In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Refit news
- * Volunteer sea staff – voyages still available
- 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
- 2025 group voyages available – group bookings for young people or adults
- Adult weekend voyages – including opportunities to look at joining our volunteers’ team
- Events needing volunteers – in Hampshire and in Devon
- * Andy Cassell
- FREE boat show and a chance to visit Prolific – please spread the word
- Prolific maintenance days – dates for your diary
- 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 £2,400 through Easyfundraising!
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB OYT South is leaving Twitter/X – find us on Bluesky instead
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Refit news
Huge thanks to everyone who has helped (or is currently helping) with the final big push to get everything ready for the start of the season: Gotch, Sara, Josh and Shaun, plus Andy Viney, Linnea Johansson, Niamh Lamin, Harvey Henderson, Penny Scott- Bayfield, Cathy Ayres and her friend Dave, Iori Kent, Jack Thompson, Annette and Colin Potter, Cathy and Steve Lacey, Martyn Powe, Rooby Vaughan-Woods and Glyn Collins.
Last weekend, the life rafts came back on board and the hydrostatic releases were fitted; and all of the sails were bent on and rigged:
The saloon was converted from a workshop back into a liveable space! All the bunks were emptied of crates and tools and fitted back with their cushions and curtains.
The interior of the skylight was fitted on. The radiator was fitted back on in the saloon (big thanks to Chris Pryke who took it away over the winter and gave it some much-needed love!).
The tables were bolted down and the posts were put in.
The new oven was fitted and put in place properly (huge thank you Andy Viney!)
The galley was organised with the right kit in the right places.
On Sunday and Monday, Josh ran refresher training on Prolific’s systems with relief skippers, engineers and bosuns:
Josh was also struggling during this period with a very corroded pin in the steering gear, but eventually (with help and tools from BD Marine), he managed to free the steering gear and replace the hydraulic rams.
Linnea tidied the breakfast bar, returning it back to a working area, and put the lifejackets all back to where they belonged, as well as doing a general tidy.
On Tuesday, all the navigation books and folders came back the from the office; Dr Patrick sorted all the medical kit and made sure everything was in the right place; and the team also started installing new halyards!
On Wednesday Josh finished working on the steering gear and the team carried on installing new halyards and jammers before heading out for a compass swing in the afternoon (thanks to Jo the compass adjuster). Then everything was got ready for sailing, with the last emergency life-saving appliances in place.
Finally yesterday Prolific went for the first sail of 2025! A lovely sunny day with just the right amount of wind (14-16 knots) and we were joined by the riggers from Vortec who tuned the rig. Everything went very well – we had all the sails up and did lots of tacking up and down the North Channel – a welcome change and some exercise/cardio for the refit team! They also had an Ice cream break in the lovely warm day!
A neatly wrapped parcel arrived for Prolific – can anyone guess what it is?
The team lowered the old dinghy and took out the sheaves from the davits, started on rigging lazyjacks and had a bit of a clean of the deck.
Today they are finishing a very comprehensive jobs list, and planning to do more jobs as well as some boat handling practice over the weekend.
It’s been a huge effort but we really are very close now to doing some proper sailing – massive thanks to everyone single person who has helped in any way over the winter!
* Volunteer sea staff – voyages still available
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 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.
23-27 May, Southampton, qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun. This one doesn’t need sea staff joining the day before.
23-28 June, Southampton, qualified watchleader. Ideally able to stay for the maintenance day on 29th June.
18-23 July, Poole to Brixham, female volunteer needed
16-21 Aug, Brixham, qualified watchleader – must be available to stay for the maintenance day on 22nd Aug and to help with an evening event that day
1-5 Oct, Southampton, watchleader or bosun
6-10 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
14-19 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun, ideally able to join for maintenance day on 13th October.
24-28 Oct, Southampton – qualified watchleader
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!
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:
28 May – 1 June, Southampton, 4 nights, £525 per person – 1 place left – half term
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!
18-23 July, Poole to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £630 per person
24-29 July, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £630 per person, places possibly available to join a booking from some members of a Nautical Training Corps unit
30 July – 4 Aug, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £630 per person
11-15 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, £525 per person. 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!
30 Aug – 3 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £525 per person
4-9 Sept, Southampton to Southampton, 5 nights, age 15-25, £630 per person
Email voyageadmin@oytsouth.org to ask about individual bookings.
2025 group voyages available – group bookings for young people or adults
See the 2025 programme or the availability list for group voyages – do you know a school or youth club or another organisation which might like an exclusive booking for 12-15 people?
We can also consider the occasional adult voyage if anyone has an idea for an adult group.
Email caroline.white@oytsouth.org to ask about group bookings and funding help if needed.
Adult weekend voyages – including opportunities to look at joining our volunteers’ team
We have adult weekends (18+, no upper age limit) available as follows:
2-4 May, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
10-12 Oct, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
Come and enjoy sailing our beautiful boat, or maybe find out what it takes to become a sailing volunteer – these weekends are a chance to find out if you might enjoy volunteering and, if so, for the skipper to recommend you for further volunteer training.
Email seastaffadmin@oytsouth.org to ask about adult weekends.
Events needing volunteers – in Hampshire and in Devon
This year Prolific will be open to visitors at the South Coast Boat Show in Ocean Village on the weekend of 10th-11th May, and at the Gosport marine festival on 17th May. We will need lots of people to show visitors around the boat and talk about our work – please put the dates in your diary and contact webmaster1@oytsouth.org if you are interested in helping!
We are also hosting an event on board at the end of the maintenance day on Friday 22nd August in Brixham, Devon – let us know if you can help with that.
Any of these events could be suitable for under-18s who have sailed with us: it is always good to have a few enthusiastic young people to talk about what they did on board, and encourage others to try it!
* Andy Cassell
We were sad to learn this week of the death at the age of 83 of Andy Cassell, whom we knew for many years when he was director of Ratsey & Lapthorn sailmakers and looked after our sails. He was always interested in OYT South and supported our efforts to get more young people out on the water. A paralympic sailing gold medallist, Andy believed in opening up sailing opportunities to everyone, and he set up the Andrew Cassell Foundation, which enables individuals with physical disabilities, mental health conditions or long term illness to race competitively in sailing on an equal level playing field with and against able bodied sailors, in an inclusive and equal environment in all classes. Andy, we were proud to know you.
FREE boat show and a chance to visit Prolific – please spread the word
Are you coming on a voyage, or organising a group of young people to sail, and wanting a chance to look round the boat beforehand? Have you been on a voyage and want to show the boat to your family and friends? Are you thinking of sailing with us but not sure what it might be like? Or interested in finding out more about sailing as an adult volunteer?
MDL’s South Coast & Green Tech Boat Show 2025 could be the answer. It’s FREE show with lots to see – and Prolific will be at the heart of the show and open to the public on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th May. Do have a look at the website – and come and say hello to us!
Prolific maintenance days – dates for your diary
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.
Monday 21st April- Southampton
Sunday 18th May – Gosport
Saturday 7th June – Southampton
Sunday 29th June – Southampton
Friday 22nd August – Brixham
Monday 13th October– Southampton
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
Big thanks this week to Wescom for the donation of replacement flares (and taking away our out of date ones).
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 £2,400 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 £2,400 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
OYT South social media – please share as well as liking! NB OYT South is leaving Twitter/X – find us on Bluesky instead
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.