Awards

Ocean Youth Trust South is a multi-award-winning organisation which has won recognition at national and international level for our charitable work and some of our key staff

Award-winning charity

OYT South was the first sail training charity to receive The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, awarded to us in June 2011, with a formal presentation from HRH The Princess Royal in September 2011.

Our Chief Executive Mark Todd was the inaugural winner of the MCA Award for Command Commitment to Sail Training.

We were also one of the charities chosen by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to benefit from the Royal Wedding Charitable Gift Fund.

In January 2016, our previous vessel John Laing was named Sail Training Vessel of the Year by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and the Association of Sail Training Organisations.

In December 2018, Ocean Youth Trust South’s Staff Skipper, Peta Koczy, won the title of Young Sail Trainer of the Year 2018. This is a worldwide award for a young professional sail trainer under the age of 25, to encourage and recognise high-performing individuals who deliver sail training to young people at sea.

In February 2019, Holly Vint – who had come up through the OYT South system, initially sailing with us as a young person before qualifying as a watchleader and then a First Mate, and working for us full-time through the 2018 season – won the ASTO and the Maritime Coastguard Agency award for the Best Potential Sail Training Skipper. This award is open to sail trainers who have not yet started skippering large sail training vessels and the award certificate says: “Awarded to the sea staff member who shows the best potential, not just for command ability and seamanship but also for the capability of fulfilling the youth development aims of Sail Training.” In November 2020, Holly Vint succeeded Peta Koczy as OYT South’s Staff Skipper.

At the 2022 UK Sail Training conference, OYT South won the Social Media Star trophy, designed to reward the UK Sail Training organisation that had had a big impact on social media over the previous couple of years. We were recognised for regular posts from voyages and refit, including pictures and videos, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, plus the regular voyage track posts, sharing and retweeting things from other members of the sail training community, a real effort to keep connected through social media during lockdowns, and some major campaigns including the fundraising Virtual Voyage, and #SailToWellbeing.

Donate Online

Click on the button below to donate online using PayPal’s secure service. You can either use your own PayPal account to donate, or you can use a credit card.

Donate Online

Using PayPal’s Secure Service

Donate by Post

Please send a cheque made payable to “Ocean Youth Trust South” to Ocean Youth Trust South, 8 North Meadow, Weevil Lane, Gosport, Hampshire PO12 1BP.

Donate by Post

8 North Meadow, Weevil Lane, Gosport, Hampshire PO12 1BP

How to sail with us

Ocean Youth Trust South is an adventure sail training charity which takes young people aged 11-25 to sea in our 30-metre vessel Prolific.

Individual Voyages

Voyages for people aged 11-25

 Group Voyages

Introduction for adult leaders

Adult Voyages

Voyages for people aged over 18