In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * Maintenance day TOMORROW – can you help?
- * Voyage news
- * Volunteer sea staff bookings – PLEASE help!
- Funding for sail training staff / volunteer qualifications
- Sea Staff awards – nominations welcome, including a NEW award
- * Individual bookings for summer 2026
- Funding available for young people from West Berkshire
- Advance planning for summer 2027
- 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
* Maintenance day TOMORROW – can you help?
There’s a maintenance day this Saturday 2nd May in Southampton – we really need help with this one as several sea staff booked for voyages either side can’t stay on as they normally would, for a range of very good reasons. Please call the boat on 07990 518915 if you can help.
* Voyage news
Last week’s voyage was with Muntham House school which specialises in working with young people with Autism, ADHD and Trauma as well as other special educational needs. Eight young people sailed alongside three exceptionally skilled and dedicated school staff.
On Monday night, after introductions and safety briefings, they set off for Cowes. One of the young people helmed Prolific out of the marina under supervision and then they each had a turn at steering the boat.
Once in Cowes they did a fire drill and then had dinner and some free time before bed.
On Tuesday strong winds were forecast and they stayed in the shelter of the Solent. They headed for Lee on Solent where they rigged the staysail and the mizzen and then all the young people had a chance to helm under sail, and they did their first tacking and manoeuvres.
Then back to East Cowes in good time for dinner and then some time on deck with the sun setting.
They couldn’t leave until the tide was high enough on Wednesday so they covered some RYA Start Yachting theory sessions including knots, parts of the boat and points of sail. After lunch the tide was high enough so they left in high winds and sailed into the western Solent with just the ORC (the smallest headsail). The sea state was calmer than predicted and there was less wind than expected so they decided to sail down to the Needles and hoist the mizzen as well.
It was a beautiful view at the Needles:
Then they gybed and started sailing towards Lymington before dropping the sails:
Once in harbour, they laid plans for a big sail around the Isle of Wight the following day. A short session of star gazing after dinner and then everyone went to bed.
Next day they woke up at 6am to leave, due to the tide, and hoisted sails on approaching the Needles.
Once they approached St Catherine’s lighthouse, the waves got moderately large and the deck became wet. This only lasted for a couple of hours and some of the crew dealt with seasickness during this period. As they approached Bembridge things flattened off and everyone felt okay again. They entered the Solent in bright sunshine, sailing gently downwind, and the young people had an opportunity to go out on the bowsprit.
Then a deck wash:
They followed an enormous ship up the Itchen River before docking in Ocean Village. They had sailed 118 miles and you can see their voyage track here.
Everyone earned an RYA Start Yachting certificate.
Feedback included:
“I have always wanted to come out on a ship like this since I was young and when the time for the trip I was very excited and I have enjoyed working as a crew and beginning my rope work. Best bit: being thrown around by the waves and hitting my head when I got launched to the sky.”
“This was very good and inspiring. I felt very homesick but pushed on. It was a good experience. Thank you for having me.”
“I was really worried about sailing, but it was so fun and I learnt so much and I would do this again. I loved sailing around the Isle of Wight.”
“This trip was very good up to the point where I was sick everywhere. I will not eat Oreos next time! Thanks for having me!”
“Most lasting memory: falling over trying to sit on the toilet and being launched into the shelves!”
And from the accompanying school staff:
“To see my pupils step out of their comfort zone and have the opportunity to grow and realise things about themselves they never knew … Watching our young people who struggle with new people and unfamiliar people, work with the truly inspirational people you have working for Ocean Youth Trust South.”
“Best bit: watching us all grow together as a team.”
“This has been an excellent trip for our boys’ physical and mental challenge, opening their eyes to an alternative way of life and of course, wild nature. Best bit: watching the physical comedy when the hose leaked massively when we were cleaning the deck, and the delight on [students’] faces was wonderful. I love it when these people have fun! Most memorable bit: being on the high seas and being able to helm was fantastic. I’ve had a wonderful time.”
Big thanks to the sea staff Constantinos, Sara, Lucinda Neall, Si Brammer, Glyn Collins, Katherine Chippett and special congratulations to Pippa Turton who is new to Prolific this season, though an immensely experienced sailor in other ways. and has been signed off as a qualified third mate.
That was followed by an adult training weekend including a lot of people who were interested to find out more about volunteering with us. They had two good days in the Solent learning how to handle Prolific and how we like to run things with young people. It looks as though we have found some lovely new volunteers with a great range of different skills and aptitudes – some skilled sailors, some with strong youthwork backgrounds, some engineers, some newer to sailing but great team players and keen to learn.
They covered 62 miles and you can see their track here. Feedback included:
“I can’t believe how supported and fun and looked after I felt, from being really apprehensive on Friday. The best bit has been having so many amazing conversations in the sunshine. It has been life affirming and just glorious.”
“I came on board fairly sure that I wouldn’t be able to sail – let alone teach young people to sail. I have come away thinking I might have been wrong – maybe I can do this … maybe …:). Most lasting memory: standing on the helm and … feeling the wind on this side of my face and the sails doing that and it suddenly: ‘Oh OK’, finally I get all the diagrams. That for me is incredibly memorable and I love it.”
“Fantastic experience. Seriously impressed with the professionalism of the team – who manage to be great fun. So much to learn – hoping to get much more involved … I realised that I have a LOT more to learn about sailing than I thought! But I realise it’s OK – the willingness of the team to support is a real comfort.”
“What an amazing weekend! So grateful to have been a part of it and met so many amazing people. The Sea Staff were just so incredible and created an environment when it was impossible to be anything but joyful.”
“Most lasting memory: seeing how the organisation has changed since I sailed with the OYC in the 80’s and the 90’s. It was more authoritarian then and it is now really a lot more supportive, friendly – and the leadership that you guys give is excellent. I had a great weekend. I’m looking forward to coming back, if you’ll have me.”
“Best bit: I’ll probably cry as it’s just been amazing. I’ve wanted to go on a tall ship pretty much all my life so this weekend has totally done my head in, in a brilliant way. You’re all amazing, the project and such a fantastic boat. it just been an absolute pleasure to be here and every single person here is amazing. Been a joy to work with you all and talk with you and get to know you.”
“Hope to come back & sail with everyone again. I learnt so many skills and finally feel confident to be at sea (in a boat with a lot of highly trained staff).”
“Best bit: sailing on such a cool boat with such cool people has been really good fun and learning more about the mission that all of you are here for, which has been really inspiring and great to hear.”
“Best bit: being surrounded by people who are all on the same wavelength with ambitions to do good things in the future.”
“The sea staff are fantastic! I cannot remember meeting such an enthusiastic, energetic and knowledgeable group of people. Thank you for a truly amazing couple of days.”
Big thanks to sea staff Gotch, Sara, Glyn Collins, Keri Hammond, Si Brammer, Mark Dent and Millie Hughes who all evidently deserved the praise in the feedback!
On Monday we were joined by students from Dartmouth Academy – facing a challenging weather forecast. After introductions and safety briefings, they headed down to Cowes with winch practice under way, and a chance for people to try steering:
Next day it was Force 6, gusting 7, and they headed out under reefed main, reefed mizzen and ORC, and did some sail training in the eastern Solent before venturing further to look at the forts:
They headed back for a night in Gosport:
It was windy again on Wednesday but luckily there was a convenient aircraft carrier nearby so that Prolific could hoist sails in the lee!
Two reefs in the mizzen, three in the main, and the ORC and out for a good sail training session. But the wind was building even further so they went into East Cowes fairly early and had some shore leave.
Staff mate Sara drove off the berth yesterday, and watchleader Willoughby was doing some great work getting the young people making all the radio calls. They headed west in 33 knot winds, some good downwind sailing and some tacks and gybes.
They picked up Johnny Caulcutt’s buoy outside Yarmouth and did some passage planning ready for going back to Southampton.
Then dinner and time to watch the sunset from the deck before they set off:
It was an eventful passage, with ships around the Bramble Bank and then what looked like an exercise with the ferry and several helicopters. At one point the ferry was going up Southampton Water with a helicopter following very close behind it and another very close in front, apparently flying backwards. It was an impressive sight which was quite distracting for the young people who were navigating, but they got Prolific back safely!
The crew left today with everyone having earned an RYA Start Yachting certificate. They had sailed 102 miles and you can see the voyage track here.
Big thanks to sea staff Andy Viney, Sara, Glyn Collins, Cathy Ayres, Willoughby Matthews, Linnéa Johansson and Penny Scott-Bayfield.
Feedback included:
“Thank you so much. I have gained so much confidence. Thank you, I loved it.”
“The trip was very memorable and definitely worth my time.”
“Loved it so much!! the waves rocking the ship was my favourite. I wouldn’t mind working on a boat when I’m older.”
“I had so much fun. The crew is amazing and kind and fun and I learnt so many new skills!!!”
“This trip was so fun and I will always remember it.”
“This trip was so, so fun!! I definitely got closer to loads of people and enjoyed it so much!!”
“Really fun learning experience!!!”
“I loved my trip, my favourite part was going into Portsmouth and seeing all the warships.”
“Amazing experience being able to do new skills and have fun on the ship.”
“It was fun and amazing views.”
* 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!
17 May, Southampton – one more volunteer for day sail
28 June – 3 July, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun (ideally including maintenance day 27 June)
11-18 July, Poole to Brixham – qualified watchleader needed
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton – qualified watchleader
26-29 Sept, Southampton – qualified watchleader needed
5-9 Oct, Southampton – qualified watchleader
9-11 Oct, Southampton – one more experienced member of sea staff needed for mates’ training and selection weekend
13-18 Oct, Southampton – qualified or trainee watchleader or bosun
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
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, and we hope to have some good new trainee watchleaders to add to the team after the imminent mates’ weekend!
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, including a NEW award
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. Today would have been Brian’s 81st birthday so it is a fitting moment to announce that we are now open for nominations!
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.
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 case 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:
* 4-10 July, Southampton to Poole, 6 nights, age 15-25, £760 per person – possibly fully booked though 2 places not confirmed – please ask if you want to join the reserve list in case anyone drops out!
* 19-24 July, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £645 per person – filling fast!
* 31 July – 5 August, Brixham to Brixham, 5 nights, age 11-25, £645 per person –fully booked – please ask if you want to join the reserve list in case anyone drops out!
§ 12-16 August, Brixham to Brixham, 4 nights, age 11-16, £540 per person – AVAILABLE!
* 24-30 August, Brixham to Poole, 6 nights, age 11-25, £760 per person – fully booked – please ask if you want to join the reserve list in case anyone drops out!
31 Aug – 4 Sept, Poole to Southampton, 4 nights, age 11-25, £540 per person – AVAILABLE!
§ 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.
Funding available for young people from West Berkshire
Do you know someone aged 11-16 living in West Berkshire who is having a hard time and may not get a holiday this summer? Thanks to a generous donor, we can offer one or two funded places on an exciting sailing voyage 12-16 August, starting and finishing in Brixham. Imagine dolphins, sunsets, beach BBQs (weather permitting!), making friends, sailing under the stars, taking the helm of a big sailing vessel, and earning a sailing qualification! Please spread the word. There is a nomination form here. Big thanks to the local paper in Newbury for publicising the scheme!
Advance planning for summer 2027
As usual, we plan to publish next year’s sailing programme in June this year. But we have a big decision to make first: shall we include the Tall Ships race from Bordeaux to A Coruna in July 2027 on the programme?
This will be a hugely exciting opportunity for everyone who takes part, but it’s a big decision. In order to make it work without a huge cost to the charity, we need to sell not only 15 places on the race, but also 15 places on voyages to take Prolific down to Bordeaux and bring her back from A Coruna. (The age range for Tall Ships events is 15-25).
We are therefore aiming to secure a committed group booking for at least one leg by the end of May this year, before we publish the programme.
Because the France/Spain voyages are longer than our usual voyages, they are more expensive, and there is travel to and from the boat to add to the voyage costs. So we are keen to not only to see whether any clients might be interested in a group booking, but also to give you extra time to plan and raise money if needed.
There is a lot more information here including dates and prices. Please do have a look, spread the word, and if any group (school, youth group, charity or other organisation) might be interested, please contact us and we can have an initial discussion before we make any firm decisions.
These overseas voyages would only take place for a few weeks in July 2027, so if your group still needs a local UK voyage or a shorter trip, or you prefer to bring younger participants, rest assured that we will still be running our normal programme for the rest of the season, with the usual term-time voyages plus local UK voyages in August as well as Easter and half-terms, and you will have lots of opportunities when we publish our 2027 programme in June.
If we don’t get enough early interest in the France / Spain adventure, it is likely that we will write a programme which has Prolific leaving the Solent in early July and heading west to work out of Brixham for the rest of the summer, as we have generally done in recent years.
But if your group might be interested in a bigger adventure next year, even if you just want to ask questions and consider options without any commitment on either side, do please get in touch now! We can also start a mailing list for young people who might be interested in individual bookings on this France-Spain programme, but do bear in mind we don’t currently know which leg(s) will be open to individuals – if we don’t get at least one full group booking we can’t do it at all.
Volunteer sea staff: places on any Tall Ships voyages are likely to be highly competitive, but if we sell a group booking for France or Spain thanks to your efforts and contacts, it can’t harm your own chances of taking part, so please spread the word among schools, youth groups, student groups etc. (But please note that we will organise all the sea staff bookings over next winter in the usual way – we’ve had a couple of requests already from sea staff wanting to sail; but at this stage we are purely focussed on establishing whether we can get the bookings to make this plan work).
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 – including maintenance day NEXT MONDAY
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!
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 2nd May – Southampton – we really need help with this one as several sea staff booked for voyages either side can’t stay on as they normally would, for a range of very good reasons.
Monday 1st June – Southampton
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 Andy and Nick Viney who built us a whole new tracking system when the one we used to use was discontinued!
* Financial appeal
Big thanks this week for a number of small grants and contributions from people who prefer to be 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.
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.