In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Voyage news
- * Sea staff vacancies this season – NEW date
- * Maintenance days – PLEASE help – including NEXT THURSDAY
- * RYS IW Foundation Maritime Careers Fair in Cowes 26th September – help needed (maybe a young volunteer or recent crew member?)
- 2025 programme – bookings open for group and individual voyages
- Winter refit core team needed – including a driver
- Safeguarding – new team member needed
- * It’s TODAY – MDL fundraising event in Ocean Village
- * 2024 AGM – 9th November – please join / renew your membership!
- * 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 £2,200 through Easyfundraising!
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking!
- Branded clothing
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Voyage news
The last newsletter – a fortnight ago – ended as we were finishing our voyage with the crew who had raced from Guernsey to Poole, but before we had collected their feedback. Here’s what they said:
“My best bit was probably meeting all the friends from other boats and stuff, I really enjoyed it, it’s good fun and it really makes you feel like a massive community. My most memorable bit was probably going round the RNLI college because it’s a great opportunity, and it’s like opened up a path that I didn’t really see my life going down, but now I’m really really considering maybe like going to the college, or like try and get an apprenticeship there for four years or something.”
“Sailing with the Duchess has got to be my favourite part. It was incredible.”
“My best bit was probably, any time we were doing anything at night, or the RNLI time, that was really great to see the paths you can take … And then the most memorable bit was probably trying to get the jib in, on the bowsprit, and thinking I was going to get pushed off, or lose my crocs, it was memorable, but fun … Sea staff were so fun and helpful. Have recommended to friends before and will continue to do so! Thank you all so much! I had a great time!”
“Most people were saying that the no wind was unbearable, which is true, it made me feel a bit sick, but I think it’s fun that we all were like celebrating going at one knot!”
“I had so much fun on this trip, I made a bunch of great new friends and I learned a lot – I will definitely come back.”
“I really enjoyed the evenings when we were all just sat in a little huddle, and just talking, and just existing, together, I thought that was so lovely … One of the best ever weeks, I’ll be buzzing for months. I have made so many great friends and memories, and I am thrilled for the next time I come back. THANK YOU EVERYONE!”
“I think the race finish was the most memorable, with the sunset, us three boats at the end, and the stars … This was my first time sailing and I really enjoyed it. This experience has encouraged me to do more sailing further down the line. I had an amazing time and a huge thank you to all the team.”
“My best bit is probably right before the race, when we are tacking and stuff, and everyone’s busy. And even though I’ve never done sailing before, like I say everyone’s telling me what to do, and it felt a little bit like I was contributing and committing to the boat, and helping everyone else.”
“I think the best bit for me is like everyone coming together, ‘cos we none of us know each other, and we all just kind of like become one over a week, and that’s actually really nice.”
“This was my first voyage on Prolific, despite stressing out at the start of the week, I really shouldn’t have. It has gone way above my expectations, I am extremely sad to be leaving today. I will 100% be coming back, I have made great new friends and memories. THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
Last week we had a voyage with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust: young people who have experienced cancer, plus staff support including a medic.
The crew joined in Poole, and soon the young people were getting on well together, laughing and having fun. The first day, after the usual introductions and safety briefings, they set off for Studland Bay, where they anchored overnight. The sea was glassy and still, and the crew enjoyed watching the moon rise over the ocean.
In order to get ahead of some strong winds forecast to blow through the next afternoon, the whole crew got up early, to head towards Portland. By the time they had reached half-way, the wind was picking up and the sea was starting to get quite lumpy! While this was an enjoyable sail on a beam reach, the crew were starting to feel a little seasick, and were glad soon to be in the lee of Portland, where they immediately started feeling better.
Once arrived in Portland, the crew and staff took a couple of hours to get some more rest after their early start, and then preparations were made for dinner. Dinner was followed by games, and a fun evening together before bedtime.
Tuesday morning brought with it another forecast for strong winds, and so the crew decided to head into Weymouth, which was only a few miles away, and they would be in the lee of the land during the trip. Once in Weymouth, the crew enjoyed walking around the picturesque town, headed to the beach, and enjoyed ice cream and building sandcastles in the sunshine.
Wednesday was still just as windy, so the crew decided that an early start would be best, to avoid the sea building up into the afternoon. They got up at 5.30am, and enjoyed a glorious sunrise as they made the most of the tide to start heading east towards Poole. Once they had rounded Anvil Point the sea state started to flatten, and everyone enjoyed the final part of the sail before heading into Poole, for an evening walk around town, followed by dinner and games.
Two other Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust boats had been following a similar trip to Prolific, and the convoy had seen each other most evenings in harbour. When the wind turned into a gale on Thursday, the crews from the other boats came over to Prolific, where they all learnt knots, buoyage, talked about the environment, and made pizzas from scratch. In the afternoon all the young people had the opportunity to tour the RNLI college, including taking charge of a lifeboat simulator and looking at the wave pool where crews learn to flip capsized lifeboats.
Thursday evening involved a bake-off competition, and dinner with all the crews on board Prolific, followed by fireworks in Poole harbour. The young people departed on Friday having gelled as a team, made new friends, and enjoyed their voyage on board Prolific.
Feedback included:
“I really enjoyed this trip on the boat and I loved everything about it! (except the small bunks)”, from someone who was proud of “When we were learning new knots and I didn’t do it right but I kept going and eventually got it right”.
“I really enjoyed my week on board and being with people I didn’t know and making new friends.”
“My most memorable bit was the fireworks with my new friends … A great trip, truly amazing people. Good experience, I would definitely recommend.”
“I have made great friends and we worked together – I have met new people with different ideas. My most memorable bit would be waking up to get to see the sunrise. I loved meeting all the great people and having fun all week as we sailed along the coast.”
“I loved sailing as it was super fun and enjoyable.”
“My best bit was probably the BBQ when all the ships kind of came together and had the meal all together … Great trip – lots of fun experiences, perfect for stepping out of your comfort zone. Would recommend.”
They did 68 miles at sea and you can see their complete voyage track here. Big thanks to sea staff Gotch, Josh, Emily Parker, Anna Owen, Kirsty Shepherd who made good progress with watchleader training, and extra special huge thanks to Graeme Cole who was sailing on his very last voyage as first mate before retiring.
Graeme was a first mate with the Ocean Youth Club and therefore a first mate from the very first days of OYT South. Back in those days the charity was desperately short of volunteers and even shorter of really skilled volunteers and qualified first mates. A tiny handful of people like Graeme did a huge amount of volunteering to get us through that period. It’s no exaggeration to say that OYT South would never have got off the ground without the commitment of people like Graeme, and he played a vital role in building the charity we have today.
He started talking about retiring about ten years ago – but then we bought Prolific and Graeme was excited and inspired all over again – he was one of the team who went out to Norway to help bring Prolific to her new home. Sailing Prolific kept Graeme involved for years beyond what he might otherwise have intended!
Graeme is known for more than just sailing: his beach football skills earned him the nickname “Becks” and he will forever be associated with epic barbecues (Editor’s note: Graeme hates doing barbecues …)
We will all miss him as a first mate but he remains very much a friend to the charity and we’ll want him to stay in touch and hopefully attend the occasional event or day sail.
Meanwhile: thanks for everything, Graeme, and have a very happy retirement!
That was followed by another crew of individual bookings. They started in Poole last Friday with a very windy forecast, which meant they stayed in harbour on the first afternoon doing lots of drills and training. On Saturday they ventured out and sailed to the Solent – normally very crowded on a bank holiday weekend but much more space for Prolific with so much wind in the forecast!
On the way they met HM Coastguard doing a helicopter training exercise – so the winchman dropped in for cake … it turned out to be both his birthday as well as the birthday of our trainee first mate Tom Knight!
This was all exciting for our crew to see; and of course it is great to support the Coastguard training and to know that if a vessel really needs them – perhaps as a matter of life or death – we have played a small part in helping to make sure they have all the skills and experience they need. It’s also great for our own sea staff to know what they would be expected to do in an emergency requiring this sort of support.
Of course we also practise our own emergency drills:
After that, Prolific went on to anchor in the eastern Solent for the night. The crew stood anchor watches and wrote a great story that passed from one watch team to the next to contribute an episode.
Next day they did lots of training towards their RYA qualifications while waiting for the gale to pass:
Then it was out round the Isle of Wight to start a 26-hour passage to Dartmouth – stars, dolphins, mizzen staysail and a great crew – everything you could possibly want!
It was busy in Dartmouth with the annual regatta (our staff skipper Gotch was on leave from Prolific and racing here instead) but they very kindly found a berth for us, and one of our Trustees, James Stevens, was able to visit. The crew enjoyed exploring ashore – and also the showers!
Next day they sailed to Anstey’s Cove for swimming and lots of training exercises – using the emergency tiller, the stretcher and more. Finally they headed into Brixham on Wednesday night (Tom did a great park on the fuel berth) and the voyage ended yesterday after 186 nautical miles. Thirteen crew members earned RYA Competent Crew certificates (the other two had this qualification already). You can see their complete voyage track here.
Big thanks to sea staff Andy Brown, Josh, Tom Knight, Miranda Camping, Unity Bowns, Annant Shah, Will Parker, and Lizzie Miller who made great progress with her 3M assessment.
* Sea staff vacancies this season – NEW date
Please email webmaster1@oytsouth.org if you can help with any of the remaining vacancies.
People who have been newly-recommended to join the volunteers’ team: please do contact us if you are interested in suitable voyages from this list – we can advise you if a particular vacancy needs someone with more Prolific experience, but where possible this list is for you as much as it is for established volunteers. We will need to make sure your DBS, references and other paperwork is in place before you can sail. And do keep checking the list in each edition of the newsletter as people do occasionally drop out and leave other vacancies!
Dates given are when crew are on board so volunteers are generally needed the day before:
6-10 Sept, Southampton – there MAY be room for one more person – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun – for a voyage with young people in care. Ideally able to help with maintenance on 5th Sept as well.
21-25 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun. School group. Ideally able to help with maintenance on 20th Oct as well.
Please email webmaster1@oytsouth.org if you would like to sail!
* Maintenance days – please help – including NEXT THURSDAY
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!
Please put these dates in your diary:
Thursday 5th September – Southampton
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!
* RYS IW Foundation Maritime Careers Fair in Cowes 26th September – help needed (maybe a young volunteer or recent crew member?)
On 26th September, OYT South has a stand at the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Isle of Wight Foundation Maritime Careers Fair in Cowes. This is always a great event and tends to be very well-attended as a lot of Isle of Wight schools bring large groups of students to look round. Last time, there were 45 exhibitors and over 800 students visiting.
We’re looking for someone to join one or two of our staff on the stand for the day and talk about what OYT South offers.
It would be useful to have someone of any age – but this can be an ideal opportunity for a young volunteer or recent crew member: you can talk to people who may be not much younger than you about what sailing with OYT South is like; but also, if you have any thoughts of your own about a possible maritime career, it’s a great opportunity to look round all the other stands and chat to exhibitors. The range of maritime careers is often much broader than people realise and there are all sorts of courses, training opportunities, apprenticeships and jobs you may not have thought about – so do come and find out, while helping with our own stand!
The event is open from 1000-1530 but we’ll need to set up in advance and pack away afterwards. Contact office@oytsouth.org if you would like to help. If the cost of a ferry ticket would be a barrier to you, do let us know as we might be able to help.
2025 programme – bookings open for group and individual voyages
We’ve now had lots of bookings from our regular clients and we are delighted to publish the 2025 programme 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 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.
Safeguarding – new team member needed
OYT South’s Safeguarding Officer is Steve Lacey, ably assisted by Cathy Lacey and until recently by Anjelica Finnegan. However, thanks to the arrival of baby Hraefn (big congratulations!), Anjelica has decided it is time to stand aside. We could really do with someone else in the safeguarding team, if only so that we don’t have to disturb Steve and Cathy when they are on holiday! Is there anyone with safeguarding experience who would like a chat with us about what the role involves, or can anyone suggest someone we might approach, or a good way of finding someone who would be ideal for the role? Safeguarding lies at the heart of everything we do so it is really important to find the right person. Email caroline.white@oytsouth.org. Meanwhile thanks to Anjelica for all her support in recent years and the very best of luck for the future!
* It’s TODAY – MDL fundraising event in Ocean Village
MDL are once again showing their support for us and other charities with their family fun day TODAY, raising funds and awareness for OYT South, Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer UK. Lauren the Ocean Village Marina Manager is even shaving her head for the cause! See here for more details and a chance to make a donation – please show your support!
2024 AGM – 9th November – please join / renew your membership!
OYT South’s 2024 AGM date has been set for 9th November, but all the paperwork needs to go out in advance to members. 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 on the mailing list for the AGM. Contact the office if you are unsure about whether you are a member already.
* Financial appeal
Big thanks this week to the Pointer Family Trust for offering another very generous donation towards bursary; and thanks also to a second bursary donor who prefers to avoid publicity.
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 £2,200 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 £2,200 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.