In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Mark Todd MBE – and a wonderful article by Libby Purves in the Times
- * Fundraising event in Goodwood House – with Libby Purves#
- * Voyage news
- * Volunteer sea staff – spaces that MUST be filled – can you help?
- Planning a gap year, or not working over the winter? Join our refit core team!
- Do you need a Powerboat Level 2 qualification (required for driving Prolific’s dinghy)
- AGM 2025 – a date for your diary
- * 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
- 2025 group voyages – and plans for 2026
- 2025 adult voyage available
- Prolific maintenance days – help needed
- Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
- Keeping our website up to date – can you help?
- Advice on careers in the marine sector for young people
- * Financial appeal
- Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,700 through Easyfundraising! Are you aware of the size of donations available?
- Vessel tracking – see where Prolific is sailing
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB we are now on Bluesky instead of Twitter/X
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Mark Todd MBE – and a wonderful article by Libby Purves in the Times
Ocean Youth Trust South is delighted to announce that Chief Executive Mark Todd has been made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List.
The citation says: “For services to Sailing and to Young People.”
Mark has been Chief Executive of Ocean Youth Trust South since 2010 and was previously Staff Skipper for nine years.
Mark says: “It feels very special to have been awarded an MBE for my work in sail training. I am passionate about the power of sail training to make a lasting positive difference to young people, and I hope to use this award to bring wider recognition to the industry.
“When I started sailing with the Ocean Youth Trust, I saw at first-hand what sail training can do for young people – improving their wellbeing and helping them reach their true potential. That was 25 years ago, and I have enjoyed being part of the sail training community ever since. It is the best activity I have ever come across for promoting confidence, resilience, teamwork, communication and problem-solving – as well as friendship, fun and adventure.
“Sail training has certainly changed my own life. Having spent a good part of my childhood in and out of hospital due to scoliosis, missing out on a lot of education, when I told a teacher that I wanted to go to university they openly laughed in my face – and my parents were very much against me taking up dinghy sailing. Yet I became a lawyer and then a sail training skipper before taking on my current role.
“Every day in sail training you meet wonderful young people – many of whom face their own challenges in life. I admire how they can embrace opportunity and valiantly try to find their way in an increasingly complex world. Many meet those challenges in a hugely impressive fashion; others just need a stepping stone to help them get their lives on track, and sail training can often give them that breakthrough moment.
“In my time with OYT South and also lately as Chair of ASTO, I have sailed and worked with some remarkably interesting, inspiring and extremely dedicated staff and volunteers. Sail training is all about teamwork and although the MBE is a personal award, nothing I do would be possible without the fantastic individuals right across the industry whose work ensures that thousands of young people get the benefit of a life changing experience at sea. I thank everyone who has played a part in my journey so far. I’m incredibly proud of the sail training community.
There was a lot of press coverage of this award over the weekend, but then on Monday came this wonderful article by Libby Purves in the Times:
* Fundraising event in Goodwood House- with Libby Purves
If you like the article above by Libby Purves, come and hear her speak!
Thanks to our friends at Ned’s Fund there will be a fundraising event for OYT South on Thursday 6th November in historic Goodwood House – save the date and we will let you know when tickets go on sale. We will also need two or three volunteers to help on the night – handing out drinks and leaflets – is anyone interested? Email caroline.white@oytsouth.org.
* Voyage news
The last newsletter ended as our crew from Alfreton Park Special School were leaving the boat. Their feedback included:
“Feeling confident: like a firework!”
Best bits:
“Going on the net on the front of the nose of the boat.”
“Watching the waves.”
“Doing the tacking, steering the wheel.”
“Pulling up the sail.”
“The ice cream.”
“Sailing across the sea and all that. It was so much fun.”
“Most lasting memory: Waving at people.”
And from the school staff who sailed with them:
“Best bit: Seeing everyone work so well as a team. I think everyone has done so well and we’ve been so well looked after by all the crew.“
“Best bit: Going out on the bowsprit yesterday. Definitely. Really enjoyed that. Just seeing the water underneath me.. Most lasting memory: Just being with a group of different pupils from what I’m working with at school and getting to know them more and seeing them REALLY grow in confidence and start as one group of pupils and leaving as a totally new group of pupils and I hope they will continue like they are for the future. “
“Most lasting memory: Seeing everybody growing in confidence day by day. “
“Most lasting memory: How stunning Pete was helming the boat with Gotch yesterday. How much he took on board and learnt so much.”
And in the comments book, from the group as a whole:
“A brilliant experience for both our pupils and staff. All pupils have grown in confidence and learned many new skills. Thank you for all of your help and patience!”
At the weekend we had two fantastic day sails for sponsors, donors and friends and family of the charity as well as new clients who are planning to bring youth groups for the first time. We had glorious weather and it was lovedly to spend time on the water with some wonderful people who are supporting us in so many different ways.
Comments included:
“Such a special day and wonderful to see such amazing and passionate crew / volunteers. We learnt a lot from the day.”
“Delighted on behalf of the Peter Dixon Charitable Trust to have seen Prolific at her best – we have really enjoyed the day.”
“Thanks so much to OYT South staff and volunteers for a wonderful day afloat. Keep doing what you do so well. Huge congrats to Mark Todd for the MBE!!!”
“Thanks for a lovely day. Awesome catering. Great to see where Patrick spends so much time and to see him fitting in with the rest of the wonderful sea staff.” (Volunteer first mate Patrick’s mum and brother)
“Great to see OYT South going from strength to strength.”
“One word: incredible. P.S this was written by a 10 year old.”
“An amazing experience with a wonderful group of people.”
“I am so glad I have finally been able to sail on Prolific!”
“I don’t know that we totally gained our sea legs, but we had an incredible day and sailing experience. Huge thank you to the team for making the excursion special.”
Big thanks to sea staff who helped with one or both days: Gotch, Mark, Andy Viney, Keri Hammond, Unity Bowns, Iori Kent, Patrick Kelly, Adam Lane, Rooby Vaughan-Woods, Ben Whinnett, Tom Knight, Annant Shah, Richard Lloyd-Williams and Caz.
This week has been another Petersfield School voyage, joining us on Monday afternoon. Options for the voyage were discussed with the young people and everyone was keen to go to France. That meant a short night on the buoy outside Yarmouth, and then an early start to catch the tide: sails up and they were off! Sadly there was little wind and lots of motor sailing: the sails made a difference but never enough to be able to switch off the engine entirely. There was a bit of fog but it didn’t last long.
They arrived in Cherbourg in glorious sunshine, which had followed them most of the way. Watchleader Unity brought Prolific alongside with a nice manoeuvre; but they had to wait to get cleared in which meant they missed out on showers.
A new plan was adopted: Alderney the next day for sand and sunshine – which meant another, even earlier start! It was 5am UK time when they slipped lines and headed west. The tide whooshed them to Alderney and watchleader Keri piloted them into Braye harbour.
A great day followed of showers, shore leave, lunch, beach, barbecue and sunsets – and then back on board and heads down sleeping for the passage home the next day.
Up at 8am on Thursday, the sails were hoisted while still on the buoy, and they sailed out of the harbour under mizzen, main and staysail. Once clear, up went the jib – followed by possibly the best sail ever back across the channel! Nearly always over 8 knots and briefly over ten knots.
They entered the Solent via the Needles and were back on the buoy for a well earned sleep, zzzz.
This morning they had shore leave in Yarmouth, then a little sailing in the Solent before planning a late passage back to Ocean Village tonight.
We’ll put their voyage feedback in the next issue!
Big thanks to sea staff Andy Viney, Josh, Adam Lane, Unity Bowns, Keri Hammond, Niamh Lamin and Millie Hughes.
* Volunteer sea staff – spaces that MUST be filled – can you help?
Whether or not you already have voyages booked as a volunteer this season, these are the spaces still available – please let us know if you can help with anything. Berths listed for “trainee mates” or “trainee bosuns” MAY be suitable for people who earned new recommendations last year or this year to join our volunteer team, even if you have never sailed in a staff berth before – please ask whether any particular vacancy might be appropriate for you. Dates on this list are when young people are on board – please note that we normally need volunteers the afternoon before, to help get everything ready.
30 July – 4 Aug, Brixham – qualified watchleader
5-10 Aug, Brixham – second mate, or an additional first mate (with the option of sailing either as 1M or engineer)
1-5 Oct, Southampton – two watchleaders or one watchleader and a bosun – one must be qualified, the other could be a trainee
6-10 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
14-19 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
If you are a NEW volunteer who has earned your recommendation on the recent training weekend or on another voyage this year, there may be other options in addition to the list above – please send in details of your availability and we’ll see when we might be able to get you booked to sail.
Contact caroline.white@oytsouth.org if you would be interested in sailing on any of these voyages.
For those who are new to the process, do please remember that if you commit to a voyage booking then we do really need you! Sometimes people assume that with several staff and volunteers on each voyage, it won’t be a problem to drop out; or you may think that if you’re not a qualified volunteer, you are not essential to the voyage. But in practice, we need a certain number of adults on every voyage in order to be able to sail – and you may, for example, be the only female member of sea staff on a voyage which has girls in the crew. It’s quite possible that a voyage can’t go ahead without you, which is why we need to avoid people dropping out and if it is absolutely unavoidable, we need as much notice as possible. It is also why we appreciate you all and the time you give to the charity very much indeed!
Young people aged 16-25 who have sailed with us and earned a recommendation to train as volunteers but who need more experience before taking on the full responsibilities of watchleader or bosun can also apply for funding to join an individual voyage as a crew member, to gain extra time on board and develop their skills.
Planning a gap year, or not working over the winter? Join our refit core team!
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.
Do you need a Powerboat level 2 qualification (required for driving Prolific’s dinghy)
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned that one of our volunteers, Patrick Kelly, was looking to do a Powerboat Level 2 course, and Dom Coleman (ace instructor and OYT South volunteer) from Dorset Marine Training had offered discounted rates if we could help fill the course with other OYT South people. We had such a great response that we have filled one course and now we need ONE more person to fill a second one on 5th/6th July! Email webmaster1@oytsouth.org if you are interested, and we’ll put you in touch with Patrick.
AGM 2025 – a date for your diary
Our AGM and social evening will be 8th November – save the date!
* 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
Our 2025 programme has plenty of exciting opportunities to join us this year!
Please spread the word!
These are voyages for young people who want to join a voyage as individuals or smaller groups, and mix with others:
30 June – 6 July, Southampton to Le Havre, £735 per person, 6 nights, age 15-25,. Ends with time at a Tall Ships festival – an amazing experience with the fleet! Only 2 places left
18-23 July, Poole to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £630 per person. Up to 5 places left
24-29 July, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £630 per person. Only 3 places left
11-15 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, £525 per person. Aimed at younger crew members and anyone without a passport. 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 this voyage has been designated as a shorter coastal voyage and a gentler opportunity, ideal for the younger end of our age range (11-16-year-olds) and passports not required. Ideal for anyone who is unsure about coping with a more ambitious voyage and wants an easier introduction. Only 3 places left
30 Aug – 3 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £525 per person – places available.
4-9 Sept, Southampton to Southampton, 5 nights, age 15-25, £630 per person. Only 3 places left
29 Oct – 2 Nov, Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £545 per person – half term -– places available.
Email voyageadmin@oytsouth.org to ask about individual bookings.
2025 group voyages – and plans for 2026
Do you know a school or youth club or another organisation which might like an exclusive booking for 12-15 people?
All group voyages for 2025 are currently reserved; but please email caroline.white@oytsouth.org if you would like to be informed if we happen to have a cancellation which might leave space for your group.
We have sent a draft 2026 programme to regular clients for comments – please ask if you are a new potential group client and would like to be added to the mailing list for group bookings next year.
2025 adult voyage available
We have one remaining voyage for adult individual bookings:
10-12 Oct, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
All welcome – but the weekend is particularly useful for anyone who is thinking of joining our sailing volunteers for 2026, and wants to find out more! Email for details or to make a booking.
Prolific maintenance days – help needed!
We have planned maintenance days this season on the following dates – please put them in your diary and email us if you can help. Skilled and unskilled tasks available – or maybe a chance to learn a new skill. Over-18s only, please, except for 16- and 17-year-olds who have sailed with us already and been recommended to return as volunteers – you MAY be able to attend maintenance days with the skipper’s permission depending on what jobs we are doing.
Sunday 29th June – Southampton
Friday 22nd August – Brixham
Monday 13th October– Southampton
Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
Open for 2025 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 one of the charity’s founders. You can also see some previous winning entries.
Keeping our website up to date – can you help?
OYT South’s website is quite big and has a lot of pages – it’s possible that someone may be looking at a page which none of our staff has re-read for quite a while, or clicking a link we haven’t tried recently. So if you spot any broken links, errors or anything out of date, PLEASE tell us. We can only put things right if we know about them. This is a great way for someone to help us, especially if you can’t easily volunteer on voyages or help with events or maintenance. The odd hour or so in the comfort of your own home, looking through the website (and trying to imagine how it would work for someone new to us) is always very much appreciated! This is an ongoing task, not something that needs to be done on or by a specific date.
Advice on careers in the marine sector for young people
We have created a page on the website for links to a huge variety of careers in the marine sector – at the end of every voyage, there will be a link to this on the back of the voyage certificates given to the young people, to give them ideas about opportunities both afloat and ashore, with options for people with different interests, skills and levels of education, and hopefully including ideas that many will never have considered, alongside the more obvious maritime roles. The page is a work in progress and we are keen to add more links, so if you have any suggestions, please send them in.
* Financial appeal
Huge thanks this week to Solent Crabbers for another kind donation, plus Christina Hardyment; Christine Hardman; Stephen Evatt; Richard Worsley; Lesley White; Katherine Van Hagen; John Hunt; Richard Nemeth; NIC Griffin and others who prefer to be anonymous but many of whom mentioned that they were donating after reading Libby’s article in the Times.
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, bank transfer 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.
Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,700 through Easyfundraising! Are you aware of the size of donations available?
We mention Easyfundraising in the newsletter each week and we’re really grateful to those people who are using it regularly, but there must be people who haven’t looked at it, or often don’t remember to do it.
Here’s what it DOESN’T do:
- Require you to buy from sources you wouldn’t normally use
- Take lots of time
- Ask you to do anything complicated at all!
- Produce donations so small you would barely notice
- Cost you a penny!
You simply have to buy whatever you already planned to buy online, from whoever you choose to shop with – but having signed up with Easyfundraising, just click to accept a donation if it’s offered when you shop. It’s often a percentage, which means the donations can be really significant for bigger items – a holiday, a flight, an expensive train ticket etc. This week we heard from a volunteer who got a £17 donation when renewing their home insurance. Someone else earned nearly £10 from a VistaPrint order. A few donations like that from a hundred supporters and it starts looking like a really significant total each year.
Do tell us if you’ve got a really good donation from something you bought – these stories help to inspire others. Maybe you even order things online for business purposes and your employer would agree to donate to us like this – at no cost to them but a way to feel good every time they need new boxes of business cards or train tickets to get staff to a conference!
It takes a minute or two to sign up to Easyfundraising: 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, often including the site you would normally choose to use for all your rainbow unicorn requirements – and it doesn’t cost you anything, you pay the same price you would pay anyway.
PLEASE click the link now and sign up!
We have already raised over £2,700 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
Vessel tracking – see where Prolific is sailing
Vessel tracking has been switched on again for the season – you can always have a look and see what we’re up to. This site updates every six hours so don’t worry if the vessel doesn’t appear to be moving! There are other sites (like Marine Traffic) which update more often; but especially for families of a young person on board, the tracking on our site allows you to have a look two or three times a day and see what’s going on.
OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB we are now on Bluesky instead of Twitter/X
If you look at the top left of any page on our website, you can click on icons for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. We are also on TikTok.
We have now updated the social media links on our website, replacing Twitter/X with Bluesky – please come and join us there!
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.
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.