In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Help needed to move the boat next week – who wants a day or two on the water?
- * Refit news and help needed– including volunteers’ weekends 1-2 March (THIS WEEKEND) and 15-16 March
- * Volunteer sea staff – voyages 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
- Funding help if you want to take part in a voyage
- Events needing volunteers
- * 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
* Help needed to move the boat NEXT WEEK – who wants a day or two on the water?
On Monday next week (3rd March) we need to take Prolific from Southampton to Gosport to get the rig back in, and on Tuesday we need to bring her back, and we could do with a few more people on board, ideally including someone with bosun / engineer experience and a couple of others used to handling things like lines and fenders. Over-18s only, please. You can come for one day or both and you can stay on board overnight if you want. On Monday you would need to join in Ocean Village by 0930; and on Tuesday we hope to be back by 1600. Email refit@oytsouth.org, or call the boat phone 07990 518915, or message Constantinos if you can help.
* Refit news and help needed – including volunteers’ weekends 1-2 March (THIS WEEKEND) and 15-16 March
Can you come and help us during the weekend of 1-2 March and/or 15-16 March? There’s a lot of work still to do, including a post-refit deep clean of the boat and then we have to get all the kit out of store and back on board. We’d be enormously grateful for all the help we can get – please email refit@oytsouth.org if you can help (and to ask about accommodation if you need). Usual incentives … cake, good company and more!
Huge thanks to everyone who has helped at refit this week: Gotch, Josh, Sara, the core team of Seb, Sasha and Shaun, plus Michelle van den Bergh, Patrick Kelly, Chris Pryke, Jed Brampton, Jake Brampton, Steve Lacey, Cathy Lacey, Iori Kent and Linnea Johansson.
Over the weekend Josh did loads of work to get the engine ready, and the team finished plainting the waterline and cleaned the propellor:
Then there was the last-minute effort to get things just right before going into the water:
On Monday Prolific was re-launched – huge thanks to the MDL team at Saxon Wharf for a fantastic and stress-free lift, and for all their other support this winter.
There has been a lot more work on the masts and booms, and some very long hours for Josh in particular getting ready to move the boat, as we went back to Ocean Village yesterday – the first “voyage” of 2025!
An extra special huge thanks this week to core team volunteers Seb and Sasha who have both left us, having successfully found jobs. They have both been working on the refit since November and have got through an immense amount of hard work in often cold and difficult conditions. We really couldn’t have done it without them and all the voyages and good times yet to come this season will be built on the foundations of their efforts. We’re really pleased that they have found jobs they wanted but we hope they will stay in touch with us – Sasha already has some voyages booked as a volunteer later in the year!
There’s still loads more work to do – please email refit@oytsouth.org if you can spare any time at all, or text Gotch or Sara or you have their numbers, or contact them via the sea staff WhatsApp groups. Age 18+ only, please.
More details about our refit here – please email refit@oytsouth.org for more information about how you can come and help, and to book yourself in. We aim to make it fun and sociable as well as getting through lots of work. And we’re always happy if anyone turns up with snacks and goodies! And for our sailing volunteers, refit is a chance to get to know bits of the boat you might not see during a normal voyage, and to improve your understanding of how things work.
* Volunteer sea staff – voyages 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.
10-15 April, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun possibly needed tbc
19-23 May, Gosport to Southampton, qualified watchleader. Ideally someone who can also help with a maintenance day on 18th May, and maybe also the Gosport Marine Festival on 17th May.
23-27 May, Southampton, qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun. This one doesn’t need sea staff joining the day before.
16-21 June, Southampton – qualified watchleader
23-28 June, Southampton, qualified watchleader. Ideally able to stay for the maintenance day on 29th June. Possibly space for a trainee watchleader as well.
1-5 Oct, Southampton, watchleader or bosun
6-10 Oct, Southampton – female volunteer needed and one other – could be a 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!
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!
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.
Funding help if you want to take part in a voyage
If you have sailed with us in the past and earned a recommendation to join our volunteer training programme, you can ask us about funding towards a crew berth to give you extra experience and time on board. The Gipsy Moth Fund is only open to people aged 16-25 who have had a volunteer recommendation from one of our skippers. You just need to tell us which voyage you want to do and how much you can afford to contribute, and we’ll see if we can fund the shortfall.
We also have a standard bursaries programme open to anyone aged 25 or under who wants to sail with us but can’t afford the full cost, whether or not you have sailed with us before, with grants available from a range of different donors. To apply, you need to email us with details of any personal circumstances relevant to why you can’t afford to sail without help; what you want to achieve and why you want to take part; which voyage you want to do (or some options for different possible voyages); and how much you can afford to contribute. You need to think hard about what, if anything, you can raise – bursary applications won’t be considered if they simply ask how much you can have, or request “as much as possible”: your application has to come after serious thought about anything else you can put in. This doesn’t mean we can’t grant 100% bursaries in exceptional circumstances, but we would need to understand why. Our funds are limited and if one person gets a very large grant, someone else may get nothing at all, so it’s important only to ask for as much as you genuinely need.
Events needing volunteers
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!
* Financial appeal
Big thanks this week to Gordon Pennie for a kind donation.
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.