Yonder! A plethora of porpoises!

After yesterday when everyone had been feeling a bit rough, we were worried that today would be as rough. However it was thankfully much calmer! We awoke in Lamlash Harbour to delicious grilled crumpets, cooked by Nadia and Maddie. After going to bed late last night we had to do our planning this morning. We decided on a much more manageable route than on the previous days of aiming for Millport.


We soon began sailing, and found the sea fairly calm! After being put entirely in control of the boat, we decided there was only one thing to do: eat. So with brownies in the oven ready for elevenses, we started with a round of tuna sandwiches, as well as wotsits and quavers. Elisha and Lizzy then made nachos with grilled cheese which were very well received! Then we began feasting on the plethora of chocolates, crisps and biscuits that had been purchased on our expedition shop.

However after such a promising start with some great steering from Hannah and Nadia, the sea became so calm that our speed dropped to below 2 knots. We spent what seemed like forever wondering what we could do to get going again, while making a few mistaken 3600 turns. After Matt gave us some guidance on how to adjust the curvature of the sails with the outhaul we finally caught some wind and made a bit of progress. We also had to spend a lot of the time looking for out for commercial and other traffic being in a relatively busy shipping are, ensuring to prevent any possible chance of collision.

By now we could see our destination for the night, Millport, but we were practically becalmed. At this point Colin made a deal with us- if we could put all 4 sails away properly in under 5 minutes we could use some of the engine time, which we need to charge the boat’s battery, to power us into Millport. We tried our best to win this challenge, under clear instruction from Nadia, and we almost managed, getting all the sails away except the staysail which got a bit stuck and untidy. Thankfully Colin said this was good enough and we were able to drive into the harbour, with Abbie steering! On our way in we sighted a plethora of porpoises which was extremely exciting as they swam past so close to us.

We anchored up in Millport, and were by then very ready for the fish and chips that had been cooked by Lucy and Millie, which did not disappoint. The speakers had been fixed by Colin, so we plugged in our iPods and had a good sing-a-long (while of course eating more sweets...)! Now we’re all about to have some flapjack and play ‘Articulate’ after another fun but exhausting day, which was the last one of our assessed expedition. Goodnight!

By Lizzy and Elisha

Read more about Sail Training on board Tenacity of Bolton at http://www.tenacityofbolton.org/