St Pauls Gold Duke of Edinburgh

Today was our D of E Gold group’s first day aboard the Tenacity of Bolton, so you can expect daily thrilling blog posts from five seasick and exhausted teenagers. We started off in Torquay, a day’s sailing West of our planned starting location Plymouth, at 7.15am. Most of us were late on deck and got an “oddly pleasant” telling off from (skipper) Ian.

After we had set off, our group (Kamil, Simon, Dylan, Alex and Jamie) began our scientific investigation into seasickness. When we were served egg/bacon sandwiches at 9am, nobody was feeling ill at all; however by 11am, designated scientist Jamie’s job was made somewhat easier – Simon, Dylan and Kamil were all curled up in pain with Kamil eventually succumbing. Meanwhile the boat weaved through lobster pots and buoys under the steering of the crew, most of whom had a go at the wheel.

7 choppy hours later we pulled into Plymouth marina, thoroughly relieved to have survived day 1 of 7. Thanks to the seasickness, the rejected lunches were turned into starters for dinner by master chef (first mate) Ian. Overall it was a relatively pleasant day for those who did not spend all day curled up on deck trying not to throw up (such as yours truly). Here’s to hoping tomorrow will bring more wind that we won’t have to sail directly into.