Page 105 - Wish Stream 2023 CREST

an explanation from the skipper and some time on the water, Mr Mayo became comfortable with the situation.
Our first day was a long one; we were keen to get as much sailing as possible to hone our skills to enable us to be competent for the majority of the expedition. After a long afternoon of tacking and jibing round the Solent, we eventually made it to Lymington late at night, where, after a lengthy hunt for the showers, we settled in for
our way back to the boat, and sat under the stars in the quite cove, discussing the remainder of the expedition.
Day 4
The weather forecast and tide times necessitated an early start on Day 4. There was a lack of wind which meant it was incredibly important for us to catch the tide that would take us back towards Cowes. Sailing in limited wind is difficult, and you
our first night in the rather cramped boat. The late night gave us the added advantage of completing night sailing hours necessary for our Comp Crew Qualification.
Day 2
Day 2 of our expedition started with
beautiful weather and calm seas,
perfect conditions for practising the
sailing skills we had learnt the pre-
vious day. Our plan was to sail from Lymington to Poole, where we would spend the night.
Wanting to ensure that we were all proficient in every area of sailing, we regularly swapped roles and practised steerage, putting the sails up and down, and tacking and jibing to take advantage of the wind. We had already made significant progress learning how to sail, from the complete novices we were the previous day to skipper Jase trusting us to sail on our own on Day 3.
After another long sail across the south coast of England, we made it into Poole in good time and enjoyed an evening sampling the various attrac- tions that Poole had to offer.
Day 3
The third day of our expedition was to be a beau- tiful one as we would be passing some amazing coastline and views. Our route to Lulworth Cove took us past The Needles on the Isle of Wight, Old Harry’s Rock where we dropped anchor and had a swim, and Durdle Door where we sailed close to the coastline to make the most of the views.
We dropped anchor in Lulworth Cove to stay the night, pausing to inflate the boat’s tender, and get some practice ferrying each other to the beach – another milestone achieved for our Comp Crew Qualification. After spending some time on the beach and in the sea, we participated in the clas- sic English meal of fish and chips on the beach, enjoying the evening thoroughly. We then made
not going in exactly the right direction, which can be frustrating
often find yourself not going in exactly the right direction, which can be frus- trating. But again, it was all something we had to learn to adapt to.
During the day we dropped anchor off the coast of the Isle of Wight and enjoyed lunch using the money gener- ously provided by the Sandhurst Trust.
Despite the lack of wind, and often
finding ourselves losing ground after a tack, we made it into Cowes in good time and again were able to go into town and see what Cowes had to offer.
Day 5
We began the day by cleaning the boat as much as possible to ease the handover process when we got back to JSATSC. Once underway heading back across the Solent, we encountered choppier waters than we had so far, which again was a great experience to learn from. Skipper Jase continued to discuss ALeRT principles with us, and we had some great debates on how they could be applied to our expedition, and other real world scenarios.
As we came into Gosport, our five days of experi- ence made the refueling and docking process a lot simpler than it had been on the way out, and we finished off cleaning the boat for the handover.
After finding out we had all successfully completed our Competent Crew Qualification, we left JSATSC with great memories and skills that we will take for- ward into our military careers. We had sailed 194 miles in 5 days; we were very glad to have pushed ourselves to do more as it would have been easy to stay close to Gosport and do shorter legs. The trip has left us all keen to do more sailing, as well as sample other AT on offer from the Army. It has also highlighted how important AT will be for our platoons/troops and how it can build teams and confidence as well as provide experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you to GRS for sponsoring us.
Sailing in limited wind is difficult, and you often find yourself
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