Wolf on leave!
Wolf will be away on leave from 20th to 30th June. In his absence, people can contact the office (0870 241 2252), email me, or call the boat (07990 518915 – where you will find staff bosun Craig, or relief skipper Nick Crawford).
New age limit
There has been a change to the age limit for voyage JL05-32, Fredrikstad (Norway) to Bremerhaven (Germany), 6-10 August – previously advertised with a minimum age of 15, it is now open to anyone aged 12-25. Just a few spaces left, so please contact the office as soon as possible.
Overseas crew members
We still need a few more non-British crew members for the voyage 3rd-8th September this year – we have bursary funding available if (and only if) at least half the crew come from overseas. If we can do this, the trip will cost just £150 per person – so please think about whether you have any connections with young people from other countries, up to and including the age of 25, and please email me with ideas!
Voyage news
One bit of news that came in too late for last week’s bulletin – John Snowden passed his second mate’s assessment (continuing a family tradition) – congratulations!
This week’s crew came from year 9 of Park House School and sports college, Newbury. This was another group booking arranged for us by Fraser Old, and yet again Fraser has come up trumps: skipper Wolf says that the group was absolutely excellent, full of enthusiasm and a real pleasure to sail with. They came with two extremely good group leaders, both of whom are interested in joining our volunteer sea staff, and it would be fantastic to see groups from this school back on board John Laing in future.
The trip began in Poole on Sunday, and the plan was just to go a short distance to an anchorage in Studland on the first night. However, with perfect wind and weather, the opportunity seemed too good to miss and the crew were asked how they felt about an overnight crossing of the Channel straight away. They were very keen.
Enthusiasm declined somewhat when seasickness set in, but the crew kept working hard. Special mention to Fiona for throwing up in her mug! However, it continued to be the perfect night sail, and they eventually made it to St Peter Port in Guernsey – our first time in the Channel Islands in 2005.
Here the boat received a number of visitors, including Matt le Page, and also Mark Windham, who had arranged voyages for two of the previous week’s crew members, Max and Ed. Mark came along to say how well he thought that voyage had gone and how successful it had been for the two boys, and he hopes to be able to book further trips for some of the other young people he works with in Guernsey.
Meanwhile, this week’s crew worked hard on their Competent Crew syllabus, and also enjoyed some time ashore on the island.
The next leg of the voyage took them to Alderney in light winds, with Gizmo doing all the pilotage. In Braye harbour, Alderney, they had a BBQ on the boat. They had planned to go to Cherbourg next, but a forecast of poor visibility made it safer to get back across the Channel before the fog set in – which meant another long night sail, leaving Alderney at 2pm and arriving in Cowes at 5.30am. Again, a really good channel crossing in fine weather and good winds.
The voyage finished in Southampton today. All the crew got their RYA Competent Crew certificates, and every single one of them wants to come again (and would be very welcome).
Sea staff were Wolf, Mike McBrinn (former OYT Northern Ireland skipper – good to see him back again), Mark Boggis, Julia Davies, Gizmo and Annant Shah, who was new to OYT having previously sailed with the London Sailing Project, but successfully completed his third mate’s assessment and would also be welcome back!
Sea staff vacancies
With all these people completing assessments week after week, surely there are people out there to fill some of the remaining 2005 sea staff vacancies? I’m still desperately hoping to get some of the following gaps filled before I go off to Tall Ships! Sometimes this list seems to get longer rather than shorter – just as new people come forward, other people unavoidably drop out…..So don’t assume this list is the same every week. It’s always worth checking for new dates.
First mates still needed for: 26 Aug-2 Sept; 3-8 Sept; 12-16 Sept; 19-23 Sept; 24-30 Sept; 10-14 Oct; 15-20 Oct; 21-25 Oct; 26-31 Oct; 1-5 Nov.
Second mates needed for: 10-11 Sept; 2-7 Oct; 26-31 Oct; 1-5 Nov. I’ve had a few enquiries about these trips but we need to start getting a few things firmed up.
Third mate now needed for 3-8 Sept: this is our voyage for overseas crew members, and applications so far have come from six different nationalities, so it should be a very different trip!
We still have spaces for sea staff and prospective sea staff on a familiarisation (or re-familiarisation) voyage 12-16 September (£200); and there are also a very few spaces on the mates’ training weekend 16-18 Sept (£100).
We really need to find some more people for the familiarisation voyage – an adults-only (16+) trip suitable for all sorts of people: anyone new to OYT who wants to find out more; anyone who has sailed as crew or group leader who is looking to make progress as watchleader or bosun; existing sea staff who may feel a bit rusty and need a refresher – and even regular sea staff who fancy a slightly different John Laing experience, without the responsibility of supervising young people!
Please email me or call 07986 354697 if you want to do any of these voyages.
Future crew bookings
We have now allocated most of the bursary funding for Tall Ships (lots of very excited young people from backgrounds where this type of activity has never seemed even remotely possible before), so we only have a few spaces on most of the legs left – please get in touch a.s.a.p if you want to come along!
Apart from the call for overseas crew members on JL05-37, we still have some spaces on the following voyages:
JL05-30: 10 nights, 16-26 Jul, Cherbourg to Newcastle, £600 (age 16-25)
JL05-31: 9 nights, 27 Jul – 5 Aug, Newcastle to Fredrikstad, £585 (age 16-25)
JL05-32: 4 nights, 6-10 Aug, Fredrikstad to Bremerhaven, £260 (age 12 to 25, the same as all the following trips)
JL05-34: 5 nights, 12-17 Aug, Bremerhaven to Ipswich, £325
JL05-42: 4 nights, 19-23 Sep, Southampton, £220
JL05-47: 4 nights, 10-14 Oct, Southampton, £210 (whole boat group booking available)
JL05-48: 5 nights, 15-20 Oct, Southampton, £225 (whole boat group booking available)
JL05-49: 4 nights, 21-25 Oct, Southampton, £200
JL05-51: 4 nights, 1-5 Nov, Southampton, £160
For information on latest vacancies, please contact the office on 0870 241 2252, or email office@oytsouth.org.
We are now taking bookings on the 2006 programme, also available from the office, or on the website at www.oytsouth.org.
Dates for your diaries
Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help at IFOS (the International Festival of the Sea) between June 30th and July 3rd – look forward to seeing you all there!
Weds 29th June: John Laing maintenance day, Portsmouth (call Craig 07990 518915).
Thurs 11th August: John Laing maintenance day in Bremerhaven.
10th and 11th September: More John Laing Open Days.
Friday 16th Sept: OYT South annual dinner, Royal Southern YC, Hamble, held jointly with two local children’s hospices. Tickets £65 each.
16th – 25th September: Southampton Boat Show: volunteers needed for the OYT South stand.
Saturday 1st October: John Laing maintenance day, Southampton (call Wolf 07771 771864).
Saturday 5th November: End of season party and possible other weekend activities tbc. Individuals welcome aged 18+; crew members under 18 who have sailed this year and would like to keep in touch are welcome to come to the weekend with a parent or group leader.
For more information on any of this, email me or contact the office on 0870 241 2252, office@oytsouth.org.
Don’t forget the OYT South link to Amazon!
At the bottom of the OYT South home page (https://www.oytsouth.org/) is a link to Amazon. Use this link whenever you order anything from Amazon and they will give a percentage of the price to OYT South funds.