In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Pip Hare joins OYT South as Vice Patron!
- * NEW 360° Prolific tour
- * Voyage news
- LAST few spaces on an adult weekend voyage
- * Volunteer sea staff – spaces that MUST be filled – can you help?
- 2025 individual voyages available – individual bookings for young people
- 2025 group voyages available – group bookings for young people or adults
- Events needing volunteers – in Hampshire and in Devon
- Prolific maintenance days – dates for your diary – including NEXT MONDAY – help needed!
- * Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
- Keeping our website up to date – can you help?
- FREE boat show and a chance to visit Prolific – please spread the word
- Advice on careers in the marine sector for young people
- * Are you aged 17+ and looking for a summer job in the marine sector?
- * Financial appeal
- * Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,400 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
* Pip Hare joins OYT South as Vice Patron!
Ocean Youth Trust South is delighted to announce that renowned offshore solo sailor and Vendee Globe Skipper, Pip Hare, has joined us as a Vice Patron.
Mark Todd, Chief Executive of Ocean Youth Trust South, said: “We couldn’t be more proud to have Pip Hare join us as a Vice Patron of the charity. She is an incredible inspiration to young people, both for her many achievements and successes, and also for her personality, resilience, and emotional honesty when faced with challenges. Pip is a true role model, and we look forward to cheering her on through all her future adventures.”
Pip Hare commented “Becoming a Vice Patron of Ocean Youth Trust South is both an honour and a privilege. As a young person, I found my voice, my confidence, and my ambition through youth sail training schemes, and I can speak firsthand about the incredible life skills and experiences that sailing can offer. In addition to being a captivating sport, sailing provides invaluable opportunities for personal growth. Ocean Youth Trust South offers immersive experiences to young people who may otherwise struggle to access this incredible sport, teaching them to harness the power of teamwork and nature to move forward in life.”
Pip is a renowned ocean racing skipper who has competed in two editions of the Vendée Globe single-handed round the world race: more men have walked on the moon than women have competed in the Vendée Globe. Last year she set off to race with OYT South’s logo displayed in her cabin and we were cheering her on as she made fantastic progress, but very sadly Pip was dismasted south of Australia. Never one to stay down, Pip made a temporary mast from the wreckage and shared her 800-mile journey to safety on social media, as covered in this newsletter in December and January.
You can read Pip’s press release about joining OYT South on our website here, and find out more about her as well as watching some amazing videos on her website and social media.
* NEW 360° Prolific tour
Our website now includes a fabulous 360° tour all round Prolific – you can explore the boat above and below deck from all angles. Do have a look! There’s also a link on all the pages of the “Sail with us” section of this website. Big thanks to James Packer from Bridge Command for creating it.
* Voyage news
Our Easter voyage was with a crew of Netley Scouts – they organised a day sail last year and were immediately keen to do something longer, so it was great to see them on board for a proper voyage!
They joined on Wednesday and after the usual briefings, had a quick getaway from Ocean Village due to tidal restrictions.
They did a man overboard recovery drill on the way:
Moored to the buoy outside Yarmouth under a pretty sunset, they had dinner and started work on their personal logbooks before bed.
A 5am start next morning saw them heading out via the Needles and heading south for our first Channel crossing of 2025.
There wasn’t much wind so they did a fair bit of motoring across to Alderney – a lovely passage in their watches, arriving in the afternoon in sunny weather. A few runs ashore in the new dinghy and they had fun on the beach.
The original plan had been to spend Friday in the Channel Islands and sail back overnight, but the forecast turned against us, with stronger winds and rainy weather: after a crew chat, the preference was to do that in the daytime! The winds did turn out to be fairly strong and it was a challenging passage for some people but they all did their best to join in with getting sails up and down – including the ORC, our heavy-weather headsail.
They got back to the Solent in time to do another quick man overboard recovery drill as darkness fell – which meant that everyone had to concentrate hard on keeping a lookout and pointing at the fender in the water. They picked up the Yarmouth buoy again and had a late dinner as people recovered their appetites once moored in calmer waters. A game of murder was played as dinner was being prepared.
Next day they sailed off the mooring buoy, practised some tacks and gybes in the Western Solent and then practised some man overboard recovery drills under sail. They went to Cowes for the afternoon and had some time ashore and showers – and then an Easter egg hunt on deck:
They also worked hard at planning the pilotage back up to Southampton.
They executed an excellent night passage, with everyone getting involved. There were hot chocolates as they got back and then a quick bed time once alongside in Ocean Village.
The voyage ended on Sunday morning – they had sailed 205 nautical miles and you can see the complete voyage track here.
All 15 crew members earned RYA Start Yachting certificates.
Feedback included:
“This trip completely changed my life for the better. I know lots of new skills and always felt included. The sea staff are awesome and always are positive. Thank you so much.”
“Had a cracking time. Proper Adventure. Love to do this again.”
“We worked in a group and I really enjoyed it. I learnt many life skills and I would love to do it again.”
“Amazing trip. Unforgettable experience. Even though I was sick, the staff looked after me and made sure I was okay. Hope to come back.”
“The sea staff taught me lots of things like knots and also how to easily adapt … There were some huge waves that made the boat tip so much and I survived!”
“Best bit on the boat was looking for all of the buoys and trying to figure out which one was which.”
“I was nervous at the start of this trip but the sea staff really helped me to calm and settle into the boat.”
“Had a great time. Learnt lots of new skills and made lots of friends. Very fun – good good well good!”
One of the group leaders added “Thank you all for supporting our scouts in an amazing experience. 4th Netley Sea Scouts really enjoyed it.”
Big thanks to sea staff Andy Viney, Sara, Josh, Miranda Camping, Cathy Ayres, Tyler Grant, Pavan Kumar, and special congratulations to Chris Lowe who was not only the Scout leader on board but also completed his third mate assessment!
Monday was a maintenance day – big thanks to Josh, Sara, Andrew Wilkes, Keri Hammond, Matt Lovett, Tyler Grant and Erin Misselbrook for lots of hard work! They did the routine checks on all the lifejackets; launched the new dinghy and ran the engine in some more; did an oil and filter change on the main engine; repaired some woodwork; improved some of the stowage; and sorted out lots of little defects.
The current voyage is with Muntham House School, whose website says they specialise in “pupils with Autism, ADHD and Trauma. We also work with pupils with Social Emotional and Mental Health and other SEN conditions.”
They joined on Tuesday and sailed to Cowes that evening, where they had dinner and filled in their personal logbooks before a bedtime story.
On Wednesday they had some shore leave followed by a fantastic sail to Weymouth. They did a man overboard recovery drill first and then headed off under main, mizzen and staysail, hoisting the jib after the Needles Channel and going all the way on one tack at speeds between 8 and 11 knots in the sunshine.
Yesterday morning they had showers and time to visit the beach and buy ice cream before some training for their sailing qualifications.
In the afternoon they set off again, and did another man overboard recovery drill followed by an exercise in resuscitating the unconscious “casualty”. Then the skipper stood down and Sara took charge for the passage round to Poole – including radar navigation.
This morning the young people were planning the pilotage out of Poole as well as doing some dinghy rowing practice. Meanwhile there was a VIP visitor: former skipper, trustee and treasurer of the charity, Brian Eyres – very best wishes from all of us for his 80th birthday this week!
Today Prolific is aiming for Yarmouth, and Mark says it is a great group of young people with some excellent leaders.
More details on their voyage in the next issue of this newsletter. Big thanks to sea staff Mark Todd, Andrew Wilkes, Sara, Josh, Keri Hammond, Matt Lovett and Erin Misselbrook.
LAST few spaces on an adult weekend voyage
Our next adult weekend voyage (18+, no upper age limit) is:
2-4 May, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
These weekends are used for all sorts of reasons. Some people come along because they are interested in finding out more about joining our volunteers team, but others simply want to sail our beautiful boat. Maybe you used to sail with us but are past the upper age limit for youth voyages; maybe you are a friend or family member of someone who has sailed on a youth voyage and you liked the sound of it and want to try it for yourself? There are just a few places left on the May weekend – do get in touch if you are interested.
The other adult weekend this year is also open for bookings:
10-12 Oct, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £265 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
* 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 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.
2-6 June, Southampton – watchleader needed, ideally able to stay for the maintenance day on 7th June
23-28 June, Southampton – qualified watchleader. Ideally able to stay for the maintenance day on 29th June.
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
27-30 Sept, Southampton – watchleader or bosun
1-5 Oct, Southampton – watchleader or bosun
14-19 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun, ideally able to join for maintenance day on 13th October.
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.
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
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.
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
29 Oct – 2 Nov, Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £545 per person – half term
Email voyageadmin@oytsouth.org to ask about individual bookings.
2025 group voyages available – group bookings for young people or adults
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.
Dates currently available:
15-19 Sept, Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25 (plus adult leaders if required), 15 places available, £525 per person
22-26 Sept, Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25 (plus adult leaders if required), 15 places available, £525 per person
Email caroline.white@oytsouth.org to ask about group bookings and funding help if needed.
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!
Prolific maintenance days – dates for your diary – including NEXT MONDAY – 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.
Sunday 18th May – Gosport
Saturday 7th June – Southampton
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.
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!
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.
* Are you aged 17+ and looking for a summer job in the marine sector?
Scroll down to the bottom of this page on the MDL website for details of MDL Marinas’ recruitment for Summer Team members. MDL are the major sponsors of Ocean Youth Trust South.
* Financial appeal
Huge thanks this week to The Royal Thames Yacht Club Charitable Trust whose latest generous contribution to bursaries has just reached us.
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! 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 a 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 £2,400 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.