Waiting patiently for the tide at Glasson Dock

Map of Girls Year 8 voyage 16 - 21 June 2013

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

Lazy Thursday

This morning Maisie, Ruby and Molly were very lazy as they stayed in bed till 11.30, even the engine didn’t wake them up, whilst the other group were up at 10.30 docking the boat without the other girls. Luckily they woke up in time for breakfast and made it for everyone else too. Time passed very quickly and everyone got dressed. Rebecca, Millie, Jess, and Harriet started their trek to the park, whilst Maisie, Ruby, Lauren and Molly travelled to the park in a dinghy. It was a near death experience as Molly let go off the rope and it nearly got stuck in the propeller, but birthday boy John came to our rescue and plunged his hand in the water to fish it out. Soon after that Ruby crashed the dinghy into another boat and Maisie and Lauren screamed with fear. Meanwhile the other group were stood in the rain and could hear Maisie singing. When it came to Maisie’s turn to steer she drove everyone into the swamp and Ruby and Molly collected the lilly pads, whilst Lauren was squealing.




Nice cake



Johns cake was not so appetising

When we arrived at the park the group went over to play football with Wilson the football (from the film Castaway). The teams were Molly, Ruby, Becca and Jess (A) and Millie, Harriet , Maisie and Lauren(B). The score came to 7-2 to the A team. There were many accidents as the grass was wet. Millie, Jess, Harriet and Becca had their go on the dinghy, whilst the others went for an ice cream in the park. Millie was the best driver and Becca nearly capsized the boat on her birthday and she got everyone’s bum wet. It was very cold but surprisingly the water was warm enough for a swim. There were numerous games of cards. During that time Molly and Ruby were cooking some fish and chips. They attempted to write Happy Birthday in ketchup for John and Becca. It turned out looking like it should be saying Happy Halloween rather than Happy Birthday, so this was left for Maisie to deal with. Maisie and Lauren worked hard at the washing up. Meanwhile Becca was busy at cutting her cake for everyone to enjoy.



Happy Birthday Becca.



Being back at Glasson Dock is like being back at home. It has been an amazing experience for us all and we can’t wait to come back for some more fun. Thank you Ian, John and Charlotte for everything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN AND BECCA!

By Molly and Maisie

Wednesdays voyage home

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a long day, Lauren, Millie, Becca, Jess and Harriet all got up at 7:30 to go and explore Douglas. Meanwhile Ruby, Molly and Maisie stayed in bed for a lie in. They got up at 9:00 by which time the other girls had all been showered; although we only got 4 minute showers which was very hard to do and were already exploring the town.

The first girls were on a mission to find a Costa coffee as were the second girls, so when we finally saw one at the end of the high street we were literally jumping and screaming for joy. We all feasted on milkshakes, muffins, toasties and more. After Costa both groups had a walk up and down the high street, we were all happy to get back into civilisation. The second group of girls found a telephone box and rang home which made them happy. However, the other girls did not think to go to a telephone box and instead went to a diner to get some take out chips, even though they had had a enormous Costa breakfast. To finish a lovely morning both groups went for a walk along the prom in the sun which was very hot!

Once all the girls returned to the boat we needed to get going immediately to start out 10 hour voyage. There was one problem, however... We had missed the first bridge opening as our boat was hard to manoeuvre! Luckily the harbour patrol towed us off into a better position so we could get through the bridge. After we’d put up all of the sails and prepared the boat for the journey we could relax in the sun, group one were lying down at the front of the boat enjoying the calm sea.

After yesterday nobody was particularly looking forward to the ten hour journey ahead of us but the sea was a lot calmer and the weather was warmer which made the trip much more enjoyable for everyone. We even managed to get through our journey without Ruby or Jess being sick! As we were able to go down below lots of different games were played and lots of magazines were read. We took shifts in driving the boat and keeping a lookout but thus helped to pass the time.

Then, we received the bad news that we would have to sail for an extra three hours all the way back to Glasson Dock as the weather forecast had deteriorated and being at Piel Island would make it difficult to sail back the next day. This new update would mean we were going to be sailing until the early hours of the morning! The next few hours passed slowly but we persevered until we could see the English horizon. Jess decided she loved steering and carried on her shift for most of the night. Lauren and Maisie kept lookout while everybody kept themselves warm below.

We had to anchor 3 miles off the port of Glasson because the tide had not come in yet. However the hour passed quickly as we sang happy birthday to Rebecca and John who both turned another year older at midnight.

Finally we got back on deck and all helped Ian sail the final few miles into Glasson Dock, we were all relieved when we entered the first lock and fell asleep as soon as we got in bed. At this point it was about 3am and we had been sailing for 14 hours which felt like an eternity. Plus, majority of us had got up early too. Even though we had worked hard it had been a fun day filled with new experiences, we were all proud of ourselves as we had sailed across the Irish Sea and back in two days!

We are looking forward to going out on the dinghy today.

By Lauren and Ruby

Big sail to Douglas

We woke up at 6.00am, to find that we had to put up all the sails up by 6.30am, ready to set off on a 10 hour voyage to the Isle of Man. Travelling on waves which were very uneven tipping the boat on right angles to the sea, leaving us hanging on for dear life! This turned out to be very challenging for some especially for some who were sick, in total of 9 times.


Whilst everyone was sleepy our 2nd mate, came up with a fun idea of a sing song of well known pirate songs including Millie, Rebecca and Lauren. We later stopped singing our songs as they were becoming boring and annoying for others.

A flock of greedy seagulls came to the boat in search of food but luckily for us, Molly saved the day by warding them away by swinging at them with a lifesaver belt. She later fell asleep on guard duty.

Rebecca managed to steady the boat whilst everyone went to the toilet. Everyone had a chance to sail the boat even though it felt like we were going in circles passing the never ending wind farms. The scenery didn’t change until 2 miles out from the Isle of Man as of the poor visibility due to the fog and low clouds.

Arriving in the marina of Douglas 10 hours later, we were all overjoyed with the views of shops, showers and stable land. We jumped at the opportunity of reaching dry land by running up the vertical ladders.

We are all looking forward to a nice long lie in.

Windless first day

The past 24hours has been a very memorable, hectic and a funny experience. We woke up at 7.00am in the morning, which I can say was not easy for some. We set of to leave the docks at 11.00am, it took an hour to get out of the lock as we had to wait for the water levels to even out. We all took turns to steer the boat separately. This was a scary yet exciting and new experience for some.

Whilst making tea and hot chocolate for us all at night, Maisie Ruby and Molly managed to flood the kitchen they later realised that they had left the tap on since lunchtime. Jess and Harriet were given the job of pumping out the water from the kitchen.

On Monday morning everyone found out that this was there last shower till Thursday, we realised that we would have to put up with the smell of 11 people all in the same boat

At 3o`clock we learnt about the sails as we had been using the engine power to travel. It had been fairly windy until we put up the sails. Putting up the sails took half an hour and straight away we had to put them back down again.

Group A- Millie, Harriet, Jess, Becca and Lauren had the task of making Monday nights breakfast and tea. For tea we made a traditional dish of sausage and mash followed by chocolate chip pancakes. It took us 4hours to make tea and wash up realising we still had to make pancakes. The pancakes turned out burnt but this wasn’t a problem as we topped them with everything but the kitchen sink.

We have ended up anchoring in Fleetwood as there was a prediction of too much wind(20mph) in Piel Island.

We are all looking forward to the rest of the week ahead of us and learning to sail the boat properly.

By Millie, Harriet, Jess

Map of Girls voyage 9 - 14 June 2013

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