Friday 15th April - Sailing in the fog to Campbeltown

The day started early and we were out of bed by 7.30 for breakfast. After getting suited and booted, we set off across the Firth of Clyde towards our destination of Campbeltown. Setting off on our voyage, we learnt how to put up the sails, practice how to tie new knots such as the round turn and two half hitches and the bowline to use aboard the boat. We managed to put up four sails and hit a great speed of around 7.2 knots while sailing down the west coast of Arran. We also took it in turns to steer the boat …. being at the helm appeared to be the general favourite part of the day for all crew members, we all liked being boss! It wasn’t long after breakfast that we discovered what is commonly known as ‘second breakfast’. Despite our hesitations, we soon realised that the extra energy was very much needed….great scrambled egg and toast on deck.

After learning to fill in the hourly log involving looking at cloud cover, direction, co-ordinates and learning how to plot our course, we quickly found ourselves surrounded by a thick blanket of fog, stretching across the sea around us. Members on board were allocated look out jobs, watching around the boat incase any other boats were around us in the fog. In the isolation we heard the distant sound of a Ferry’s foghorn. We used our foghorn to sound out to other boats our location, however this method provided great entertainment as, as David pointed out, it sounded much more like a warning signal to the RSPB to help an injured duck! Despite all of the fog, we managed to work as a team and navigate our way out of the fog at good speed and sensibly. Unfortunately, a couple of members of our crew felt a little sea sick but soon recovered. Along the way we also learnt the art of tacking the boat so we could sail into the wind, and had to learn how to use the winches so we could work the sails.

For tea we cooked a delicious meal of caramelised pork and homemade apple crumble. Mmmmmm! After cooking a few meals and our first day on board we are now adapting to our ‘cosy’ moving environment of tenacity. We are all now looking forward to a good night’s sleep and are ready for another challenging day ahead of us tomorrow

Love to you all

Jen, Liv, Izzy, Heather, Emma, Felicity, Meg and Ruth

Read more about Sail Training on board Tenacity of Bolton at http://www.tenacityofbolton.org/