An abortive attempt to get back to Glasson.

Piel Island, or not?

After breakfast we filled up the water tanks ready for a day at sea. Starboard watch went in the dingy whilst Port cleaned the boat from bow to stern and then Port went on the dingy and Starboard baked ginger cookies. When Port got back from the dingy we had lunch which was hotdogs and vegetable soup. When we wanted to get out to sea there was a thirty minute delay due to the lock gate opening late. We then let go of the side and finally we got out to sea and Johnny had a go at steering the boat he was actually really good! We tried to sail but it was very rough again so we turned round and came back to Fleetwood. The whole crew were a little disappointed but at least we didn’t have to keep going with the big waves for another three hours and we didn’t get as wet as yesterday. After we had docked we had to plug into the main electrics but the wire was a bit short and so we moved the boat forward and we got electricity plugged in, it took a bit longer than we hoped but it was fine. As soon as we had plugged in we put the kettle on for a quick cuppa for the staff. Later on we went for a walk out of the dock to the estuary and got very muddy, on the way back to the boat we all sat in a line on the jetty and dunked our wellies in the water. When we got back on board Starboard put on a Turkey Korma and an apple crumble (it was lovely jubbly) and everyone enjoyed it. Ian taught us how to throw a figure of eight knot some people got it and others didn’t!
By Henry & Harry

Wet 'n' windy

Today we started off by having breakfast, sausages and cereal! Now with coco pops!! Next we went for fuel. One watch stayed on the boat and dealt with the fenders whilst Port watch helped with the mooring lines on the jetty. We also took onboard more water.
After this we circled round the marina until the lock gates were open, we sailed through to the middle of the lock and waited for the water to come down to the lower basin level. Whilst that was happening we ate our lunch. Everyone was excited about going out to sea. From there I guess it was plain sailing, until…
Then the waves started to get really rough and big waves started to hit the bow and the 5 people at the bow had to move into the cockpit and clip on with the safety lines and some others were at the stern. People started to put their heads out of the cover and get hit by the sprays and Daniel got absolutely drenched on his first go at facing the spray which was hilarious. Then we turned into the channel before going into the cover of the sand bank, when we turned into the channel the wind and waves were coming from the starboard side and tipping the boat up to roughly 40 degrees which was very frightening. We were in the rough seas for about an hour.
Eventually we sailed into calmer seas and then we took the safety lines off and in about 15 minutes we moored up in Fleetwood docks. After that 3 people off port watch prepared tea which was pasta and bolognaise and for dessert we had rice pudding then we went for showers.

Wet and Wild!

Action packed day at Glasson

Yesterday we arrived at Glasson dock and got on the boat at 6pm. We were introduced to the crew and the boat we found our beds and got the best. We didn’t do much after that and the first meal was bangers and mash (which was very good) and we all slept like a log and were woken up by Ian at 7:30 which was hard because everybody was up quite late.
Breakfast was amazing it was scrambled egg and toast. First thing this morning we got are Sailing kit which consisted of salopettes and a waterproof top. Once we had our kit on we went through some safety features on the boat, also we learnt how to put up a sail, cook and what the different side of the boat are e.g. Stern, bow, port and starboard side. After we learnt to put up the sail which everybody found easy. At dinner we had vegetables and caramelized pork and are about to have a chocolate fondue and we also hope to sail to peel island tomorrow.
By Ben & James

Track the first of the year 8's in September here