Gold D of E training 2010

19th March 2010
Yesterday, we arrived after sixth form to be greeted by Andy, Colin and Georgie. We first went to see the boat, we were all EXETREMELY worried about the size of the boat, but once inside realised there was just enough room. We unpacked while the instructors prepared our tea. The pizza was a good welcome to the boat. With the rest of the night we just relaxed and played some games. We played Articulate which was rather hilarious as everyone was rubbish at it and Andy impressed us with his knowledge of the Spice Girls and Pretty Woman, lol. Then the instructors left us on our own in the main room to talk. When it go to 11 o’clock we were all pretty tired and went to bed. Our eighth member arrived at about half 11 after her school production. Then we were out for the night. Michelle, Emma and Preeya
20th March 2010
We split up into 2 groups in the morning, one group went with Andy out in the marina. Whilst we had fun having a go in the dinghy, Colin’s group had to stay on the boat and put up sails. Some of us mastered the art of steering the dinghy A LOT quicker than others, much to Andy’s amusement! Luckily we didn’t kill any ducks or crash into any boats although there were some pretty close shaves! We then headed back to the boat for lunch, which was sandwiches with cheese and everything else; crisps, cucumber, lettuce, and oddly enough apple thanks to Michelle. After lunch we swapped activities. We hauled the main and the mizzen sail up onto the mast. Then the other team came back and we learnt how to put sails in and out. We raced each other to see which team could do it fastest and it was a draw. Then we called it a day and had tea- pasta with sauce and garlic bread. We even had a caterpillar cake called Boris/Cameron/Calvin for dessert :D We’re all really tired now especially after the talk about routes :P, a member of the group, Zaakirah, has actually fallen asleep at the table in front of us! Lmao. Time for bed! Night night! Preeya and Shakti

Moving the Exhaust Hole

A call at 13.00 today from Just Core It, the company lined up to put a new exhaust hole in, led to a dash down the motorway to meet them at 14.30 at Glasson in order to let them on board Tenacity for them to drill the new hole. Originally we had expected to meet them on Thursday or Friday of this week to do the work but a busy schedule for Just Core It led to a change of plans and an earlier than expected meeting. The work was completed quickly and easily, a case of having just the right tool for the job, and with no fuss at all. We are very grateful to Just Core It for their speed and standard of service on this task. Work will continue later this week to complete the rerouting of the exhaust and to fit the new outlet, which is coming from Holland as we write, before internal boxing in of the exhaust pipe can be undertaken later next month. The picture above shows the old hole (covered with stainless steel plate) just on the water line and the new hole above the water line.

Latest Update

We were back working at Glasson for the first time since Christmas, work has been slowed up due to all of the snow, Tenacity is fine sat in her cradles and the heater and dehumidifier have done their job and kept the dampness off the inside of the boat.

The day was spent the day removing the cushion and matress covers for cleaning back up in Penrith. Removing the troublesome mizzen mast foot for adjusting and re-anodizing. Unblocking the main heads that has been a problem since the last Year 8 trip, and finally starting the job of moving the exhaust outlet to a more suitable position.

Out of the water for the first time since launching

Tenacity is now out of the water and sitting in the cradles that she last used during building back at Bolton School. She is out of the water for routine maintenance to her hull.

After about 2 and a half years of sitting in the water it was impressive to see that the Leighs antifouling had done its job and all that was needed was a quick jet wash to get rid of the green slime.

The job of lifting her out was largely dealt with by the staff of Glasson Basin Marina, who were excellent as always, the lift was slower than planned and ended up with us having to remove the mizzen mast in order to get Tenacity balanced in the boat lift.

Maintenance will start over the coming weeks on those jobs identified during the last season of use with school groups.

More Pics

More pics

Lucky Day

We woke up at 8 o’clock and had the best breakfast yet, it was pancakes with sugar, lemon and syrup (lots of syrup for Olivia). After breakfast we started a game of PEG where you have to secretly put a certain peg on someone (the game finishes tomorrow after breakfast) the person with the peg at this point looses, Ian quickly pegged James. We brushed our teeth and went for a very lucky walk with James. On our walk we found a total of 42 four leaf clovers, 2 five leaf and 1 six leaf clover after spending all morning looking. We walked down to the sea and looked at all the really old shipwrecks but couldn’t go to look because the sand around them was sinking sand (Mary told us later that the other week the boys had gone and got covered in mud how unfair). Then we threw rocks onto the sinking sand, a game James called ‘Spladoosh’ and then went to look at the tide. When we got back on Tenacity we sat down for a quiet game of cards whilst James made our lunch. After we wolfed down our hot dogs and potato wedges (also the best lunch) we got dressed for a sailing trip. We actually got the sails up today and Olivia, Megan and Madi finally got a go at steering the boat. We did not go very fast because the wind was not in our favor but we still went quite fast and it was very bumpy (well for our first time anyway). We stayed on the sea for about two hours then afterwards we cleaned the outside of the boat. That took maybe another hour and doing that we all had a mini water fight. It was great fun. We then went to the trek away toilets to have a shower. There were only 5 showers so Georgia and Megan had to wait 30mins to get in the shower. We all came back and played a game of uno IAN lost!! Then we had the best dinner ever made by the best skipper ever MARY!! By this time Ian had the peg again. For dinner we had Fish and chips. After dinner we had a chat and by the end of the day we were all tired and went to bed. We had the best day EVER!!