Today is the last day of the Portsmouth – Portsmouth voyage and we’d like to thank our voyage crew for the folloing diary entries:

“Pleasantly warm dawn with the Southampton fairway to port, a hint of the refinery and a whiff of drains nicely balanced by the scent of wild woodland and clear streams to starboard. Sails up with precision and team work as we all realise our true capabilities and roles in the watches and a sedate but beautiful progress under sail and out through the needles – the ship coming to life and taking flight into open water. On a serious note it is brilliant to see the effect on all of us Voyage Crew who shuffled onboard four days ago and are now springing into action and realising that although slightly dinged and life-worn we still have tremendous untapped potential and talents that we can take away with us when we re-enter normal daily life.”

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“Polar bears off the Needles! Not real ones of course but if you look at the Needles from a certain angle apparently you can see the shape of a polar bear. Well that’s what they say. Today we’ve had another glorious August day sailing. Aquamarine water and white horses with perfect winds for our gentle circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.

“With no set itinerary each day has been determined by the wind with a sequence of day sails followed by a different anchorage to snug into each night. Good sailing and no long night watches. Perfect.

“The evenings have been filled with activities. A barbecue, improvised wheelchair racing, a knot tying relay devised by our young “leadership at sea” crew members and, for those a little older with more sedate tastes sitting on the warm deck enjoying the sunset and possibly a glass of wine.

“We have a cheerful crew aboard who range in ages from 17 to 87. A good mix of ages and abilities and as usual the JST magic has worked its wonders and we are all pushing our own boundaries, surprising ourselves with what thought we couldn’t do and meeting new and lovely people who we would never have met without this wonderful ship and its crew.

“Sadly, our voyage has passed far too quickly and just as we have learned which mast is which and which rope to pull its nearly time to leave and head for home. For many of us we would just like to turn around and keep sailing.

“Love to all at home from Aft Port. W/L Chris, Paul, Evie, Angela, Cecily and Mira.”