Newsletter
OYT South bulletin 20th August 2021
In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Voyage news
- * Sandy Garrity sails round Britain
- Annual Report
- Vessel tracking
- Chris Ellis Award– win £££s off the price of your next voyage!
- Core refit team needed
- * Financial appeal
- Painting of Prolific - prints available to buy!
- Raise funds for OYT South if you're shopping online!
- OYT South social media - please get involved
- Branded clothing
- Raise And Sail - website for anyone looking to raise money to come sailing
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Voyage news
Last week’s voyage ended in Southampton on Saturday after 156 nautical miles and with seven people earning RYA Competent Crew certificates – the others had the qualification already. There were also some new sea staff recommendations.
One parent wrote to say: “Just wanted to email and say a HUGE THANK YOU!!!! My son had the time of his life on board. He absolutely loved it and has made some really lovely sounding friends. He said he'd like to go back on a waiting list for another voyage if that's possible?”
We also heard from parents whose daughter had sailed the previous week – an MDL Award Winner who should have sailed in 2020 on a voyage which was cancelled by Covid: “We just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and all your colleagues who helped make our daughter’s MDL sail training award come to fruition and make it the most amazing experience for her. As you know, the initial voyage was scheduled for April 2020 in the Solent and she had resigned herself to the fact that it was a fantastic, yet missed, opportunity and never anticipated that she would be considered to participate at a later date. To the moment she stepped on board Prolific we never anticipated it would actually happen. Since she stepped off Prolific back in Brixham, she hasn’t stopped talking about her adventures with the Ocean Youth Trust and can’t wait to sail with you again. Our sincere and heartfelt thanks to all the Prolific staff (Josh, Graeme, Val, and Sara) for making her voyage safe, exciting and taking time to explain / teach her new skills. Particular thanks should also go to Holly (Skipper) for her encouragement, support and calming style and Hannah (her Watch Leader) for her energy, enthusiasm and support. Our daughter can’t pinpoint what she enjoyed the most as she’s still buzzing from the voyage and tales of her new experiences, from holding on tight on deck in choppy waters with music playing whilst the waves seemed as high as the side of Prolific; steering and hoisting the sails; jumping into the sea and swimming out of her depth; learning technical terms and teaching others how to record in the log book; seeing dolphins swim alongside and the beautiful views of the Cornish coastline; night-time sailing; watching out for lobster pot buoys; making new friends; dinghy race; beach cove BBQ; the showers at Plymouth marina and washing up with disco lights!”
This week’s crew joined on Sunday in Southampton and had a day sail in the Solent on Monday to get used to the boat and how to sail as crew ahead of taking part in the Mayflower Small Ships Race to Dartmouth, racing against other sail training vessels crewed by young people. The fleet gathered in Ocean Village and we were very grateful to MDL Marinas and the Royal Southampton Yacht Club for their support.
After an early start on Tuesday morning, the course took them out of the eastern Solent and round the south of the Isle of Wight.
Adverse winds and tides made the conditions very challenging for many. But they battled through and sailed on into the night. Unfortunately overnight a pin was found on deck which had become detached from the rigging, and we had to go and anchor in calm waters so that someone could go up the mast and replace it. Continuing without the pin would have been unsafe as it could have led to damage to the rig, so this was definitely the seamanlike option. Sadly it has meant that Prolific had to retire from the race; but many people were glad of some rest and relaxation at anchor - thanks to Jack Dignan for this picture:
They caught up on lost sleep, did some rowing and training towards RYA qualifications and watched a film on board while they waited until the evening for a favourable tide and then had a fast passage to Dartmouth, joining the rest of the fleet there on Thursday morning.
The crew were delighted to have the opportunity for showers, and then they had a great time on board last night with lots of games and music and a lovely atmosphere. The end-voyage comments showed how well the group had bonded, with people getting on with others whom they hadn’t spoken to much at school.
Nine young people earned their RYA Start Yachting qualifications – a great achievement.
Big thanks to sea staff Holly, Brigid, Georgia, Jack, Glyn, Jess who has been making progress towards her third mate assessment, and Saul who was signed off as a bosun.
* Sandy Garrity sails round Britain
Big thanks to Sandy Garrity who is raising some money for us while sailing round Britain!
We spoke to him this week in Eyemouth. In the last week he has had an almost total lack of wind and a lot of motoring as he made his way from Scarborough to Amble and then on to Eyemouth. He says ”The north Northumbrian coast is stunning – it’s made a real impression on me.” Sadly we may not be able to check it out in Prolific as Sandy says the entrance to Eyemouth was alarmingly tight – and Aphrodite is one-third Prolific’s size!
Sandy says the mental side of so much single-handed sailing is interesting – sometimes he loves it and sometimes not. But he’s been making sure of company when possible: in Lowestoft he met up with an old school friend whom he hadn’t seen for 41 years, and in Scarborough he was able to catch up with an old climbing partner from 21 years ago.
Next stop: Scotland! He was aiming for Arbroath when we spoke to him and the plan is to do something he has always wanted to do and sail through the Caledonian Canal – he says “Fort William is still home to me.”
You can track Sandy and Aphrodite on www.marinetraffic.com (using vessel ID 235036786 as there is more than one Aphrodite) and the current position should be displayed on screen. Sandy also has a blog and Instagram.
He adds: “I'm hoping to raise some money for Ocean Youth Trust South, the charity that I volunteer with. If people would like to donate, I know all charities are asking for donations in these challenging times, please use the Just giving page. All monies go straight to Ocean Youth Trust South and not to fund one or two distillery tours on my travels.”
Annual report
We have recently published a somewhat unusual Annual Report. As the introduction says: “This Annual Report covers the financial year 1st November 2019 to 31st October 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the first year in the charity’s history when we were unable to run any voyages or take any young people to sea. However, it was also a year of extraordinary effort from all sorts of people – volunteers, staff, donors, sponsors, supporters and friends – who did everything they could to safeguard the future of the charity despite a full season with no voyage income, in order to ensure that we can continue to offer life-changing experiences to young people who will need opportunities like this more than ever. This report includes examples of some of the support we received during the year, as well as evidence of the lasting impact that our voyages can have on the lives of young people who have the chance to sail with us. With the continuing support of all the friends of Ocean Youth Trust South, we look forward to continuing our work once the Covid-19 crisis has passed, playing our part in the effort to help young people recover from the lasting effects
of the pandemic.”
If you want to see how we survived a year with no voyage income, thanks to all the people who supported us so generously, do have a look at the report. And in the absence of new voyage stories and quotes from clients and young people, we have used this report as an opportunity to look back at the achievements of recent years: this is our “Greatest Hits” report, covering some of the highlights going back to the early years of OYT South, and some cumulative statistics rather than focussing on a single year.
Please do read it – and share it with anyone who might have an interest in our charitable work. It really does show how we can make a genuine lasting difference, and it is packed with facts, figures and crew comments which might inspire people to support us.
Vessel tracking
Don’t forget you can always have a look and see where Prolific is sailing.
Just for the moment we can’t welcome visitors on board due to Covid protocols but if you discover that Prolific is in a harbour somewhere near you, please go and say hello from a safe distance. And sometimes you may be just what we need if you have local information or a bit of time to spare to help with something, or a car for running a quick errand!
Big thanks to the Graham High Charity who sponsor our vessel tracking.
Chris Ellis Award – win £££s off the price of your next voyage!
Now open for 2021 entries.
If you enjoy a voyage with OYT South and want to come again (and are aged 11-25), please think about entering for this award. You can win up to £500 off the price of another voyage, by sending in an account of a voyage you have already done with us. It can be a logbook, diary, story, pictures, video - anything which gives the judges an idea of why you had a good time and would like to come again. The prize is judged at the end of each season and the award can be spent on a voyage the following year. Entries should be emailed to webmaster1@oytsouth.org or posted to the office. See here for more details of this award, which was set up in memory of the charity's founder. You can also see some previous winning entries.
There were no 2020 winners because we were unable to sail, so it would be great to see an excellent crop of entries for 2021!
Core refit team needed
Obviously our winter plans are all dependent on what we can do in a Covid-safe manner, but all being well, we will be looking for a core team of volunteers to come and help us this winter from November to March. This is something we've been doing since at least 2002: a small full-time team offers continuity alongside all the other volunteers who come for odd days or weekends. We provide free food and accommodation for the core team as well as great experience in boat maintenance and a chance to make a real difference to a good cause while enjoying a sociable winter in the team. Many previous core team members are still great friends of the charity - some still sailing with us, others using the experience to help develop their careers. If you want to follow in the footsteps of Jake, Oran and Ian from the last full-time core team, and all the others who have gone before them, please see here for details and how to apply.
* Financial appeal
Huge thanks this week to the friends and family of Roy Hughes, one of our much-loved volunteers, who have raised a really significant sum for us in his memory.
Thanks also to the friends and family of John Pennefather who are sending in donations in his memory.
And finally for this week, thanks this week to Itchenor Sailing Club Junior Fortnight who were raising funds for us – there are some great pictures here.
We need a regular flow of funds to cover at least three major areas: bursaries for young people who could not otherwise afford to sail; vessel maintenance and equipment; and staff salaries - please help, or pass on our details to anyone you come across who might make a grant, large or small.
See here for how to make a donation - you can contribute by cheque, phone or PayPal, but please do something if you possibly can. Don't forget that if you complete and return a Gift Aid form (pdf) we can claim back tax on your donation.
Painting of Prolific – prints available to buy!
Our friend, Gosport-based marine artist Colin Baxter, has prints taken from an original painting of Prolific available for you to buy.
The unframed prints will measure 370mm x 230mm plus border. They will be numbered and signed, and will cost £45 if you can pick yours up in Gosport, and £50 if you need it posted (they will probably come rolled in a cardboard tube). Order here:
Anyone outside the UK wanting to order a copy, please email us.
Raise funds for OYT South if you're shopping online!
"What a fool I was!" says Mark Todd.
"For ages I've seen in the bulletin that Easyfundraising is a good way to raise money for charity, but I never got round to doing anything about it, and when Caz told me how easy it was, I didn't listen.
I thought it might be a hassle, or that I'd have to remember to do something when I bought stuff online, or that it probably wasn't really worthwhile.
This week I finally got round to it and it turns out it's a REALLY EASY way to raise money for the charity I care about ... and I definitely should have done it sooner.
It takes a minute or two to sign up; you can do it on a desktop, tablet and/or phone, and you can install a widget that flags up when a donation is available. Once that's done, imagine you're looking to buy - say - a rainbow unicorn: just put "rainbow unicorn" in your usual search box, and the list of results shows you which sites come with donations, and how much. It's up to you what to pick and whether to accept the donation from the site, but a huge choice of sites will offer a donation - and it doesn't cost you a penny.
I don't know why I didn't do it sooner ... but if there's anyone else who has been like me and just not got round to it, PLEASE click the link now and sign up!"
OYT South is also registered with Amazon Smile which makes donations to us when people shop - Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price on eligible purchases. If you ever shop with Amazon, do have a look - once you pick Ocean Youth Trust South as your chosen charity and start using https://smile.amazon.co.uk, you don't need to do anything further, and all your other Amazon account settings remain unchanged.
OYT South social media – please get involved
One of the simplest ways you can help us while we can’t sail is to keep looking at our social media pages and share, retweet or like as many posts as possible. This all helps to make sure other people hear about us too – and the more we can keep alive the interest in our charitable work, the more people might help us now or start to think about sailing with us in future. Maybe you’ve got a community group, a local page, even a street WhatsApp where members might like to know that you are involved with a charity that could be of interest to them?
We are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/oytsouth - please do give us a Like! If you were friends with John Laing on our old page (https://www.facebook.com/johnlaingsailing please do move to the new page now.
We are also on Twitter @oytsouth so please follow us!
And Instagram @oyt_south
And LinkedIn Ocean Youth Trust South
Please note that OYT South has a policy that our adult staff and volunteers should not make or accept individual online friend requests with crew members aged under 18, or vulnerable adults. Crew members can use the sites to stay in touch with the boat and with each other, but not with individual staff and volunteers.
Branded clothing
OYT South branded clothing available - please see here. You can buy hoodies (in a wide range of colours), fleeces, short- and long-sleeved t-shirts, baseball caps, beanie hats, polo shirts and more, all with OYT South's logo!
Raise And Sail - website for anyone looking to raise money to come sailing
Raise And Sail is a section of this website full of ideas, information and support for young people who would like to raise money in order to come sailing with us. Huge thanks to Fiona Keen and Emma Burrows for putting Raise And Sail together. We hope you will find it useful - let us know how you get on as we can add success stories and new ideas to the site in due course.
New readers' welcome and introduction
If you have recently registered your interest in OYT South, welcome to our newsletter, which is sent out almost every week, normally on a Friday, and is also copied onto the website.
If you have just started receiving this newsletter by email, it is because we believe you have signed up and consented to receive it - perhaps by emailing us to ask for it, completing a form on our website, or adding your email address to the book on board where people can sign up to receive news, as well as leaving comments. If this was a mistake or you simply decide you want to stop receiving the newsletter, just press “reply” to the email and write UNSUBSCRIBE at the top, or email webmaster1@oytsouth.org asking to unsubscribe.
Each week the newsletter includes a wide range of news from the boat and from the charity, including details of voyages available for young people; adult voyages; opportunities for adult volunteers both ashore and afloat, and much more. We find that while some people read the bulletin almost every week, many others dip in and out, and read it when it's convenient - which is why some items are repeated. New items are marked with an asterisk * so that if you did read it last week, you can see which sections you can safely skip.
Please feel free to join in any OYT South activities - nothing here is restricted to long-standing members or people who already know one another. New people are always very welcome!
If you need an introduction to the work of OYT South, you should find a lot of useful information on our website. But essentially, we are a registered charity (no. 1079959) which exists to offer adventure under sail as a personal development opportunity for young people aged 12-25, from the widest possible range of backgrounds. A high proportion of our young crew members are disadvantaged or deserving in some way: many of these sail in groups organised by other charities, youth clubs, special schools and so on, and will fill the bulk of our term-time voyages. But those from more fortunate backgrounds are also welcome to sail, either in groups or by coming as individuals on a mixed voyage. Every year we run a variety of shorter local voyages plus longer adventure trips - sometimes including Tall Ships races during the summer holidays. If you are aged 12-25 and hoping to sail as a crew member, take a look here - and this section is also useful for adults who are thinking of organising a voyage for a young person. Adults planning to organise a full group voyage should also see here. Adults who want to sail themselves should see here.
We have a professional staff skipper and engineer, but our watch leaders are normally all volunteers, who combine sailing skills with an interest in working with young people. You can find more information here - how the system works, how to join, and profiles of existing staff and volunteers.
To volunteer for OYT South ashore, please see here. To help with the vessel's annual refit, see here.
It is a very expensive business maintaining a boat, running an office and employing staff. If you want to help us, please become a member of OYT South. Or see here for information on making a donation.
If you have any questions, please do email - or contact the office.
Receiving this newsletter by email
Many thanks to all those who have given consent to receiving this newsletter by email. If you are not currently getting it by email and would like to, please just click here Newsletter Subscribe and press "send", or email webmaster1@oytsouth.org.
