In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Mark Todd MBE
- * Volunteer sea staff bookings
- * Refit news and thanks
- * Shorebased training weekend
- * Individual bookings for Easter and summer 2026 – new April availability
- Adult voyages
- 2026 dates for your diary
- Maritime bursaries for young people in Suffolk – deadline 6th February
- * Financial appeal
- * Laura Watson’s half marathon in memory of Ewan Hind
- 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!
- New readers’ welcome and introduction
- Receiving this newsletter by email
* Mark Todd MBE
Ocean Youth Trust South was very proud this week as our CEO Mark Todd received his MBE for services to sail training.
Mark says: “Having spent the past 25 years of my life as a sail training skipper, I’m used to having some pretty amazing experiences on the water working with young people – taking them sailing and helping them to develop the skills and qualities to succeed in life. But today proved you can have some pretty special days on land too! I had the honour of going to Windsor Castle with my wonderful family to receive my MBE from HRH The Prince of Wales. A huge honour and I can only give a massive thanks to all at OYT South and the members of ASTO for the incredible work they do in providing life-changing experiences for young people.”
* Volunteer sea staff bookings
We are making good progress with the amazing list of over 80 volunteers who have offered to sail on our voyages this year. We are very close to having emailed all the qualified sea staff who have offered to sail, and we are just starting to contact new volunteers, trainee mates and trainee bosuns as well. We just have to make sure that we have the right balance on each voyage (e.g. enough experienced people to support and train the new people), so if you have been offered some voyage dates we’d be really grateful for a quick answer so we can go on to book other people for your voyages.
At the moment we have a few voyages which are slightly short of bids from qualified watchleaders – in some cases we don’t yet have enough experience to run a voyage safely. If you are a second or third mate with Prolific experience, do get in touch if you can help with any of these:
27 April – 1 May, Southampton
22-26 May, Southampton
4-10 July, Southampton to Poole
17-22 Aug, Brixham
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton
6-10 Sept, Southampton
11-15 Sept, Southampton
16-20 Sept, Southampton
30 Sept – 4 Oct, Southampton
13-18 Oct, Southampton
19-23 Oct, Southampton
23-27 Oct, Southampton
28 Oct – 1 Nov, Southampton
Some of the later voyages will inevitably sort themselves out in due course because people who aren’t currently qualified watchleaders will have qualified by then!
Once the current round of allocations is completed we will advertise any remaining gaps for both qualified and trainee volunteers. Please send offers or questions to webmaster1@oytsouth.org.
* Refit news and thanks
A big thank you to Gotch, Sara, Josh, Jack Thompson, Joe Wilkinson, Chris Pryke, Iori Kent, Reya Batchelor, Hannah Blyton and Barry Walker for all their hard work this week in pretty horrible weather!
Last week ended with painting the chartroom floor with anti-rust treatment, the daily boat check (with no issues found) and starting to take the Skipper’s cabin floor apart to access the bilge and engine room cage. The day ended with covering the bunk and shelving and taking the door and radiator off in the Skipper’s cabin.
The new week started by re-attaching the gangplank before cleaning and drying the whitework on deck. Painting started on the whitework and a tarp was put up to keep things dry so the painting could carry on.
There was also a big clean as well as an inventory of the food left on board. The generator service has started and the batteries have been checked.
Tuesday started with the heads pedestals being re-attached. Reya got stuck in cleaning the generator outer casing while others took all the protective film off the chartroom and deep cleaned to remove all the rust particles created by all the rust busting. Jack tackled some of the defects on the ‘small jobs’ list while the work on the generator continued.
The blue topsides paint was collected on Wednesday morning while others repaired the floorboard underneath the starboard table as well as the trim around the edge. The team carried on painting the whitework, and the saloon hatch was cleaned. It was also time for a thorough clean of all the rags that have been used to white spirit, clean and dry around the boat. Reya carried on cleaning the outside of the generator while further work was done on it; and a second coat of rust paint was put on the chartroom floor.
The rain was back again on Thursday, so work started on the Skipper’s cabin floor, as well as cleaning and rust busting the engine wall from the access holes in the galley.
In between the rain there was a trip to the store to collect some vents and fans. The paint on the mast down below was also touched up:
Chris Pryke gave the radiator from the Skipper’s cabin some love and a fresh coat of paint and also checked the rest of the radiators to see if they needed some attention in place or whether they needed to be removed like the one in the wet locker. Barry re-installed the starboard table post which included making new holes in the floorboard and then putting the table back.
PLEASE come and help if you possibly can – even if you just turn up for a day or so here and there to help with some cleaning or fetching and carrying; or perhaps by buying some of the small refit items and materials we need; or dropping off some morale-boosting goodies to the workers. Just email refit@oytsouth.org to see how you can help. If you can offer more time or genuine expertise, that’s fantastic; but don’t ever think you won’t be valued and appreciated for a smaller offering – even a gesture or a supportive message can be just what the team needs if it’s cold and wet and the job they are tackling is proving difficult!
Dates for your diary! We’ll be looking for help on refit weekdays but for those of you who can only come at weekends, these are the dates when we’re currently planning for the team to be working and needing loads of support:
17th and 18th January (THIS WEEKEND) – big thanks to everyone who has offered to come and help: we’ve had a great response but if you haven’t yet offered and are still keen to come, give the boat a call on 07990 518915 and see if they can fit you in.
7th and 8th March – post-refit clean, and sails and kit back on board
There won’t be a refit weekend in February because we have the training weekend.
Email refit@oytsouth.org if you can help. Refit volunteers should generally be aged 18+ but if you are 16 or 17 and have already received a recommendation to come back and train as a volunteer, it’s always worth asking as we may be able to include you.
No experience needed – plenty of unskilled jobs and plenty of skilled jobs which we can teach you!
* Shorebased training weekend February 2026
Thanks to all those who booked before the deadline for the shorebased training weekend 7-8 February. The office team did a site visit this week to the venue at Foxlease Park and came away very happy. It should be a great weekend and we are looking forward to seeing lots of you there.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact the office.
* Individual bookings for Easter and summer 2026 – new April availability
The 2026 programme is on the website and there is an availability list here.
You may be aware that most of our voyages are filled by organised groups, often including disadvantaged and vulnerable young people. Currently all 2026 group voyages either have confirmed bookings or have been pencilled by a client (but anyone still interested in a 2026 group booking for up to 15 people, please ask, just in cases one of the pencilled voyages becomes available again).
However, in school holidays we always reserve a few voyages for individual bookings, where young people can mix with others and hopefully make new friends while enjoying an adventure, earning a sailing qualification, perhaps completing a DofE Gold residential, or even earning a recommendation to join our team of young sailing volunteers. If you know anyone aged 11-25 who might enjoy a voyage, please do spread the word. There is a leaflet here which you can print out and share with people, or you can direct them to the availability page or the introduction to sailing with us.
The current list of individual voyages available to book is as follows:
§ 7-12 April, Southampton to Southampton, 5 nights, age 11-18, £645 per person – last few places possibly available tbc
* 4-10 July, Southampton to Poole, 6 nights, age 15-25, £760 per person
* 19-24 July, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £645 per person
* 31 July – 5 August, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £645 per person
§ 12-16 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, £540 per person
* 24-30 August, Brixham to Poole, 6 nights, age 11-25, £760 per person – provisionally fully-booked, please ask if you want to join the waiting list!
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £540 per person
§ UK-only, aimed at younger people and for those who don’t have a passport. Other individual voyages MAY sail to France if we are lucky with the weather, and therefore passports will be required unless you enquire and we specifically advise otherwise; or we may visit the Channel Islands for which you must have an approved form of ID (please ask) but not necessarily a passport.
* Voyages lasting 5 nights or more are usually suitable for Duke of Edinburgh Award Gold Residentials (provided you don’t know more than 50% of the others in the crew). Four-night voyages, because of the start and finish times, are unlikely to give you enough time on board to meet the Residential criteria. PLEASE ASK if you are at all uncertain about whether a particular voyage is right for your DofE Award, and make certain when you book that we are aware that you are aiming to complete your Residential.
For all these voyages, including those which start and finish in the same place, the exact itinerary is determined only once the young people join the boat, depending on the weather forecast and what everyone wants to do. These decisions are made as a team, with the skipper explaining safe and sensible options for the week, and the young people having a say in the final plan.
Adult voyages
We have two adult weekend voyages on the 2026 programme.
24-26 April 2026, Southampton, 2 nights, age range 18+, £270 per person, adult weekend voyage (Friday evening to Sunday evening) – provisionally fully-booked, please ask if you want to join the waiting list!
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!
The South Coast Boat Show, run by our major sponsors MDL Marinas, will take place in Ocean Village from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th May 2026 and Prolific will once again be at the heart of the show – this time for all three days. We will need lots of volunteers to show visitors around, hand out leaflets and sell tea, coffee and bacon rolls for charity funds! Email webmaster1@oytsouth.org if you can help with this. In addition to adult volunteers, it’s always good to have a few young people with us at this show who have recently sailed with us and can chat to visitors about it. Last year one teenage recent crew member came to the show, met the senior MDL team and ended up getting a job in the marina!
The 2026 OYT South AGM and Curry Night will be on Saturday 7th November.
Maritime bursaries for young people in Suffolk – deadline 6th February
Have a look here for details of a funding programme for people aged 16-25 in Suffolk, which could help to pay for a voyage on board Prolific!
* Financial appeal
Big thanks this week to the Pointer Family Trust, the Vokins Trust and some other very generous donors who prefer to remain anonymous.
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.
* Laura Watson’s half marathon in memory of Ewan Hind
Regular readers will remember that we have a bursaries fund in memory of Ewan Hind, a wonderful skipper and sailor and great friend to many in OYT South who died just over a year ago at the age of 46. Laura Watson had sailed with Ewan and quite separately is involved in organising voyages with us for young people involved with the Royal Cruising Club. This week Laura ran a half-marathon in aid of Ewan’s bursaries fund and won her age category as well as being the 6th woman overall. Huge thanks to Laura for a wonderful effort – she has already beaten her fundraising target. She’s the one in the pink hat:
Sea staff may remember that one of our first mates, Tom Knight, also ran a half marathon last year for the fund. It’s a testament to Ewan’s impact that so many people are going above and beyond in his memory.
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.
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.