Boys Brigade English Channel sailing
“The Boys’ Brigade through its established programme, encourages boys
to experience new activities whilst continually challenging
themselves."
Steve England, Captain 2nd Boys Brigade Guernsey
The Set Sail Trust had secured the services of two Bristol Pilot Cutters - "Morwenna" and "Amelie Rose"- and the Trustees had invited local groups of young people (at no charge) for sailing trips where they would have the opportunity to gain hands on sailing experience and learn about the history of the vessels. The BB were successful in their application and secured places for 7 teens to make the trip 100 miles from Guernsey to Poole overa 15 hour crossing.
Malcolm Cleal, BB Officer in Charge of our group reported:-
"The
day started out at 4am in the dark and drizzle. We made all haste to
catch the tides off Alderney and ran straight into dense fog in the
shipping lanes, which caused all manner of problems and was quite a
concerning and tense time on board. After the sun came out we could all
look back and see just how many large vessels we avoided. The wind then
picked up to force 5.
The rest of the time on my boat was spent
under full sail, which is quite impressive going along with the deck at a
30deg. lean and water coming over the side. At one stage when one of
the boys was on the tiller, he managed to get the boat so far over that
the boom went in the water! Impressive on such a big boat.
Because
of the avoiding tactics used in the shipping lanes, my boat ended up
about 10 miles off course and after spotting Portland Bill it's very
disconcerning to realise you still have another 6 hours just to get to
the Sandbanks.
We finally caught up with the other boat at 10pm
and all spent the night on it. It's amazing how many can sleep on a boat
that size. You couldn't turn around without finding somebody asleep on
what was, during the trip, a seat or in a cupboard.
We had the
morning in Poole, where the lads were given a bit of free time and had a
very pleasant trip back on the ferry in the afternoon."
