in the game.

James and Trevor then took us on a huge walk through the clay planes of the side of the channel. There were old wooden ship wrecks which we explored which got us very muddy. James then suggested that we all cooked tea by ourselves. This sounded like a mammoth task but ended up very successful excluding the few things that went wrong:

· The rice stuck on the bottom of the pan
· Water all over the floor
· Burnt curry
· Lack of curry to rice
· No knifes only forks

But the best thing was the instructors did the washing up. Mary then cooked the apple crumble she prepared earlier. It was really nice especially with the custard.

Good bye xx

Tuesday 16 June 2009

A foggy fun filled day.... and we met royalty!!!

' The King of Peil!'
(fifth from right)



Today we have probably experienced the most tiring and weird weathered day of our lives. We were woken up at 5 (arghhh!!!!) and we were rushed out of bed to be sailing at 6:30. After getting used to the boat we had a breakfast of sausage buns (which Abbie got the ketchup squeezed all over her by Eleanor) By 7:15 we had already had our first biscuit of the day (which was not our only)
After sailing about an hour we hit the fog and our everlasting 5 hour journey began. To keep ourselves entertained, Abbie, Georgie, Eleanor and Frankie started making up names for the parts of the boat like Neil the wheel, Roy the buoy, pope the rope and many more… During our journey we had to keep a look out for buoys and any other boats. James spotted a fishing boat that was in our path so we had to slow down and blow the fog horn to warn the boat we were coming. To make sure we were doing work and not just fun we learnt about what side the buoys should be on. Red is for port (left) and green on starboard (right)
When we came out of the fog we arrived at Piel Island only to be met by the king and queen of the island who were the only two living on the island. We went to explore around the ruined castle and had a picnic overlooking the bay and all the other boats.
While waiting for the dingy to come and take us to the boat some of us went looking for crabs. We found a dead one floating in the sea which Georgie named Fred. Abbie and Frankie found a massive one that had lots of babies around it so we let it be. Once we got back to the boat the fog had lifted and the sun was finally shining ( and yes mums we put sun cream on) so we had a nice relaxing sail back from the island and most people fell asleep.
And that’s our day a foggy fun filled day
Abbie and Georgie xx

Monday 15 June 2009

Fondue fun day!!







We arrived in Fleetwood at about five o’clock on Sunday. We all settled into our cabins and ‘chilled out’ for a few hours. After dinner we all went fishing, and only caught two jelly fish and a plastic bag!
This morning we woke up fairly early to start learning about the boat. After breakfast we all fitted into our lifejackets and learnt about the safety lines. We raced up and down the boat in teams, each person being clipped to the boat. It was really fun! After the races we learnt how to unfurl the sails. There were two main sails we unfurled, these were the jib and the mizzen. After learning about the sails we had a short break. During this break we all met a cute old man who told us about his boat. His boat was sixty-one years old, and he had owned it for fifty-nine years! After the break we looked around the boat at all the safety equipment. We learnt about flares, grab bags, the epirb, life rafts, navigation system and more… We also learnt about different knots, these knots were the figure of eight, the round turn and the two half hitches, the bow line and the clove hitch. Then we all had a go at driving the dingy. This was quite hard to grasp at first but once we got the hang of it, it was really easy. In the evening we played games and finished the night off with a delicious chocolate fondue!

Thursday 11 June 2009

A day of sick, sleepiness and sadness




This morning we got off to a slow start, because it was the last full day and getting up was really tough! When we finally got started we had bacon butties, then Georgina and Rehana washed up very slowly (as usual!) because they had to wash up all the “giant” pans.
Before setting sail, we had a bit of trouble with the anchor as it sort of got jammed! Luckily Mike was able to fix it with the help of his sidekick Hannah – so it’s all good now! We finally set sail from Piel Island with Rehana steering, whilst Lucy and Millie slept cozily on deck at the stern. Afterwards we had some “Chocolate Tiffin” cake made yesterday, which was rather scrumptious! Soon after, we discovered our first signs of sea sickness: Millie had it first followed by Georgina, Hannah and Rehana; whilst lucky Alice just lay in the sun at the back.
We then swapped over to Port watch and Millie helmed the boat superbly to Fleetwood to help with her sea sickness. With Millie at the helm, we gained our top sailing speed of the day and the whole trip (6 knots!).
We soon moored up the boat in Fleetwood harbour, and some of us had another go at dinghy handling exercises in the marina with Matt whilst the rest of us chilled out. Afterwards, whilst waiting for fish and chips to sizzle away, we spent our time listening to Matt’s beloved panpipes yet again. Oh dear- lets all start to cry! Boo Hoo!!
Sadly this is our last night on Tenacity here in Fleetwood. We are all as gutted as the fish on our plates! Thank you to Mary, Matt and Mike for everything!

By- Millie and Georgina xxxx

Now we are going to present the Tenacity of Bolton Awards.

-The funniest award goes to…Rehana
-The funniest laugh and best helmsman award goes to… Millie
-The dizziest award goes to… Georgina
-The smallest person award goes to… Lucy (as she is too small to fit in the sailing suits)
-The greediest award goes to… Alice (we love you really Alice!)
-The book worm award goes to… Charlotte
-The tea drinker award goes to… Hannah
-The worst taste in music and the coolest taste in hats award goes to… Matt (Smokey)
-The best rice pudding maker (and chip maker!) goes to… Mary
-The best D.I.Y person goes to… Mike
-The sleepiest and most photogenic awards goes to…Millie and Lucy
-The best dorm goes to… The BOW!!

Funniest time was the rogue wave and the worst thing was the panpipes!!
We have all experienced an amazing trip on Tenacity and will miss her so much.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Castle, crabs and curry




Today we motored across to Piel Island in the dinghy after spending the morning chilling out and eating eggy bread. When we arrived there we walked over to the castle ruins. Rehanna and Ragini decided it would be fun to explore inside the historic castle, unfortunately when they tried to get back out they discovered that they were faced with climbing a wall that was higher than they expected! Rehanna eventually managed to climb out and after several attempts, Ragini finally made it out to safety. What a kerfuffle!!!
We then decided to play a game of sardines. Matt or “Smokey” hid first and no one could find him for ages, until we eventually uncovered him hiding in-between two enormous rocks, on the beach. Even though it took so long, this was great fun! On the way back to the jetty we were met by two adorable black Labradors and their puppy called Emily. She was incredibly cute and clumsy so we stroked and took pictures of her and her parents whilst we waited for Mike in the dinghy to take us back to Tenacity.
When we got back on Tenacity, Rehana and Georgina made us a lovely lunch of jacket potatoes, cheese and beans. Then the Port watch had a go at driving the dinghy and did some “coming alongside” and a “man over board” exercise with a fender named Bob! Meanwhile the Starboard watch did a spot of fishing using left over sausages for bait. The sausages didn’t help them get any fish but they did pick up quite a few cheeky crabs which enjoyed the meaty bait.
After tea we relaxed and watched the local RNLI crew launch for some training exercises in Morcambe Bay. Then we all sat down and listened to Smokey’s beloved pan pipe CD.
Bye,
Luc y & Rehanna

Tuesday 9 June 2009

By popular demand..........

Chocolate chip cookies!!!

170g Softened butter
340g Demerara sugar
2 Eggs
340g Self raising flour
300g Dark Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to gas mark 3.
Cream butter and the sugar together.
Add the beaten egg and mix thoroughly.
Then add the flour and chocolate chips until the dry ingredients have mixed in.
With ligtly floured hands mould into ping pong size balls and place evenly on a non stick or greased backing dry. Don’t put them too close together as they spread during cooking. Bake for 12-15 mins until the edges are just going golden.

Mary’s top tip!! Make sure the mixture isn’t too wet and add more flour if necessary

Yummy!!!

Rogue Wave




We set sail today and we went through the lock leading through to the sea. It took ages and when we got through, we were all starving!
We had lunch on deck going out of the Lune River then the Port watch (Charlotte, Lucy, Millie and Ragini) went to work unfurling the sails and steering. We sailed down the channel and we spotted Blackpool tower and the Big One. A really big sweet sea lion popped up to say hello but we were too slow with our cameras.
Charlotte, Alice, Georgina, Ragini and Rahannah were sat in the Bow trying to get the big waves to come so they could get wet. Ragini then came up with a chant for us to say when we wanted the waves to be big ‘Yo! Sea dude! Crank up the waves!’ (It did work, a little.)
We then put the sails away and turned on the engine and started heading towards Piel Island. The waves were getting really big and rolling. Ragini then accidently flicked the throttle lever which threw the boat forward into a wall of water. Matt then turned down the throttle but he was too late. A huge rogue wave crashed over the boat and soaked us all in the cockpit to the skin! Unfortunately for Rehana she had her mouth open at exactly the wrong time!
We were pleased when we dropped the anchor at Piel Island so we could all take off our sodden oilskins and prepare dinner.
Alice and Charlotte

Monday 8 June 2009

First day fun!


Hey everybody!
We all settled in well, and had a good night’s sleep. There was a good breakfast of cereals and scrambled egg on toast courtesy of the port watch. The first thing we did was learn how to hoist and unfurl the jib and mizzen sails from Mary, Mike and Matt. After several goes at this, we had “lanyard races” – which involved racing from stern to bow over certain obstacles whilst remaining safely clipped on to a line at all times. The starboard team won first, and then port thrashed them by winning three. After a delicious lunch of leek and potato soup and sandwiches, we took the dinghy out in watches. The starboard group’s voyage was pretty interesting! After everyone else steered the engine of the dinghy, Georgina Barrow was the last to steer. She mistook Matt’s advice and instead of slowing down; she sped up and did seven doughnuts! Matt promptly took charge of the engine but due to the unfortunate coincidence of a faulty bracket, he was horrified to see it fall overboard! So Georgi broke the engine. True story. Oops. From then on, everyone used the oars to steer. It took ages!
Later, Mary taught us all about knots. We learnt how to tie a: figure of eight, round turn and two half hitches, clove hitch and bowline. Lucy and several others mastered the art of tying a bowline with one hand. Later on, a brilliant smell of cookies wafted around. Cookies! Starboard cooked them. They were awesome. Matt raced Millie, Lucy, Hannah, Ragini, Rahannah and Alice with lanyard races. We all beat him. We had tea, and then relaxation followed. Books were taken out, ranging from RHCP to Titanic 2020. Hannah, however, turned to DIY and helped Mike fix the dinghy. We are about to have chocolate fondue (with fruits). Hannah is scouting for DIY jobs. Ragini is educating Charlotte in the Jonas Brothers.
Ragini and Hannah
P.S. Port: Ragini, Charlotte, Millie and Lucy
PP.S. Starboard: Alice, Georgina (dinghy-breaker!), Rahannah and Hannah (dinghy-fixer!)

Friday 5 June 2009

Slow start to a final day


We had to get up at 7:30 so we could get up through the lock into Glasson Marina. Unfortunately, as our boat needs 2 metres of water to sail, there wasn’t enough and we were stuck in the mud for a while blocking in the dredger we had moored on! We were stuck for nearly 2hrs.
Nadia decided to try and make the last day fun by creating a ‘cool’ dress code. It consisted of a T-shirt worn over a hoody. Sadly only 3 of us joined in.
When we had finally got through the lock, we had yummy pancakes. Ellena won the competition for the most syrup on 1 pancake!
After pancakes, everyone was given chores, and the boat was cleaned from top to bottom.
We have all had an amazing time on the boat…

And now, we will present the Tenacity of Bolton #4 awards!
Best male instructor Ian!
Best female instructor Mary!
Best dress sense Nadia!
Best sailor Ellena!
Best hooverer Dani!
Most dedicated fisherwoman Fermie!
Best blogger Jenny!
Keenest volunteer Holly!
Most songful Hannah!
Best knot tier Emily!
Best chef Lizzy!
And finally, the coveted bonus award for the greediest sailor goes to… Holly!
Lizzy xxx

Knotastic


Thursday 4 June 2009

Our first driving lessons


Last night was very, very rough. Waves crashed against the boat washing off the apple crumble that was chucked over board that night. Surprisingly no one was sick although Hannah was close to although this could be due to the amount of sugar she had consumed.
We woke up to the brilliant smell of EGGY BREAD!! YUM! Starboard watch made a gorgeous batch of Tiffin which was eaten extremely quickly. We then took the dinghy out for a spin. Everybody got to steer and surprisingly no one crashed! Most of us started the engine first time proving better than the boys! This was a lot of fun!!
For lunch we had fish and chips. (Caught straight out of the freezer!).
We have been singing and making up songs all trip this resulted in “TenatiousMammaGrease” which was a fabulous musical performed by Hannah, Lizzy Nadia and Dannielle which wasn’t quite Broadway but hilarious! We got obsessive over knot tying. Especially Emily who practiced in every spare moment! Yet again we tried our hand at fishing this time using two day old pork chops as bait. Unfortunately no body caught anything except seaweed.
The sun was out when we started our journey back to Glasson Dock, saying a final farewell to Piel Island and the Castle. Later on the wind picked up so we hoisted the sails and learnt how to gybe the boat. The wind was so cold that the woolies came out and everybody was freezing. Some chickened out and went down below but the brave ones faced it out but put on thermals and thick hats and scarves!
When we got to Glasson we moored up in the bottom basin. The “Merger” is a huge dredger boat that we tied to. A few of us got to jump off the boat and tie a lot of knots to it-all the practicing came in handy! It was very dirty and we smelt when we got off!
“Bethule” was another boat that was also in the bottom basin. “Bethule” was a boat that we had seen a few times on our way to Piel Island and back. The two men on board had enjoyed many of our Mexican Waves!
It is not wavy tonight so we are looking forward to a good night’s sleep!

Ellena and Holly!

Wednesday 3 June 2009






We awoke to some pretty big waves this morning. After breakfast we all got changed into our waterproofs ready for our trip to Piel Island in the dinghy. When we arrived on the small Island we went for a tour around the castle ruins. Shortly after we played a giant game of hide and seek, which went on for about 1 hour where Holly couldn’t find us and Nadia, Lizzy and Danielle got stuck in the brambles and nettles! However, Holly wandered back to find us and the three girls were guided out by the help of Eleanor and Jenny in the end. Also we met the Queen and Princess who we mistook for normal people; yes they are royalty but yet were living normal lives on the Island, in fact the only people living on the Island!!
We had to get back to the boat for our lunch as our empty bellies were rumbling! Straight after lunch we set sail out on the Irish Sea. We managed to get the sails out for the first time (whoop!) Everyone got a chance to helm, practice tacking and tying knots. We fished for a small amount of time but were unsuccessful. We sailed back to drop anchor where we were staying the previous night near Barrow, Piel Island and Roa Island.
For tea we had the nicest bird korma and apple crumble EVER!! It Surpassed any other!!! It was so nice that Ian scraped the korma bowl clean! The rest of the crumble was fed to our resident seagulls!

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Nice sunset group photo


Fisherwomen Extraordinaire







Today we had an early start (arrgh!) at 6:45am to get through the lock in time for the tide. On the way to Piel Island we learned how to tie loads of different knots and had a chance to steer the boat. We had to keep the red buoys on the port side and the green the buoys on the starboard side of the boat to stay in the deep water channel.
The sea was like a mirror apart from when the big boats went past, which made waves and gave our first experience of sea sickness.
While at sea we did some fishing. Nadia our “expert fisherwoman” caught two mackerel but one escaped before we got the chance to pull it onboard! We also saw lots of jellyfish-we attempted to catch one…and failed.
Eventually, after five hours sailing, we anchored just off Piel Island. We scrubbed the decks, cleaned the inside of the boat and the heads (toilets). Afterwards we made cookies, b e a utiful! We had a Siesta (well…Mary and Ian did!) In the evening we had a chocolate fondue extravaganza! What an amazing day!!!

Eleanor & Jennifer

Monday 1 June 2009

Ferociously hot!

Today we got up for a leisurely breakfast.
We got issued with our life jackets and learnt about all the different features of them. Then we had some races with our safety clips to see who could get from the back of the boat to the front the quickest, in a safe manner. We also learnt how to pull out the front sail by using winches.
At 12.30 we had lunch, which we had to have down stairs due to the heat on deck.
After lunch we had some down time in and around some chores. This was because of our evening voyage, we took this opertunity to have maybe our last shower before Friday. We did a little bit of sunbathing, until the heat was unbearable, almost 28 degrees.
At 5 pm we set off on the quick journey to Fleetwood. Except it wasn’t quick as it took us almost 1.5 hours to get 100 yards through the lock. This was because the tide was still coming in and the sea bed was literally touching the bottom of Tenacity (the incredible beast). As we were grinding along the muddy sea bed the water levels were getting higher and higher. With the excitement of sitting for 40 minutes on the bottom we had invented a new version of rock, paper, scissors called stone, glass, wind! We also played naughts and crosses and hangman in the dusty window that the boys hadn’t cleaned properly. Hangman was amazing too because Nadia and Fermie made up a word that was apparently off a boat, it was jib. We have now been informed that it was real.
Eventually we motored (not sailed) to Fleetwood where we are to spend the night. The meal had been prepared in the afternoon and was quickly devoured on the deck in balmy evening temperatures.
Nadia and Daniella