In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Voyage news
- * OYT South AGM 2022 – Saturday 12th November – book NOW for curry and refit weekend!
- * Susanna’s Canadian exchange
- Holly’s leaving present
- Sara’s leaving present
- * 2023 voyages available for young people
- 2023 adult voyages and volunteer training
- February shorebased training weekend for volunteers
- Chris Ellis Award – win £££s off the price of your next voyage!
- Winter refit volunteers needed – full-time, or helping on occasional days!
- Vessel tracking– see where Prolific is sailing now!
- Financial appeal
- Oysterband – Portsmouth 30th November
- Movement for Good Awards – PLEASE nominate us for the December draw and share the link!
- Painting of Prolific – prints available to buy!
- Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £1,100 through Easyfundraising!
- 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 Friday evening we were joined by fifteen young people aged 11-16, sailing with us for the first half of half-term. A number were able to sail due to bursary funding; others were on this voyage after their places on earlier voyages this year were lost to Covid. They had some introductions and briefings on the first night and finished them off on Saturday morning. Then they set off, put the sails up, and had a busy day of skills and drills, a man overboard recovery exercise and a chance to get people out on the bowsprit.
They anchored for the night outside Yarmouth, where they had dinner and a film on board.
On Sunday they woke to what Holly described as “disgusting weather” but as they were getting ready, it all cleared and they had a beautiful sail on a beam reach to Cowes. There they had shore leave, a visit to the beach, and showers before dinner and games on board.
On Monday they spent time in the morning working towards their RYA Start Yachting certificates and then had an extremely windy sail in the easter Solent under staysail only before heading back to Ocean Village. There were two people with birthdays the day after the voyage ended but it seemed too good an opportunity to miss so they had a party and a disco on board that night, and everyone left the boat on Tuesday morning.
Comments included:
“I think the best bit was meeting new people and making new friends and going on the bowsprit.”
“My favourite bit about this trip is being able to steer, talk on the radio and being able to navigate on the map.”
“I think my most memorable bit was using the fire hose, I think I had a bit too much fun with that.”
“Thank you so much, I hated sailing before but after this I enjoy sailing quite a bit. I would defo do it again and the staff were amazing. Thank you once again, I enjoyed it so much!”
You can see the full voyage track here. They sailed 81 nautical miles and 12 young people earned RYA Start Yachting certificates – the other three had already got this from previous voyages with us. Big thanks to sea staff Holly, Miranda Camping, Cathy Ayres, Julian Ware, Sandy Garrity – and congratulations to Millie Hughes who passed her bosun assessment, plus extra special congratulations to Lauren Mackenzie who successfully completed her First Mate assessment! This is a really significant achievement as the first mate must be capable of taking over the vessel if the skipper is ill or injured, and getting everyone back to a safe haven. Lauren first came to us as a young crew member to do her DofE Gold residential, and was invited back to sail as a bosun on a number of voyages before qualifying as a third mate on the first opportunity after her 18th birthday. She was upgraded to second mate later that same season and is now a first mate at the age of 22 (and might have got there even sooner if we hadn’t lost a season and a half to Covid).
A new voyage started on Wednesday – the last youth voyage of the year! – with the east London charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve, which provides opportunities for children and young people in the London Borough of Newham and surrounding areas. Nine young people aged 11-15 joined the boat along with two AAA staff. They had introductions and briefings followed by lots of games on the first night, and then yesterday went for a great sail in good weather – lots of drills, everyone having a go at steering, tacks and gybes before ending in Cowes for the night.
In Cowes they had showers and a birthday party:
This morning they were having time ashore – and preparing for a Hallowe’en event!
Big thanks to sea staff Andrew Wilkes, Lauren Mackenzie, Holly, Lucinda Neall, Dave Dent and special thanks to Michelle van den Bergh who stepped in at very short notice after we lost other sea staff on this voyage to illness or unexpected work commitments.
OYT South AGM 2022 – Saturday 12th November – book NOW for curry and refit weekend!
The formal AGM paperwork has now gone out to members – if you think you are a member and you haven’t received yours, please let us know!
If you are not a member there is still time to join – non-members are welcome to attend the AGM but only members can vote.
You can book for the curry after the meeting whether you are a member or not!
The AGM will be held on Saturday 12th November at the office of British Marine, 1st Floor, Tagus House, 9 Ocean Way, Ocean Village, Southampton, SO14 3TJ (opposite the Ocean Village multi-storey car park where you can park). You can arrive from 1730 with the AGM starting qt 1800 and lasting only a few minutes, followed by CEO Mark Todd’s review of the year. Then we will go to Kutis Brasserie (walking distance away) for their set menu which they are very kindly making available to us at £25 per head. You must book and pay in advance using the payment form here which allows you to specify vegetarian, vegan etc.
Please note this advance payment is just for food – you will need to pay for any drinks or a tip on the night.
If you are coming to the AGM but not staying for the curry, please email caroline.white@oytsouth.org.
The weekend of 12-13 November will also be a refit volunteers’ weekend on board Prolific; and the team would appreciate plenty of help, starting 0900 on Saturday. Accommodation on board Prolific after the curry may be available for people who are helping with refit work. Please email refit@oytsouth.org to book yourself in. And if you are coming to the refit please do join us for the curry on the Saturday night – the staff team from the boat are all going so there won’t be much company on board if you don’t come for the curry!
* Susanna’s Canadian exchange
One of our young second mates and a former core team refit volunteer, Susanna Paynter, worked really hard to win a place on the prestigious ASTO & James Myatt International Exchange programme which gives UK sail trainers a chance to join voyages in Canada or Australia. Susanna was one of the 2020 winners and of course her trip to Canada fell victim to Covid restrictions – until this year when the exchange was finally able to go ahead! She sailed on board Fair Jeanne on a voyage out of Quebec City, and she has written a fabulous account of her time sailing in Canada.
You can read more about the International Exchange programme here.
Holly’s leaving present
Holly has been with us for two years as Staff Skipper – as well as many years of volunteering and a season as Sailing Support Officer, having first sailed with us as a young crew member in 2012.
She has played a tremendous part in the success of the charity, especially as we returned to work after losing a season and a half to Covid. We have received a great deal of fantastic feedback from voyages which Holly has skippered. She is a great sailor with a fantastic talent for working with young people, and she has contributed so much to OYT South in so many ways since she first became involved as a young crew member.
You can contribute to her leaving present here.
Sara’s leaving present
Sara Abdur is leaving the staff team at the end of the year after a fantastic few months sailing on a short contract as Staff Cadet. She is going to stay involved as a volunteer so we won’t be losing touch. But everyone who has sailed with Sara this year knows that she has brought unstoppable enthusiasm and maximum effort to the role, and has always wanted to learn as much as she possibly can. She has made enormous progress in a few months and has been a valuable and popular member of the team.
So we would like to send her off with a nice present at the end of her time on the staff! Please donate here.
2023 voyages available for young people
Dates open for individual bookings are as follows. Please state your age when applying – we can sail with young people aged 11-25 but we aim to organise compatible groups and not have too wide an age range on any voyage.
7-11 April 2023, Southampton, 4 nights, £475
20-26 July 2023, Falmouth to Brixham, 6 nights, £675
9-15 Aug 2023, 6 nights, Brixham, £675
16-22 Aug 2023, 6 nights, Brixham, £675
29 Aug-3 Sept 2023, 5 nights, Poole to Southampton, £575
There is also a voyage 5-10 Sept out of Southampton aimed at people aged 16-25 who have already sailed with us and been recommended to train as volunteers to sail on future voyage. Places on this voyage are by invitation only but if you would like to be considered, please email us.
We’re happy to take smaller groups (e.g. three or four people) on individual voyages to mix with others; but many clients will want to book the whole boat exclusively for their own group (twelve to fifteen people, including any adult leaders who come with the group). Dates available for whole-boat bookings:
12-16 April 2023, 4 nights, Southampton, £475 per person
25-30 April 2023, 5 nights, Southampton, £575 per person
1-5 May 2023, 4 nights, Southampton, £475 per person
14-19 May 2023, 5 nights, Southampton, £575 per person
EITHER 11-16 June 2023, 5 nights, Poole to Southampton, or 12-17 June 2023, 5 nights, Southampton, £575 per person (depends on Poole Harbour Boat Show)
9-14 Oct 2023, 5 nights, Southampton, £575 per person.
Contact webmaster1@oytsouth.org to express an interest.
2023 adult voyages and volunteer training
We have adult voyages scheduled as follows:
5-7 May 2023, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £245 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening).
11-15 Sept 2023, Southampton, 4 nights, age range 18+, £475, adult week (Monday to Friday).
22-24 Sept 2023, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £245 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening).
These are open to anyone aged 18+ but priority will be given to people who are interested in finding out more about volunteering with the charity and potentially hoping to use the voyage to earn a recommendation for volunteer training (especially those who have not had the opportunity to earn a recommendation on a youth voyage), as well as current volunteers looking for some extra training on a voyage where they can focus on their own skills without the responsibility of supervising young people at the same time.
February shorebased training weekend for volunteers
We are in the process of setting up the usual shorebased training weekend for volunteers in February, with courses including RYA First Aid; GMDSS radio exams; Disability Awareness and more. Details still to be finalised but we are very much hoping it will run 11-12 February so please keep the dates free if you can.
* Chris Ellis Award – win £££s off the price of your next voyage!
Now open for 2022 entries.
If you have enjoyed 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.
Winter refit volunteers needed – full-time, or helping on occasional days!
We are planning a slightly different sort of winter refit this year – those of you who have been involved for a while will know that it has often taken a full four months between November and March; but this year we are planning to get the bulk of the work finished in November and December, and then take a break from full-time refit until the time comes to get ready for sea trials and the first voyages in March.
We are therefore looking to recruit a core team of volunteers to come and help us this winter in November and December. 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 (mainly on board, this year) 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 couple of months 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. Please see here for details and how to apply.
No particular experience is needed – just a great attitude. We can teach you some skills but we also need people who can sand and paint, shift equipment, assist the skilled team and more. This is ideal if you are on a gap year or otherwise between jobs and other commitments!
We will also be looking for volunteers wanting to help for shorter periods or just the occasional day – mainly weekdays but with the occasional volunteer weekend (including 12-13 November). Email refit @oytsouth.org if you have any free time in November or December and would like to come and lend a hand. Sea staff – don’t forget that if we have multiple applications for popular voyages next year, priority goes to people who have helped the charity in other ways – coming to refit, raising money, introducing new clients etc. Helping at refit is also a great way to learn about bits of the boat you might not see during the season – and it’s always fun and sociable too!
Vessel tracking – see where Prolific is sailing now!
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.
There are also apps like Marine Traffic that you can use to track Prolific on your phone.
Financial appeal
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.
Oysterband – Portsmouth 30th November
Some of you know that OYT South’s Business Manager, Caz, has a sideline touring as merchandiser with Oysterband who are long-standing friends to OYT South (see pic of three band members visiting us in Ocean Village) and just for once the band has a local gig at a time when the boat is not at sea: Portsmouth on 30th November – do come along! (If you don’t know the music, Oysterband spent several weeks at no 1 in the UK folk chart this year … but it’s not the quiet contemplative brand of folk …)
Movement for Good Awards – PLEASE nominate us for the December draw and share the link!
We weren’t lucky in the September draw – but please nominate us now for the December draw for funding from Movement for Good! Even if you nominated us for a previous draw you can do so again.
Several times in the past we have been successful with these awards and we have had significant sums to spend on our work with young people, but it really does require as many people as possible to nominate us and to share this post and encourage others to help – it’s incredibly quick and easy! We weren’t lucky in the June draw but that’s all the more reason to keep on nominating us for the next draw.
Go to https://movementforgood.com/ecclesiastical and click Nominate Now. In the box “search for charity name or number”, put Ocean Youth Trust South or 1079959 and select “education and skills” under “charity type”. Fill in your own details and that’s it – it takes seconds!
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:
| Postage / collection options |
Anyone outside the UK wanting to order a copy, please email us.
Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £1,100 through Easyfundraising!
“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!”
We have already raised more than £1,100 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
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.