Hello friends and family!

We are a few days into our voyage, and it’s been interesting so far! The weather forecasts for this week have been a little less than ideal. It’s quite windy – we’ve had a steady force 7 and 8, gusting to 9. (If you don’t know what this means, suffice it to say it’s REALLY windy.) We’ve spent the last two nights at anchor so far, but have spent our days sailing around the Solent. Unfortunately the wind strength and direction has made it not possible to go to anywhere in France as had been the plan. We’re planning to remain at anchor today and sail to Poole tomorrow morning.

The voyage crew haven’t been left to succumb to boredom, though! We’ve kept them busy handling the sails, bracing the yards, and doing ‘happy hour’ (cleaning the ship, not drinking, ha ha) during the days. There have been lectures from the permanent crew members on ropework and the mechanics of sail setting. Some of the more eager voyage crew members have been helping the bosun’s mates aloft in stowing sails (a challenging task, in this wind!) The Leadership @ Sea youths have been tasked with setting up a pub quiz for tonight. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for the wind to die down just a little so that we can sail into Poole as everyone’s eager to get ashore for a bit, though.

– Bosun’s Mate Amy