Newsletter
OYT South bulletin 25th June 2021
In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Prolific news
- * Update on plans for the season
- * Baby news – Mollie and Sam
- * How OYT South changed my life - Will's story
- * Core refit team needed
- * In this week in previous years
- Financial appeal
- Painting of Prolific - prints available to buy!
- Online training courses for volunteers - safeguarding and more
- Passports – be prepared
- 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
* Prolific news
Welcome to Vince Brodie who will be on board for the next couple of weeks to help us get the season underway. He seems to be studying a chart of Tor Bay, so is possibly dreaming of the ice cream in Brixham which we haven’t been able to enjoy since summer 2019 …
Holly, Josh and Georgia had a trip to the office to see Sally and Annette and sort out some paperwork. They also had a look at the section of Prolific’s deck that lives in the office: if you have ever wondered what the deck is made of and how thick it might be, here it is:
Meanwhile the Honourable Company of Master Mariners did a very kind press release this week about their continuing support for our Staff Cadet post. A great friend to OYT South, Commander Les Chapman, has recently become Master of the Honourable Company, and he said: “We are very proud of what Georgia has achieved in her career so far and honoured to be part of the funding for her salary with the Ellis Campbell Foundation and Trinity House. As a long term supporter of the excellent personal development of young people delivered by OYT South through HCMM, Trinity House and George Green’s School I am proud to be associated with this programme.”
* Update on plans for the season
Although the further lifting of restrictions has been delayed by the Government, the good news is that we ARE allowed to start the season, though clearly the continuation of social distancing rules means we must operate at reduced capacity.
We will keep this under review in the light of any revised guidelines.
The limited-capacity places have all been filled on our voyages and there are already quite a few names on the waiting lists in case we are allowed to add extra places as the summer goes on, but if you would like to join the waiting list for a place for a young person on one of these voyages, please email webmaster1@oytsouth.org
1-7 August, 6 nights, starting and finishing Brixham, £595 per person
8-14 August, 6 nights, Brixham to Southampton, £595 per person
21-26 August, 5 nights, Dartmouth to Poole, £505 per person
27 -31 August, 4 nights, Poole to Southampton, £405 per person
2-7 Sept, 5 nights, starting and finishing Southampton, £505 per person (age 16-25)
23-26 October, 3 nights, starting and finishing Southampton, £310 per person
The age range for our voyages is 11-25 unless otherwise specified; but in practice we don’t generally have 11-year-olds and 25-year-olds sailing together so when you apply for a particular voyage we can tell you the age range of those already booked and check whether it is suitable for you.
Please bear in mind that the decision on how many people we might be able to take from the waiting list may come at short notice and is dependent on government announcements. We really don’t know what decisions might be made, or when.
Please note our Crew Covid Guidance which includes details of pre-voyage screening as well as procedures to be followed if anyone shows symptoms while on board. The pre-voyage screening includes a requirement for two negative Covid tests: one 3-4 days before the voyage, and the second immediately before travelling to the boat. If anyone on the waiting list chooses to keep up regular testing (which can be the rapid home tests which many young people will be used to doing for school or college) then you could be eligible if we have any last-minute vacancies which might arise from someone else having a positive test result just before their voyage.
* Baby news – Mollie and Sam
Huge congratulations to our former Operations Assistant Mollie Crawford and former watchleader Sam Rawlinson on the safe arrival of baby Atlas:
His great-grandfather and great-uncle have both skippered for OYC / OYT South and both parents were watchleaders so he will clearly make an excellent crew member - starting in around 2033!
* How OYT South changed my life – Will's story
Big congratulations to second mate Will Parker who has been accepted for initial Officer Training at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth to train as a Warfare Officer in January 2022.
Will first sailed with OYT South in 2011 when he was 12 years old. He became a third mate at the age of 18, in 2016, and a second mate two years later.
Will says: “Without my involvement with OYT South over the past decade – first as a young person, now as a watch leader – I doubt that I would have got to this point. In the first instance, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to apply. Every time I have stepped ashore after a voyage with OYT South it has been accompanied by a massive sense of pride and achievement. Whether that has been because I have earned my RYA Competent Crew as a young person, or because I have played my part in helping the Sea Staff team provide a memorable and lasting experience for the crew on board, the impact has been the same – slowly learning to believe in myself. More than this, the ability to demonstrate aptitude for leadership, teamwork and planning during the application process has largely been enabled by experience built-up as a watch leader with OYT South. To name just one example, during my interview board, I spoke at length about how I led my watch of young people in planning and running the pilotage of Prolific into Dartmouth (incidentally also the site of the naval college!); something that definitely helped me stand out from other applicants.”
* 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.
* In this week in previous years
While the charity is waiting to return to normal voyages with young people, it is good to keep reminding ourselves about the value of our charitable work, the life-changing experiences and fantastic fun and friendship on our voyages and at our vessel refits and other activities. If you have a treasured memory of sailing, working or volunteering with us, or a tale of a voyage you will never forget, or a funny story, please send it to webmaster1@oytsouth.org and we'll publish the best in future editions of this newsletter.
We have now completed a full twelve months of round-ups on what we would be doing this week in a normal year, so if you want to see what we are usually doing as we approach the end of June, you can find it here. It’s a great reminder of how much effort so many people have put in over the years to ensure that we can keep helping young people develop the skills to succeed in life!
Financial appeal
Big thanks to
all our supporters and friends who have responded with such kindness and generosity to our appeal over the last year. We are not thanking everyone individually in the bulletin only because quite a few people have asked to remain anonymous; but we are truly grateful to all of you. Everyone who has contributed and is still contributing is playing a huge part in getting us through this long period with no voyage income, and ensuring that the charity will be strong enough to do important work with young people who will need us more than ever, as soon as we can safely sail again.
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.
Online training courses for volunteers – safeguarding and more
If you know you have certificates which will expire this year (or have already expired), we have new EduCare licences available – if you would like one to complete your courses, either pay through the website link or get in touch with the office and we’ll talk you through what’s needed - we can tell you what’s expired and what’s still valid, and what dates apply. If would be great if everyone can
get on and ensure all qualifications are up to date so we don’t have to chase people for important pieces of paper at the last minute!
See previous issues of this newsletter for details of online RYA training which may be of interest.
Passports – be prepared
Since 1st January 2021, British passport holders travelling to the EU will need to ensure that on the day you travel, your passport has at least 6 months left, and it must also be less than 10 years old (even if it has 6 months or more left). If you’re planning to sail with us, do make sure your passport is in order in case your voyage might be able to sail to France. We won’t be sailing outside the UK until the situation with Covid seems more secure, but it would be a shame to get to that point and then find a long wait as everyone else is suddenly needing to renew their passports too: you might find it convenient to get it renewed while travel isn’t possible so that you don’t have to send it off for renewal later on!
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.
