Tall Ships crew berths
We have made great progress in selling berths on Tall Ships and related voyages, plus allocating crew members who are being funded through bursary donations, and three of the six voyages between leaving Portsmouth and returning to Ipswich are now FULL!
We have a total of just nine places left on the remaining three legs. Top priority is to fill the four berths left from Newcastle to Fredrikstad, as we don’t want to be racing across the North Sea short-handed: JL05-31: 9 nights, 27 Jul – 5 Aug, Newcastle to Fredrikstad, £585 (age 16-25). Please recommend it to all your friends and encourage them to book!
Wolf on leave
Wolf is away on leave until 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).
Overseas crew members (and maybe some spaces for British crew)
We’ve made some progress finding overseas crew members for the bursary-funded voyage 3rd-8th September this year, but there are still some places left: it will cost just £150 to anyone aged 15-25 who is from outside the UK. Email me for further details.
As the bursary funding can be used provided at least half the crew are from outside the UK, I would also welcome expressions of interest from potential British crew in case we have spare spaces once the overseas places are filled!
International Festival of the Sea (IFOS)
Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help at IFOS (the International Festival of the Sea) between June 30th and July 3rd – look forward to seeing you all there! Special thanks also to David Salmon, who has had to do a great deal of work sorting things out for IFOS at the same time as making lots of arrangements for Tall Ships (booking flights for the bursary winners has been a job and a half in itself).
Anyone else visiting the festival: please note that John Laing will be in Gunwharf (do go along and say hello) and we also have a stand inside the festival, somewhere near No. 2 Basin.
Voyage news
Ten crew members organised by our Isle of Wight support group (thank you very much to them!) joined the boat in Southampton last Saturday and enjoyed an eventful voyage, starting with an overnight Channel crossing and breakfast in Alderney followed by lunch in Guernsey!
They spent a night there and then sailed on to Jersey, where they played a game which started out as football. The sea staff were apparently doing quite well (football is first mate Graeme Cole’s speciality, which last season earned him the nickname “Becks”) until some of the crew decided to turn the game into rugby; this gave the crew an unfair advantage since the male sea staff were not allowed to tackle the female crew members!
Next stop was Cherbourg, where an unexpected treat awaited: their arrival happened to coincide with a huge music festival, with bands playing in every street and a great party atmosphere throughout the town.
The return to the UK was enlivened by Customs, who carried out a routine boarding of the vessel in the Solent, after a very good Channel crossing.
The crew left the boat in Cowes, with everyone having earned the RYA Start Yachting certificate, apart from one crew member who already had the more advanced Competent Crew. The sea staff then delivered the boat back to Southampton: many thanks to relief skipper Nick Crawford, plus Graeme, John Clack, Craig, and Leonie Warnick who passed her third mate’s assessment – many congratulations! As an experienced youth worker she will be a great asset to OYT South.
A new crew joins today, from Devonport Grammar School. Let’s hope the weather conditions become slightly less exciting – when I phoned to get information for this bulletin, Craig said very casually: “If I get cut off it only means I’ve been struck by lightning….”
Sea staff vacancies
First mates still needed for: 26 Aug-2 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: 12-16 Sept; 18-23 Sept; 26-31 Oct; 1-5 Nov. I’ve had a few provisional enquiries about these trips but we need to start getting things firmed up.
Third mates needed for: 3-8 Sept; 10-11 Sept (this is a marketing weekend so could just involve showing people round the boat in harbour – but we might use it for day sails and so would need mates on board); and possibly also for the adult familiarisation voyage 12-16 Sept and mates training weekend 16-18 Sept. I’ve had an enquiry from a 3M for these last two but their availability is uncertain and I need to know who else might do it if needed.
Don’t forget that other sea staff, prospective sea staff and any other adults just interested in finding out how we work can book on the familiarisation (or re-familiarisation) voyage 12-16 September (£200); and there may just be a space or two on the mates’ training weekend 16-18 Sept (£100).
Please email me or call 07986 354697 if you want to do any of these voyages.
Crew bookings
Vacancies as follows:
Voyage 37 (details above) plus:
Jl05-28: 5 nights, 2-7 July, Portsmouth to Waterford, £380 (age 16-25) – 1 berth left
JL05-30: 10 nights, 16-26 Jul, Cherbourg to Newcastle, £600 (age 16-25) – 4 berths left
JL05-31: 9 nights, 27 Jul – 5 Aug, Newcastle to Fredrikstad, £585 (age 16-25) – 4 berths left
JL05-42: 4 nights, 19-23 Sep, Southampton, £220 – 6 berths left
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 – 9 berths left
JL05-51: 4 nights, 1-5 Nov, Southampton, £160 -11 berths left
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
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.