In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Spaces available on half-term voyage
- * Maintenance days – please help THIS SUNDAY
- * Voyage news
- 2024 AGM and Curry Night – 9th November – book now! Plus refit volunteers’ weekend
- Lauren’s leaving present
- * Official Supporter of Pip Hare in the Vendée Globe race!
- 2025 programme – bookings open for group and individual voyages
- Winter refit core team needed – including a driver
- * Financial appeal
- Prolific earrings inspired by a crew member – and now NEW necklaces as well!
- Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,300 through Easyfundraising!
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking!
- Branded clothing
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Spaces available on half-term voyage!
We have some Scouts sailing on a half-term voyage but they haven’t filled all the places and have promised a friendly welcome to anyone who wants to join them! The voyage runs from 8pm Friday 25th October to 10am Tuesday 29th October, starting and finishing in Southampton. Cost is £480 per head but you can chat to the team if you would really need funding support: voyageadmin@oytsouth.org. Age range 12-17.
* Maintenance days – please help THIS SUNDAY
We have several planned maintenance days during the season – these are essential to keep Prolific in working order and avoid losing voyage time to maintenance issues. We need all the help we can get, both skilled and unskilled – there are easy jobs for people not used to boat maintenance, or maybe we can teach you a useful new skill!
Just one more left this season:
Sunday 20th October – Southampton
If you call the boat on 07990 518915, or email refit@oytsouth.org, we can get you booked in for maintenance days. We can feed you on board and probably offer accommodation the night before or after if needed. Generally we need over-18s, or 16- and 17-year olds who are sailing as bosuns or trainee bosuns.
Sea staff on the voyages immediately before and after these days should plan to include the maintenance day as part of your booking unless specifically agreed. If we don’t have enough people at a maintenance day and there are significant jobs to do, it might even affect the start of the next voyage, so please do make sure you are available to help!
* Voyage news
A bit of a gap since the last newsletter so plenty to report!
This period started with students from the Vyne School in Basingstoke. They motored out into the Solent on their first afternoon, having decided to spend the night in Cowes. Due to the high winds forecast for the following day, this made sense as the Isle of Wight would give them shelter. En route, the crew were briefed on the safe use of winches:
After arriving in East Cowes, the crew had dinner, played card games, and had some brief shore leave in order to have a shower. The next morning the crew got up at 7.30, had breakfast, and then prepared Prolific for sea. They headed out to a sheltered part of the Solent, with calm seas. There they hoisted the staysail and mizzen (fully reefed), and were able to enjoy some sailing in the high winds. All of the young people took turns steering Prolific, as the wind blew Force 6 gusting 7. Some had to overcome their fear of the wind, but everyone found it fun and exhilarating.
After four hours out in these conditions, the crew were starting to feel tired and wet, and so they headed back for Cowes. They had more time ashore and were able to explore the shops, and then everyone came back on board for dinner, extreme washing up, and games before bed.
Monday morning brought a shift in the wind, and it strengthened – occasionally to gale force 8! The crew were given the opportunity to plan the pilotage back to Ocean Village under motor rather than sailing. In watches, the young people learnt some basic pilotage, and planned a route that they could navigate and steer, to take charge of the boat. All the crew were wearing full foul-weather gear and clipped on with their safety harnesses as they set off bravely, motoring into the Solent. At first they encountered some moderate seas, and although this caught the young people off-guard by how rough it was, they were quickly within the shelter of land again, and the seas calmed down. The crew then took over the pilotage and navigation, and despite having to face a lot of commercial traffic in Southampton Water, they made it back to Ocean Village and arrived alongside.
The final evening was then taken up with dinner, extreme washing up, and then a dance party and disco that all the staff and young people enjoyed – including some Adele karaoke!
The trip finished the next morning with a big clean of the boat, and a chance for everyone to reflect on the voyage, before the crew departed.
All nine of the Vyne crew earned RYA Start Yachting certificates. They sailed 34 nautical miles and you can see their complete voyage track here.
Comments included:
“The best bit was when I was steering and it was really wavey and I was going side to side.”
“The best thing about sailing is steering the boat I loved it and thanks for having me here :)”
“The boat trip was really fun and would love to go again.”
“My most memorable bit was when the Adele concert was going on and I was on the boat looking at the view and it was really dark and I could hear everyone singing.”
The staff member accompanying them added: “The most memorable bit was reliving my youth whilst singing my heart out last night!”
Big thanks to sea staff Gotch, Josh, Cathy Lacey, Jack Dignan, Sandy Garrity, Niamh Lamin and special congratulations to Rose MacInnes who was signed off as a third mate!
Next came a crew from King’s Academy Bay House in Gosport. After introductions, familiarisation and briefings, they set off into the Solent:
It was quite late by this time, so they didn’t hoist sails, but motored down Southampton Water and anchored for the night in Stokes Bay. The crew got a view of Gosport, their local town, from a different perspective, and were able to enjoy the stars that night with less light pollution around them. After dinner, the crew played a game around the table together, resulting in lots of laughter.
The following day, they began the work of training for the ASTO Small Ships Solent race against other sail training vessels crewed by young people. They completed lots of manoeuvres, tacking and gybing in watches, until the crew were working together like a well-oiled machine!
They also did a man overboard recovery drill; and people had a chance to sit out on the bowsprit.
Prolific finished the day in Haslar Marina, in Gosport, with a lovely dinner of fajitas followed by extreme washing up as a group around the table before bed.
On Friday, Prolific had to head to Cowes, in order to complete a pre-race inspection of the safety equipment carried on board. The crew left Gosport quite early, and motored across to Cowes. The young people went ashore with their teachers, to explore, have an ice-cream, and go to the beach. After dinner, they had an early bed-time, for tomorrow would be race day!
The ASTO Small Ships Race is an exciting opportunity for over 150 young people from fifteen boats and several sail training organisations to race against each other, and is a highlight of Prolific’s calendar. On Saturday the crew rose bright and early, with a lively atmosphere on the pontoons, and many boats dressed in colourful flags.
After leaving dock and hoisting sails, all the boats took part in a parade of sail. Our crew wore colourful wigs and danced the macarena as they passed the Royal Yacht Squadron, where sponsors of the event were watching.
The race started, and Prolific was first across the start line, the sun shining down on them. The crew really came together as a team, and there was genuine excitement as the boat powered up, and they sailed along as fast as they could. Everybody had a lot of fun during the race, and even though they didn’t finish in a prize-winning position, many of the young people described it as the best part of the week.
Big thanks to Max Mudie for these images:
After finishing the race and returning back to Cowes, the young people had ice-creams in town, before attending the crew party, which included a disco for all of the young people from all of the competing boats, dancing and celebrating together. Capturing the spirit of the whole event, some crews were invited to tour each other’s boats, and Prolific’s crew made lots of friends.
Next day the crew headed back to Ocean Village. They sailed 94 nautical miles and you can see their complete voyage track here. All the crew earned RYA Start Yachting certificates.
Comments included:
“I think the best bits for me was probably steering, I loved it when we were proper leant up against the water and it felt like we were going to fall off, it was really good fun.”
“My best bit was like doing the winches in the race.”
“Was really fun I loved meeting new people and having new experiences.”
“Doing jobs and work on deck was fun with the amount of work.”
The school staff who sailed with them said: “Obviously not a lot of you are familiar with boats, so seeing the progress from a few individuals over the past few days has been really really nice to see … A superb trip on Prolific. It was an incredibly insightful experience into the sailing world. Crew were incredibly knowledgeable and welcoming (and patient)! Thank you for the fantastic experience.”
“Being part of the team and watching everyone be part of the team as well, really really loved that, and seeing everyone learn was just fantastic, seeing the boat powered up was just absolutely a thrill and fantastic, really memorable … An amazing experience on board Prolific. Staff were so welcoming and knowledgeable. Crew allowed students to learn at every opportunity – thank you.”
Big thanks to sea staff Gotch, Josh, Andrew Wilkes, Niamh Lamin, Susanna Paynter, Lucy Grodie, and special congratulations to Lucy Mitchell and Sam Childs who both completed third mate assessments!
The next crew was a new client, Bohunt School in Liphook. After introductory briefings, they had an evening motor across to Cowes with everyone managing a winch drill on the way.
In Cowes they ate delicious meatballs and enjoyed the first of many bedtime stories! While this was going on, the sea staff were deliberating about plans for the next day as the weather was looking rainy and too windy. Eventually the decision was made to stay in Cowes on Tuesday which gave the crew opportunities for showers, time ashore exploring Cowes, going to the beach and visiting the Classic Boat Museum. They also had teaching sessions on knots, meteorology and parts of the boat for the RYA Start Yachting syllabus. After dinner they watched a film with hot chocolate and popcorn.
The weather had cleared by Wednesday so they set off towards Lymington, after a man overboard recovery drill in the Eastern Solent and some tacking/gybing practice in the West.
It was going so well that plans changed and the team decided on a longer sailing day, heading over to Swanage. The crew enjoyed the extra sail and opportunity to sail in the dark. They even managed to anchor under sail.
The skipper told the crew that the best thing about being in an anchorage in the dark was waking up and seeing what Swanage looks like by day … but then they left at 6am the next morning and were well on the way by the time the sun rose!
After breakfast on the go they did an exercise with the first mate taking over the vessel as they would do if the skipper was ill or injured – during which we saw the successful resuscitation of the mannequin by the surplus of medical professionals among the sea staff this week!
They had a long day sailing around the Island without using GPS or electronic chart plotters, with lots of the crew getting involved in three-point fixes and radar fixes to keep us safe and on track – as well as getting stuck in on deck.
After a beautiful sail they avoided all the big ships coming in and out of the Solent, and once they were in the North Channel they did a fire drill, followed by looking at how we would get into the life rafts and what we would take with us in an emergency. It was a beautiful evening for sailing:
Back in Ocean Village, despite all being exhausted by the 14-hour sail, the crew did a great job of washing up and putting the boat to bed after big burrito dinner.
The voyage ended next day after 102 nautical miles, with all 12 crew earning RYA Start Yachting certificates. You can see the complete voyage track here. Big thanks to sea staff Mark Todd, Josh, Steve Lacey, Glyn Collins, Rosalie Sanders, Patrick Kelly who completed a great deal of his first mate assessment, and Kirsty Shepherd who was signed off as a third mate!
Special thanks to the group leaders who came along from the school: both got fully involved and were amazing with the young people.
Comments included:
“Best bit was probably the really rough sea from the Isle of Wight to Swanage. That was really fun, like seeing how choppy it was. And even got to like steer the boat as well, that was really fun … Most memorable bit, probably just laughing with everyone, having a good time. Everyone like taking part, having one job – each having their own job to make everything work smoothly … The voyage has opened my mind since day one, and every day I learn something new and I enjoy every minute. The crew were supporting and always motivating me to push myself. Starting to feel like this is where I belong.”
“I built confidence on the boat because of the staff’s friendliness, thanks :)”
“Favourite bit was probably the sunset, and steering the boat … Most memorable part was probably like everyone like getting on and just doing things as a team, I guess … Sailing was a really good experience. I appreciate all the help from the staff teaching us new things. Thanks!”
“Sailing has been really fun, we’ve all learned something new from this trip”; and “It was really fun with all the sailing and teamwork.”
The two school staff who sailed with the group added:
“The best bit was definitely sailing with all four sails up, I think that was pretty awesome”
“From the moment we arrived crew were enthusiastic and looked after everyone impeccably. Students gained confidence and grew as individuals and as a team. Thank you all! … I think my favourite part was helming the boat, it just felt amazing to be able to do it with such a huge boat … My most memorable bit I think was watching you enjoy washing up quite so much! That was a really fun end to the day with the lights and the music and everything like that.”
That was followed by a training / selection weekend for people interested in volunteering with the charity. They began with introductions, familiarisation and games – to give everyone an idea of a normal evening on board a sail training vessel (i.e. banana all over the table).
An early start on Saturday for more briefings and they were off by 9am raising sails in Southampton Water and then heading to the western Solent for tacking practice.
After lunch they did a man overboard recovery drill and then dropped the mainsail just in time to avoid a big squall, and gybed back to Cowes.
Alongside, the crew spent more time going through some of the routines on board as well as different ways of volunteering for the charity and how it all works … followed by lots more games.
On Sunday the crew learned to raise the jib and mizzen staysail; some of them led sail drops and they learned how to reef, before getting involved in pilotage back up Southampton Water.
Big thanks to sea staff Lee Mosscrop, Lauren, Josh, Patrick Kelly, Iori Kent, Steve Lacey and Simon Brammer. Lots of people on this weekend have been told that we would love to see them back as volunteers – there were plenty of skilled and enthusiastic crew members with an aptitude for working with young people. They covered 34 miles and you can see their complete voyage track here.
Comments included:
“Favourite bit, I’d probably say is where a couple of you guys explained things to me really really well, so thank you for the help and thank you for explaining the manoeuvres to me. It was all a little bit of a mystery so that was really fascinating, I thoroughly enjoyed being on the helm so thank you for that … Fascinating weekend – learnt a lot, got a lot to learn! Inspired to pursue sailing further.”
“Best bit is just getting to know the boat and see the work that goes on with all the young people on board and seeing some of the things that you do with them.”
“I think the best bit really was having a go at everything on board, which was great, being able to helm but also being able to crew and get fully mucked in and involved …A FANTASTIC (!) weekend, thank you for all your tuition, patience and entertainment! I LOVED (!) the games, the crew, the food, learning how to crew a tall ship AND, I look forward to getting more involved with OYT South. Thank you! 😁”
“Loved it! Thanks to all the sea-crew for their patience & sense of fun, teaching us all the Prolific ropes!”
“Most memorable bit would be taking the jib sail down and flaking it on the bowsprit, I really enjoyed being on the bowsprit. It’s the place to be … An amazing voyage with a great crew & volunteers! Really enjoyed the bowsprit, manning the helm & learning the ropes! So much to learn. Thank you all!!!”
“I’ve had the most amazing weekend! Wonderful, supportive & encouraging sea staff & fellow crew. It has a real family-feel on board and I can’t wait to get to know the rest of the family. 😁”
“We put up the mizzen staysail!! Was that seriously just a weekend? Brilliant. Great OYT team, super crew, thanks everyone.”
“A privilege to be on board and experience what the charity can offer.”
This week’s voyage is with students from Cowes Enterprise College, who headed for Johnny Caulcutt’s buoy outside Yarmouth on Monday evening, with dinner en route and a first taste of sailing in the dark.
On Tuesday they slipped the buoy and caught the tide out west. It was great to see other sail training boats heading through Hurst – and for our Isle of Wight crew to see the Needles from the water. They did winch drills and hoisted both the main and mizzen, and sailed as far as Poole where they had time to visit the lifeboat station.
Back on board, they did an abandon ship drill and looked at the vessel’s safety kit; played the after eight game; and all the crew had showers.
On Wednesday they headed back towards the Needles, with some of the crew getting involved in navigation on the way out of Poole. Then there was a man overboard recovery drill, lots of tacking, and music on deck.
Unfortunately the Needles were clouded so they didn’t get the best view – but it was quite dramatic. They made good speed through the Solent and dropped sails just after dinner before stopping in Gunwharf for the night.
Yesterday morning Vortec kindly came down and did a fix that the boat needed, while our crew learned about parts of the boat and knots and enjoyed harbour tours with Boathouse 4 (thank you to Diggory and Emily) in the landing craft F8! Our crew really enjoyed seeing the military ships and going up into the harbour.
The crew then had a walk ashore to let off steam, with football and chill time in a park. Then they set off for an anchorage off Ryde, giving those who wanted to a chance to enjoy the bowsprit.
This morning they woke to fog and were waiting for this to clear before doing points of sail and drills in the Solent, with a plan to end in Cowes tonight for an early Halloween party!
Big thanks to sea staff Lee Mosscrop, Lauren, Josh, Steve Lacey, Willoughby Matthews, Tom Hounsham, Keri Hammond and Theo Bennison.
2024 AGM and Curry Night – 9th November – book now! Plus refit volunteers’ weekend
You can BOOK NOW for our Curry Night following the AGM on Saturday 9th November. As last year it will be the excellent buffet at the Coriander Lounge in Southampton.
Details for the AGM and Curry, with locations, timings and menu as well as a payment link are all on the website now.
The official AGM paperwork has been sent out to members (contact office@oytsouth.org if you believe you should have received a copy and it hasn’t arrived). Anyone can attend the AGM but only members are eligible to vote. You can be a member of OYT South for just £36 (£18 for people aged 25 and under) – pay here now to ensure you are a voting member for the AGM. Contact the office if you are unsure about whether you are a member already.
The AGM and Curry Night will also be part of a refit volunteers’ weekend when lots of gear needs to be cleared off the boat for the start of refit, so we massively appreciate anyone who can help on Saturday 9th November, Sunday 10th November or both. If you are helping with this as well as attending the Curry Night and would like to stay on board over the weekend, please ask!
Lauren’s leaving present
Now that the news is out about Sara Abdur becoming our next Staff Mate, we have to face up to losing Lauren from the job! Lauren is outgrowing the role of Staff Mate and is ready to move on so she can start skippering.
You can find some background on Lauren’s achievements since first getting involved with OYT South, her plans for the future, and how to contribute to her leaving present, on the website – all the details here.
* Official Supporter of Pip Hare in the Vendée Globe race!
Regular readers will know that thanks to our mutual links with the Pointer Family Trust, OYT South has been chosen as an Official Supporter for Pip Hare in the Vendée Globe singlehanded race around the world, which starts on 10th November. We’ll be sharing updates as the race goes on, and our logo will be going round the world with her, on the wall in the cabin. As Pip says: “More men have walked on the moon than women have completed the Vendée Globe, which is all the inspiration I need to succeed”.
Our Staff Skipper Constantinos and volunteer first mate Miranda Camping represented OYT South at Pip’s leaving party in Poole and had a great time. Not only did we get to see and thank the Pointers and wish Pip all the best from OYT South, Constantinos also met Pete Goss whose book inspired him to become a sailor!
We are very proud to be supporting Pip and we hope that when she sees our logo in her cabin, it will remind her of what an incredible inspiration she is to young people – both those who are already keen sailors and those who might be encouraged to try sailing. Pip’s website https://www.piphare.com/ has some fantastic and exciting videos – very well worth a look!
2025 programme – bookings open for group and individual voyages
Our 2025 programme is open for bookings, with plenty more exciting opportunities for young people to join us next year.
A lot of OYT South’s voyages are taken by organised groups such as a school, charity or youth club, who book the whole boat; but we always designate a number of voyages in school holidays for individuals who want to join a mixed group and make new friends. We have provisionally identified the first few individual voyages for next year (we will add more later) including some in the summer holidays 2025.
6-12 July, Le Havre to Dunkirk, £735 per person, 6 nights, minimum age 15 – this is a Tall Ships Race with a fantastic festival at either end – a truly exciting adventure and a chance to create memories for a lifetime!
30 July – 4 Aug, Brixham to Brixham, £630 per person, 5 nights – standard youth voyage for individual bookings.
11-15 August, Brixham to Brixham, £525 per person, 4 nights, age 11-16. A lot of our individual voyages attract keen young sailors, over-18s, people doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and people wanting to test themselves with a challenging adventure; and, weather permitting, longer passages such as Channel crossings. But this doesn’t suit everyone! So for next year, we have designated this one shorter coastal voyage as a gentler opportunity, ideal for the younger end of our age range (11-16-year-olds) and passports not required. If you know anyone who is unsure about coping with a more ambitious voyage and wants an easier introduction, this is the voyage for them!
See the 2025 programme or the availability list for other individual and group voyages (and contact us to be added to the mailing list as we designate additional dates for individual voyages).
Winter refit core team needed – including a driver
If you are planning a gap year, or you are between jobs or for any other reason potentially available for several weeks or months this winter, might you be interested in joining our full-time refit team? We will need a couple of full-time volunteers between November and March. More details here. Plenty of our previous refit volunteers have gone on to great jobs in the marine industry – it really helps to have maintenance experience as well as good sailing skills when applying for sailing jobs! And any refit volunteers who want to sail in Prolific can be offered berths as watchleaders, bosuns, or relief engineers. So it’s a great way of developing useful experience, contributing to a good cause, securing free food and accommodation for a few months, and having a positive experience with a fun group of people! If you’re interested, please read the web page and email us with the details requested at the bottom of the page.
We’re looking for at least one of the core team volunteers to have a driving licence and be able to drive the refit car, to help get people between the accommodation and the boat, or for fetching kit and taking parts for servicing.
We’ll also need lots of casual volunteers helping for a day, a few days or a weekend, but we can get people booked in for that much nearer the time – at this stage we are really just thinking about the core team.
* Financial appeal
Huge thanks this week to Chris Lane, Gordon Pennie, Ogier and Jez Snead, Dave Wakeford, Chloe Vickers for Robert Day’s birthday, and the Honourable Company of Master Mariners for very generous donations.
Thanks also to Rafiki who have supported us several times and kindly invited us to their 20th anniversary event. Lynne and Unity went along and had a great time telling people about our work and finding out more about some of the many projects they support.
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 we can claim back tax on your donation.
Prolific earrings inspired by a crew member – and now NEW necklaces as well!
Exciting news – sales of the earrings based on a drawing by a young crew member have been strong enough that our friends at Vurchoo have been inspired to add necklaces to the range!
£68 in silver or £85 in gold – click the pictures to go to the website and see how to buy them:
You can read the full story here of how the design was based on an idea from a Prolific crew member, with part of the proceeds coming to us to support our charitable work! The original earrings are still available for £40 in either gold or silver – click the pictures to see how to buy them:
Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,300 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 over £2,300 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
OYT South social media – please share as well as liking!
If you look at the top left of any page on our website, you can click on icons for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. We are also on TikTok. Please share our social media posts as widely as you can – with the help of all our supporters, this charity is doing some amazing work and we need more people to hear about it. You don’t need to do anything more than share a post, or perhaps add a comment which could be as simple as “I’ve sailed with this charity!” or “I volunteer for this charity!”.
Please note that OYT South has a policy that our adult staff and volunteers should not make or accept personal online connections 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!
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 11-25, 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 11-25 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, mate 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.