Page 99 - Wish Stream 2023 CREST

Ex JOLLY RODGER was a five-day sailing expe- dition around the Solent area in the south of England. The crew had minimal experience
with the majority having never sailed before, so we were in for an interesting week ahead (even more so once we’d worked out our sailing instructor didn’t seem to like sailing!).
Day one we arrived at Gosport, met our instructor, and took control of our yacht for the week (Lam- bis). The morning consisted of initial shake downs, checking the boat was in order and getting our food loaded for the week. That afternoon we left Gosport and set sail for Cowes Marina. The start was choppy, motoring threw the current quickly turned into an uncomfortable journey of bobbing up and down and being thrown around by the current, but we soldiered on. Once we were out in open water, our instructor quickly whipped us into shape; we got the sails up and started hitting what we thought were some good speeds, until we looked across to see the other expeditions flying past us.
We spent the evening in Cowes Marina, where head chef, OCdt Coombes, treated the crew to some home-made Beef Burritos; the crew devoured them, and we finished the evening sam- pling the delights of Cowes with a quick trip to the pub.
OCdt Giles
Day two was all things competent crew; we started with some lessons on board learning about navi- gation and high/low tides before practising some mooring buoys and man overboard drills. The morning’s hard work deserved a little relax so we anchored in Osborne Bay for lunch and a swim in the sun. We sailed to Yarmouth to moor for the night and stumbled upon a local karaoke night, which had some interesting characters take the mic.
On day three the wind eluded us, so we motored across the Solent. We headed to Beaulieu River which was a beautiful spot for lunch and did some fishing before heading to Lymington for the night.
Day four saw the start of our return journey. We spent a good amount of time on the water sailing all the way back to Cowes with each crew member taking a turn at the helm and leading the boat. We spent the last evening together telling stories and reminiscing about the week we’d had before sail- ing back to Cowes the next morning.
All in all, a great trip with some great memories. What started as a motley bunch somehow ended with five competent crew qualified sailors. Thank you to the Sandhurst Trust and GRS for their sponsorship.
Exercise JOLLY RODGER
SANDHURST 97