In this Bulletin
Sections which have changed since last time marked *
- * New Vice Patron for OYT South
- * Voyage news
- * Volunteer sea staff bookings – PLEASE help!
- 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 £2,900 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 Patron for OYT South
Having recently announced that Bob Ayling and Jamie Campbell have joined our list of Vice Patrons., we are delighted to announce another new addition: Mark Dowie.
Mark Dowie CBE DL was Chief Executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), retiring in 2024 after five years in the post. Mark has significant corporate leadership experience having been a senior commercial and investment banking professional who was most recently Chief Executive Officer, Corporate & Institutional Bank at Standard Chartered Bank. He has lived and worked in the UK and Asia. Mark is a former Royal Navy Supply Officer, serving between 1982 and 1990 and leaving the service as a Lieutenant.
Mark is currently Vice Chair of the Britannia Association (Royal Naval College alumni), a member of the Council of Management of the White Ensign Association, and a former trustee of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity. He was appointed to the Navy Board in February 2024, and chairs the Navy’s Audit and Risk Committee. He is Chair of the Lifeboat Management Group of Salcombe Lifeboat Station, and a Vice President and Life Governor of the RNLI. Mark is also an actively involved mentor and funder for a group of schools in Nakuru, Kenya.
Mark has owned and managed a successful marine services company in Salcombe and served as a magistrate in South Devon. He and his family live near Kingsbridge in South Devon. He is a keen sailor, volunteer for a range of charities and organisations, and historian.
Mark was appointed Commander in the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2024 and he is a Deputy Lieutenant in the County of Devon.
He says “Sailing has been a lifelong passion for me and, in my youth, I spent every moment of my spare time learning, teaching, cruising and racing all manner of craft with the Island Cruising Club in Salcombe. I remain an active sailor with a small fleet of boats at home in Salcombe.
I have seen first-hand the positive impact time at sea and the learning of new skills can have on young people. It can give them the confidence to push their own boundaries and take on new challenges, and it encourages individuals to work as part of a team and take responsibility for their contributions. The effects can be transformational and life-changing. I am truly inspired by the work done by Ocean Youth Trust South and am delighted to be given the opportunity to serve the charity as a Vice Patron.”
Chief Executive Mark Todd said: “We are delighted to have Mark joining the team – he brings a huge amount of relevant experience and expertise and promises to be a very active Vice Patron and help us continue to make a lasting difference to the lives of young people from all backgrounds. It is an honour and a great pleasure to have him involved.”
We are still actively recruiting more Vice Patrons and particularly seeking more women as well as other ways to reflect the diverse nature of the young people who sail with us. Anyone interested, or wishing to suggest a name, can contact caroline.white@oytsouth.org.
* Voyage news
The last issue covered our heatwave voyage with Harris Merton school, but we hadn’t yet typed up their feedback:
“Had an amazing time, the crew was great … Best bit: when I was on the bowsprit, and had a good chat with [my teacher] … Most lasting memory: going to the beach with my friends because I made good memories with them.”
“Very good time, enjoyed spending time with the crew and friends. I would come again … Best bit: Going to the beach at Totland and having a BBQ.”
“First voyage, it was really fun and I enjoyed new experiences … Most lasting memory: sailing for the first time which was really fun.”
“Very fun exciting. Learned new things.”
“Most lasting memory: going on the bowsprit. Sailing close to the land, seeing the landscape.”
“Most lasting memory: overcoming some personal fears.”
“First time sailing. Great crew, great boat, great everything (except for the heads).”
“One of the best and fun trips of my life.”
And from the two school staff:
“This is my 3rd voyage with Gotch (skipper) and sea staff volunteers. Another phenomenal experience, as always. See you again next year!”
“First voyage, absolutely loved it. Fingers crossed we come again.”
Big thanks to the sea staff Constantinos, Adam Lane, Glyn Collins, Unity Bowns, Rose MacInnes, Matts Kruger and Izzy Reimann.
That was followed by a planned maintenance day – many thanks to Constantinos, Josh, Sara, Keri Hammond, Val Hague, Rick Donoghue, Mike Roser, Tom Knight, Adam Lane, Glyn Collins, Izzy Reimann, Matts Kruger, Rose MacInnes and Andy Viney. They defrosted the fridge and freezer; cleaned the engine bilge and the steering bilge; checked the lifejackets and harness lines; and did lots of chart corrections.
Last week we were joined by eight students from Alfreton Park School along with four teachers: this is a Community Special School working with students with multiple moderate to severe physical and learning difficulties and is one of our most long-running client relationships: we look forward to having them back every year. This voyage write-up comes from watchleader Izzy Reimann – many thanks for that!
After receiving some briefings on Sunday upon arrival, Prolific swiftly left Ocean Village and motored to the coastal town of Cowes.
After breakfast on Monday, the young people were given the opportunity to explore what the high street has to offer. To some of the crew’s dismay, charity shops were closed at this hour, meaning that VHS tape shopping would have to be put on hold for another day.
The boat then set off for Yarmouth, with the crew learning how to hoist a sail in their watches. “TWO, SIX… HEAVE” could probably be heard by the entire Solent, with an impressive leading voice from one of our crew!
Prolific sailed with the mainsail and mizzen up and then moored to a buoy for the crew to enjoy lunch with a stunning view.
The day ended on Yarmouth beach, where the crew (and staff alike) enjoyed a BBQ consisting of burgers, chicken thighs, and best of all – s’mores!
Everybody tried their luck at skimming stones (with little success) and returned to the boat feeling refreshed and full.
On Tuesday, the crew hoisted the mainsail and staysail and enjoyed a beautiful downwind stretch towards Portsmouth. It was lovely to see the young people reap the reward for their efforts, experiencing a true ‘champagne’ sail whilst practising their skills on the winches during gybes.
However, this serenity was soon disrupted by a man overboard recovery drill, which involved one of the sea staff being lowered into the water to recover ‘Bob’ and the young people helping to locate the casualty by pointing towards ‘him’. After a successful recovery, Prolific docked into designer outlet Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth and the young people were able to look at the shops which definitely contrasted with those in Cowes. The evening ended with one of the watch leaders introducing the young people to the ‘banana game’ (involves squishing the banana) and the ‘after-eight game’ (trying to get the chocolate from your forehead to your mouth).
It was the perfect way to wind down after a long day and resulted in hysterics from all those on board!
On Wednesday, the crew sailed back to Cowes, refreshing their skills and memory with another man overboard drill as well as a fire drill. The young people then relished in another beach trip, something which was particularly special to this group considering that Alfreton is a two-hour drive away from the nearest coastline. Prolific was then transformed into a stadium where the England World Cup game was being displayed inside the boat by a projector. A special thank you to Alfreton Park School who generously brought fish and chips for all the crew and staff, going down an absolute treat!
The weather on Thursday was less favourable with the wind blowing at a force four – however this did not prevent the mainsail and mizzen from going up with one reef in each.
The young people were also able to move their bodies on deck dancing to the boat’s very own disco whilst also taking turns lying on the bowsprit – a unique way to experience heading up Southampton Water. That evening, the projector was used again to display a screening of Wonka, allowing the young people to wind down with their peers after having had the voyage debrief and a more thorough ‘happy hour’ (cleaning the boat).
The voyage ended on Friday morning, having recorded 72 nautical miles. Thank you to all the young people, teachers and sea staff who made this voyage happen! You can see their complete voyage track here.
Feedback included:
“Great crew. Had a fun time. Loved sailing to Portsmouth and going on the bowsprit. Best bit: driving the boat.”
“Having a good laugh. Liked looking like a rock star with temporary tattoos, and driving the boat and the gangplank.”
“Best bit: getting the opportunity to be in new places.”
“I enjoyed the sailing, the crew, going to new places like Portsmouth and Cowes. Steering the boat was fun and putting the sails up.”
“I liked watching the waves.”
“Best bit: the really good ice cream, the best ice cream I have ever had.”
And from the accompanying school staff:
“I have the deepest respect for the crew. Taking on the huge responsibility of welcoming our group on board and giving our students the opportunity to have such a remarkable experience is truly something special. Thank you all.”
“Best bit: I would say to see them forming a strong team throughout the week and seeing the companionship growing … Definitely conversation between everyone, not just students but everyone. We all have interesting stories to share.”
“I’ve had an amazing week, best sailing week ever. The students have really grown in confidence.”
“Great voyage. Full of fabulous memories to treasure. Specially enjoyed seeing our pupils engage in conversations and making new friends, seeing confidence grow. Nothing but laughter and smiles. Best bit: conversations with the pupils that I wouldn’t have in a school setting, getting to really know them, like their favourite ice cream.”
“Thank you so much to all of the crew for all your help, making us feel welcome, and patience. You really looked after us. Best bit: seeing all the students’ happy faces and growing in confidence.”
Huge thanks to the sea staff: Andy Viney, Josh, Tom Knight, Keri Hammond, Val Hague, Rick Donoghue and special congratulations to Rose MacInnes who was signed off as a second mate and Izzy Reimann who completed her third mate qualification!
Prolific is currently sailing with the first of our summer voyages for mixed individual bookings rather than an organised group. The crew joined on Saturday and sailed to Trinity Landing in Cowes on the first evening.
On Sunday morning they had some shore leave and then set off, hoisting the sails and leaving the Solent via the north channel.
They had considered heading straight to Alderney but it was windier than they had hoped and the sea state was more of a challenge. So instead they made their way to Studland and had a lovely evening there with a beautiful sunset.
The young people had to do anchor watches overnight but for once this was a really attractive option as they were able to follow England’s World Cup game against Mexico which was being played in the small hours! They managed not to be too distracted and kept a good lookout.
On Monday they headed across the Channel, now in not much wind at all and with patches of fog.
They arrived in Alderney around 7pm and spent all day in Alderney on Tuesday, with lots of time on the beach and exploring the island.
They had a lunchtime beach BBQ, and the evening brought another lovely sunset.
Yesterday morning they spent some time working towards their RYA sailing qualifications, including rowing round the boat and learning about flares:
Then they set off back across the Channel towards Weymouth where they spent last night.
More on the end of this voyage in the next issue, but meanwhile big thanks to sea staff James Boyce, Josh, Sara, Andy Kitching, Linnéa Johansson, Niamh Lamin and Sarah Kenwright.
* Volunteer sea staff bookings – PLEASE help!
Please do get in touch if you can help with any of these!
26-29 Sept, Southampton – qualified watchleader or bosun needed
28 Oct – 1 Nov, Southampton – qualified watchleader
2 Nov – qualified watchleaders for day sail
Please send offers or questions to webmaster1@oytsouth.org.
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 may have spaces, especially if not all provisional bookings are confirmed – 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:
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
Huge thanks this week to all the people who are so kindly donating in memory of our friend and Chair of Trustees, Penny Scott-Bayfield.
Thank you also to the Baxter and Grimshaw Trust, to Michael Hardcastle and to the Hammond Innes fund for very generous donations towards bursaries.
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 £2,900 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 £2,900 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.