Monday 2 April 2012

Sorry, what was that?

We woke to Cath’s voice, as we had all overslept! We all had 5 minutes to get ourselves up and ready for breakfast, although this was rather tricky for 8 girls. We all enjoyed cereal, toast and juice that was prepared by Millie and Lucy; before leaving Caladh harbour and heading south down the West Kyle of Bute. Soon after we were treated to a second breakfast of sausage sandwiches (Quorn for Hannah), which boosted our mood.


Getting the sails out was slicker today, but the wind was very light and variable in direction, which made Lizzy’s job as helms woman very difficult, also meaning we had to tack every minute or so to try and get the boat going. Colin spent a lot of time going “Lizzy” as we drifted in the wrong direction to which Lizzy replied “Sorry, what was that?” (hence the title) as she had started to think about anything but steering the boat. Although after having about 7 hours sleep, constant focusing on the direction we were drifting was always going to be a tricky job, especially at 10 o’clock in the morning considering it’s our Easter holidays! This said though, steering the boat and trimming the sails effectively in light winds is a very difficult skill – and all the crew, especially Lizzy, handled this well all-in-all.

After an hour of sailing down the West Kyle, we managed to pick up speed as the wind increased and was finally on our side, blowing behind us for the first time on the trip. At the bottom of the West Kyle, we were all then treated to a tuna and mayo or a cheese sandwich, fruit, biscuits and crisps made by Abbie and Hannah. Although making the sandwiches was difficult as we had frozen bread and a rocking boat. After a delicious lunch the sun finally started to peak its way through. Matt then introduced us to some navigation theory of plotting a position fix on a chart in latitude and longitude; as well as doing the important task of filling in the ships log.

After some good tacking north up Lower Loch Fyne with Lucy on the helm, we then decided to bring the sails in and use the motor. Abbie, Hannah, Nadia, Millie and Maddie got timed to bring in the sails as fast as possible- we managed 7 minutes which isn’t bad for us newbees!

After this Abbie, Hannah, Maddie and Nadia decided to clean the boat while we motored up into East Loch Tarbert . Maddie and Nadia cleaned the kitchen while Abbie and Hannah went head to head with the toilet brushes. Abbie and Hannah decided the toilet wasn’t too bad, until we saw the shower that was filled with dead spiders, leaves, mud and heaven knows what else, we didn’t want to know! After half an hour in though, the bathroom was spotless.

After some hearty sailing, finally we arrived at Tarbert Harbour. We all got ready to go to the co op, for our expedition food shop. As we left we got a clear warning we were only allowed to spend £90 on food. We all walked up the pier and nearly got knocked over by a 5 year old ginger boy on his bike. Aw bless him! At the co-op we bought all the sensible foods and (of course!) bought lots of sweets, crisps and chocolate to last for the rest of the voyage – managing to keep within our budget!

As we finished shopping we were all treated to a well deserved warm shower at the harbour before we ate pasta bolognaise (quorn for our own vegetarian). After scraping our plates clean, it was time to plan our route for the following expedition day, with Colin helping us with all the necessary aspects – such as obtaining weather forecasts, destinations, distances, pilotage and contingency plans. Full of chocolate fondoo and with some stronger winds ahead tomorrow, it’s time for an early night!


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

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