In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * New Vice Patrons for OYT South
- * Voyage news
- * Volunteer sea staff bookings – PLEASE help!
- Funding for sail training staff / volunteer qualifications
- Sea Staff awards – nominations welcome
- Individual bookings for summer 2026
- Adult voyages
- 2026 dates for your diary
- Vessel tracking
- * Financial appeal
- Raise funds for OYT South if you’re shopping online – we’ve made over £2,800 through Easyfundraising! Are you aware of the size of donations available?
- OYT South social media – please share as well as liking!
- Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* New Vice Patrons for OYT South
We are absolutely delighted this week to announce two additions to our team of Vice Patrons!
Robert Ayling CBE
Robert (Bob) Ayling has been a keen sailor since his training as a solicitor when, in 1964, the senior partner of his firm took Bob as crew on a cross-Channel sail in a 30ft bilge keeler from Chichester to Cherbourg. However, without an accurate weather forecast, their voyage unexpectedly suffered a severe overnight storm, and without satellite navigation, and only a trailing log, the skipper was not entirely sure where they were as the storm abated in the morning. Happily, they reached Barfleur in safety and enjoyed an excellent French fish dinner on the Barfleur Quayside.
Bob’s busy career life as a City of London solicitor, senior government legal adviser and General Counsel of British Airways restricted his time available for sailing, but when he was appointed the airline’s chief executive in the early 1990s sailing time evaporated entirely, displaced by many thousands of miles of air travel.
When Bob retired from BA in 2000, although he continued to be professionally active as the chairman of Dyson, Welsh Water and the Courts and Tribunals service of England and Wales, he and his late wife Julia decided to buy their own boat; “not too tippy and two heads at least”, said Julia. After a search they found a Vancouver 38 Classic under construction at Northshore in Itchenor, which fitted Julia’s requirements, and bought it. Until her death in 2019 they had sailed over 25,000 nautical miles together, crossing the Bay of Biscay twice and sailing extensively in the Mediterranean reaching as far as Venice.
Bob has a strong belief that all young people should have the same opportunity of sailing as he had. He believes it teaches self-reliance, how to get on with others and appreciate risk. He is honoured to have been asked to become a Vice Patron of Ocean Youth Trust South whose mission is just that.
Jamie Campbell
Jamie Campbell is the son of Michael Campbell who was a much-loved Vice Patron of OYT South until his death last year. Michael had been taught at school by Chris Ellis, one of the founders of the Ocean Youth Club: the seeds of the charity were sown when Chris first took boys from the school sailing in 1951.Years later Jamie attended the same school and was also taught by Chris. The Campbell family has very long history with our charity and we are delighted that Jamie is following in his father’s footsteps as a Vice Patron.
Jamie is a music publisher, property developer and devoted father to two teenage children, Ellis and Jemima.
His passion for music took him to New York in the early 1990s, leading to five years working as a sound engineer at the legendary recording studio, Electric Lady Studios. On his return he continued to work in various recording studios, ending up recording demos for aspiring artists at Rondor Music Publishing, where he later secured a role as A&R Scout. In 2000 he was offered a job as creative manager at Universal Music Publishing, where he went on to sign various acclaimed songwriters and artists, whilst pitching songs to everyone from Blue to Britney.
He left Universal in 2005 to work in management, joining forces with Sarah Stennet at Crown Music, building an enviable roster of writers, producers & artists. Shortly afterwards he formed his own publishing company, Hunky Dory Music, signing artists Charlene Soraia, Joe Keogh (Amber Run) and Heypenny. In 2013 he formed Joint Ventures (London) Ltd with property developer John Nystrom, which continues to deliver high-end residential properties, primarily in South London. Jamie was appointed as Managing Director of Edradynate Ltd in 2021.
Jamie is a keen sailor, loves long-distance walking, off-road motorcycling and the occasional noodle in his home studio. He is also a proud advocate and contributor to the family’s endeavours in philanthropy, through the Ellis Campbell Foundation, which is a generous supporter of OYT South, currently helping to fund the Staff Mate post.
Chief Executive Mark Todd said: “We are thrilled to have both Bob and Jamie joining as Vice Patrons. They bring a real breadth of experience to our team, and in different ways both have a very deep commitment to supporting our charitable purpose and ensuring we can continue to make a lasting difference to the lives of young people from all backgrounds. It is an honour and an absolute pleasure to have them both involved.”
OYT South’s Patron is Lord Iliffe and the other Vice Patrons are Jamie Sheldon, Libby Purves, Nicholas Bonham, Professor Khalid Aziz, Mrs Gilly Drummond OBE, Paul Heiney, Rupert MacInnes, Pip Hare and The Rt Hon. the Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers.
* Voyage news
The last newsletter left our crew from Beaulieu Park School enjoying time ashore in Portland with a walk along Chesil Beach to watch the sunset:
Next day there was still very little wind so they did a short hop across to Worbarrow Bay, with opportunities for anyone who wished to spend time out on the bowsprit.
By mid-afternoon they were anchored and joined by another OYT South volunteer Jo McGregor, who arrived aboard their boat, Primrose. Most of the crew then swam from the boat before a run ashore in the dinghy for games and dinner on the beach.
They were thoroughly tired by the time they got back on board, but still managed to stand anchor watches in turns through the night, with people taking the responsibility seriously and calling staff when conditions changed unexpectedly.
Saturday saw them once again motor-sailing in very light winds back towards the Solent.
A fire drill evolved into standby-to-abandon and then full abandon ship drills. Knots were also practised within watches to complete the syllabus requirements for the RYA Start Yachting certificates. They headed into the Solent via the Needles Channel, with navigation undertaken by the third mate alongside the crew.
They anchored in the west Solent for an early dinner and navigation planning by the young people so they could take charge for the return to Ocean Village. This was completed impressively quickly by all involved, after which each watch helmed, navigated, and carried out lookout duties for their individual section under the guidance of their respective watch leaders.
They left on Sunday having completed 121 miles. You can see their voyage track here.
Overall a truly excellent group of young people – a credit to their school and their headteacher!
Feedback included:
“Most lasting memory: sailing with the lovely sunset. I have never seen something so golden in my life What a trip – a perfect way to connect with people you’ve never met and workout without going to the gym.”
“Thank you so much for such an amazing trip! It was so great getting to know people and working as a team to overcome challenges. A special thank you to Robert my watch leader for helping me and giving me and my group a great experience to remember.”
“Wonderful trip! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be on Prolific. Thank you to all of the sea staff for being so kind and accepting. I have learnt so much here, thank you!”
“Such an amazing experience to learn new things, talk to new people and see great views. Thank you to the sea staff and watch leaders for being so welcoming and caring.”
“Was an absolutely great voyage! Staff was incredible … Learnt many things on this trip. Overall an 11/10 trip!”
“Really amazing trip! The views and full experience was amazing and a once in a lifetime experience. The Sea Staff were very nice and my watchleader (Tori) made my experience very fun and even let me watch the Champions League Final!”
“The staff are super nice and made me love sailing. I am definitely doing this again. Everyone was great. Best bit: talking to everyone who I wouldn’t usually talk to at school, that was fun.”
“Great voyage and lots of fun! I learnt so much and met new people. It was excellent.”
“Amazing trip, was really interesting seeing how to sail. All the sea staff are really nice and approachable.”
“I love the crew as they were so sweet and nice and I suggest to try to do as much as possible, it is a good opportunity.”
And from the accompanying school staff:
“Brilliant trip, loved all the activities. Got to see Portland and enjoyed the sailing experience again. Looking forward to coming back next time. Sea staff were above and beyond. Best bit: taking pictures on the beach whilst everyone was playing games and having a laugh with the sunset.”
“Best bit: it was after being on the minibus and it was silent all the way down, but then we got on the boat and everyone congregated and were chatting and it was a really nice thing to experience.”
Big thanks to sea staff Lee Mosscrop, Sara, Josh, Rob Lawrence, Si Brammer, Tori Pickles and Terry Patterson.
Next came a crew from St Matthew Academy, Lewisham. They last did a voyage with us in 2017 and it was wonderful to see them back again – although they had to cope with a VERY windy week!
They joined on Tuesday and had introductions and safety briefings, learning to use lifejackets as well as having a chance to practise clipping on and going out on the bowsprit:
Strong winds were due to ease off in the evening and in aiming for East Cowes they had to wait for enough height of tide to get over the chains of the chain ferry, so they departed after dinner. All of the young people took turns steering and enjoying the sunset scenery:
Once secure alongside, it was straight to bed – with bedtime stories (Dr Seuss!).
Wednesday’s forecast was for a force 7 gusting into force 8! They moved from East Cowes to West Cowes just to get the young people handling lines and getting used to the departure and arrival procedure. The weather was not on their side!
After cleaning the boat and going ashore for showers, everyone made their own pizza wraps for lunch:
In the afternoon they had a big walk to explore Cowes, skimming stones and playing some games on the beach. On the way back they were split into groups tasked to takes photos of items whose names would spell out the word PROLIFIC. Then dinner and more games as well as a look at the chart and plans for next day and a chance to fill in their personal logbooks before bedtime.
On Thursday morning the wind was still quite strong but we knew from the forecast that we would be able to sail later in the day. After showers, the crew did some work towards their RYA Start Yachting qualifications, learning knots and using model boats in a paddling pool to simulate the effects of the Beaufort Scale of wind forces on the sea state:
They also spent some time practising with lines and winches, knowing there would be big loads on everything in windy conditions and they would need to be careful and safe:
They set off at around 1930 and hoisted just the ORC, our smallest headsail for strong winds. They witnessed some dramatic rain clouds go past – luckily they all missed Prolific! The sun was setting behind them and it was a beautiful evening, with music playing on deck and most of the crew dancing.
In Gosport the crew gave a cheer to another sail training vessel, TS Royalist, and went to bed straight after docking.
Friday gave them the best sailing weather of the week, with two reefs in the sails and a beam reach out to the Nab Tower in bright sunshine and 20 knots of wind. The water looked turquoise in the Solent. Heading back towards Cowes, they had to tack to avoid a racing fleet. They then did a man overboard recovery demonstration and dropped sails before anchoring in Osborne Bay.
People went out onto the bowsprit at anchor and the young people were put in charge of pilotage and navigation on the night passage back to Southampton and had time to prepare:
They did a great job on the navigation exercise:
Saturday had the strongest winds of the week, with a consistent Force 8 – not a day for sailing! Instead they went to the park in full waterproof gear with water pistols and balls and played a game of capture the flag. Next came a bake off on board:
Then it was movie time on board as they watched the film Moana.
They walked around the pontoons and actually found some seahorses! Then it was fajitas for dinner and more games before bed. They left the boat after a big clean-up next morning:
They had sailed 64 miles and you can see the complete voyage track here.
Feedback included:
“I enjoyed myself so much. I have very grateful to have come on this voyage. Thank you sea staff for keeping me safe and teaching me many things and showing me kindness. I will never forget the people who kept me company on this trip and I will certainly never forget the beautiful view and wonderful story times … The most memorable was the sunset on the sea.”
“I enjoyed every part and there was always something to do or a game to play, the new experience inspired me to try new things … My best bit was sitting at the front of the boat, like on the netting … and the most memorable was probably when I was steering.”
“The voyage was so much fun and I learnt so many new skills. I feel more inspired to try new things even if I am unsure … I think my best bit was steering the boat at night with my watch navigating. And the most memorable was sitting on the bowsprit after we anchored.”
”This voyage was a great opportunity to learn skills I wouldn’t think I’d ever learn. It’s helped me to see different places, life on a boat etc. I am very grateful!”
“The voyage was a great opportunity to learn about the weather and how it affects our everyday lives. It was also helpful to learn new skills and socialise with new people … My best moment was probably looking at the ocean through the binoculars.”
“Very fun, you get to talk to people you never thought you would talk to.”
“My best bit was probably sailing at night which was good. My least was probably the weather because it was a bit rough on some days!”
“My most memorable bit was the fun games we played.”
“Sailing was fun!”
And from the staff member who sailed with them:
“Such a knowledgeable and well run voyage. Our pupils have experienced SO much. Thank you!!! … Best bit was seeing everyone overcome lots of setbacks throughout the week. Most memorable was watching everyone hoist up the sail for the first time.”
The Assistant Head at the school wrote to us on Monday:
“I would like to express our deepest gratitude for the incredible experience our pupils had on the recent voyage. To say it was a success would be an understatement—the young people thoroughly enjoyed every single moment on board.
We have already seen a noticeable change in the crew we sent you. Pupils who left us feeling quiet and uncertain have returned holding their heads a little higher, and those who needed a lesson in teamwork have come back with a genuine appreciation for what it means to support others. The unique environment your sea staff created allowed our students to thrive, step out of their comfort zones, and discover strengths they didn’t know they possessed. It truly was an experience of a lifetime for them.
Thank you so much for providing this invaluable opportunity and for your incredible generosity in supporting our pupils.
We would absolutely love to continue this wonderful working relationship into next year … Please pass on our massive thanks to the captain, crew, and shore team who looked after our cohort so beautifully. Wishing you all the best for your upcoming voyages.”
Huge thanks to sea staff Constantinos, Sara, Iori Kent, Tom Hounsham, Orla Cronin, Matts Kruger and Steve Brooks.
This week we are sailing with another crew from The Petersfield School – we will tell you all about their voyage in the next issue.
* Volunteer sea staff bookings – PLEASE help!
Please do get in touch if you can help with any of these! Some of these dates are reappearing on the list because no sooner do we replace someone who has dropped out, than someone else drops out!
11-18 July, Poole to Brixham – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun URGENTLY needed.
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton – qualified watchleader needed
26-29 Sept, Southampton – qualified watchleader or bosun needed
5-9 Oct, Southampton –qualified watchleader ideally needed, but possibly also space for a trainee watchleader
19-23 Oct, Southampton – qualified watchleader, and possibly space for a trainee watchleader as well
28 Oct – 1 Nov, Southampton – qualified watchleader
2 Nov – qualified watchleaders for day sail
Please send offers or questions to webmaster1@oytsouth.org.
Funding for sail training staff / volunteer qualifications
Are you a watchleader or bosun with us and committed to long-term involvement in sail training, already qualified to at least Day Skipper level, and looking to gain more qualifications in order to make progress? The Trinity House ASTO Bursaries Scheme could help you afford some courses, but under a new system starting this year, the application window is 1 April – 30 June each year, with no other rounds, and applicants MUST be endorsed by an ASTO member such as OYT South. If you are thinking of applying in this year’s window or simply want to know more about how it works, please contact us!
Sea Staff awards – nominations welcome
Regular readers will know that in recent years we have had our annual Gipsy Moth Award for Young Volunteer of the Year (aged 25 and under) – the current holder is Jack Thompson. But we have never had an award specifically for over-25 volunteers. This season, we are introducing the Brian Eyres Award, in memory of our late Skipper and Treasurer. Brian exemplified the best of volunteering, ashore and afloat, for OYT South as well as a range of other causes – he did so much in his lifetime and this award will be a way to recognise and remember his huge contribution to the OYC and to OYT South.
The Brian Eyres Award is not for long service or similar (we now have a series of long-service certificates for every five years that a volunteer spends with us). Instead, we want people to nominate volunteers if you see them doing something particularly impressive or heart-warming, ashore or afloat, in 2026. This could be something as simple as being the watchleader who took time to turn things round for a scared and unhappy young person on board; or the person who did a tough job in miserable conditions when no-one else wanted to do it; or someone who invented a brilliant activity to raise morale. It might be something which saved a voyage, but equally it could be something that no-one even noticed except you. Please email webmaster1@oytsouth.org with your nominations. Don’t worry about the age of the volunteer you are nominating – if we get anything for someone aged 25 and under, we can take it into account in the discussions about the Gipsy Moth Award (which is a collective decision by all the paid staff).
Nominations can come from anyone – other volunteers, staff, young people, parents and carers, clients, group leaders.
At the end of the year we will ask someone to look at nominations for the Brian Eyres Award and choose a winner to be announced at the next training weekend.
Individual bookings for summer 2026
The 2026 programme is on the website and there is an availability list here.
There are just TWO voyages left this summer which have spaces – please spread the word and let’s fill the last few places!
12-16 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, passports not needed, £540 per person
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, £540 per person. The age range for this one was not originally specified other than our general 11-25 range; but in practice bookings so far are aged 17-24.
Adult voyages
There’s one more adult weekend this season:
9-11 Oct 2026, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £270 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
These weekends are ideal for people who want to find out more about the possibility of volunteering with us – but you are also welcome if you simply want to come along and enjoy a sail on board Prolific! Contact us to ask about booking.
2026 dates for your diary
Prolific has planned maintenance days this year and we always need lots of help (skilled or unskilled) – email refit@oytsouth.org to book yourself in for any of these:
Saturday 27th June – Southampton
Sunday 23rd August – Brixham
Monday 12th October – Southampton
The 2026 OYT South AGM and Curry Night will be on Saturday 7th November.
Looking even further ahead, the next shorebased volunteers’ training weekend is set for 5th-7th February 2027 – keep it free!
Vessel tracking
Prolific’s vessel tracking is available on our website – you can look at any time to see where we are and where we have been sailing. Big thanks to Millennium who built us a whole new tracking system when the one we used to use was discontinued!
* Financial appeal
Big thanks this week to Navigate Response 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 £2,800 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. For example, one volunteer 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 £2,800 through Easyfundraising – huge thanks to everyone who has used it!
OYT South social media – please share as well as liking!
If you look at the top left of any page on our website, you can click on icons for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. We are also on TikTok, and these days we recommend Bluesky rather than Twitter/X – 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.
Chris Ellis Award – win £££s of the price of your next voyage
Open for 2026 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.
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.