Page 120 - AGC Journal 2018

AGC JOURNAL 2018

Solent Adventure when coming into a marina. And, that is before one takes
into the account the sleeping arrangements which make
a poncho feel spacious (although admittedly the boat has
mattresses). Everything from putting on waterproof clothing,
By Second Lieutenant Teddy Chabo changing direction, and especially cooking, turns into a
rather elaborate, cramped ‘to-me-to-you’ which engenders
On the evening of Sunday 10 September 2018, twenty four members of the a team spirit faster than you would believe. This team spirit
was never more in evidence than when we may or may not
Corps gathered in the relatively spooky complex that is the Royal Navy’s have connected with the ground earlier than planned outside
Fort Blockhouse. Poole Marina.
Final Evening

On our final evening we sat down to a brilliant meal, and

competing tales of nautical proficiency were thrown back

and forth between crews. Words which would be put to a
test the following morning, with our closing race. Naturally,
everyone was on the soft drinks as we celebrated our final

night together, in order to retain that competitive edge for the
morning.
The Race
We woke early, meticulously checked every spinnaker,
halyard and kicker (in the dictionary), before starting off

under power for the start line. Unfortunately, on the fog horn,
which acted as the starting gun, instead of bursting off under

full sail we noticed them flapping in both directions whilst

elderly fish overtook us on either side. Neither wind nor time

were on our side. Despite some manic jostling and ambitious
tactical manoeuvring to catch some small burst and gain an
edge over the other crews our race lacked for suspense.
Luckily as with everything in the week so far, it more than
made up for this with good humour; the Pirates of the
England Caribbean soundtrack blaring out somewhat incongruously

from a as we floated backwards with the current. Even waiting for
diff erent hours to access the pier petrol station (like a normal one, but
angle with water rather than tarmac between stations) couldn’t
dampen the mood, and it was with a sense of reluctance
Collaborative

Sail Training around her, but we arrived safely in Cowes for our first working to that we said goodbye to our floating home (after a thorough

night of rest, having established that the on board sound disentangle clean) and returned in our various directions to landlubber

Now mostly derelict, Fort Blockhouse has for centuries system did work, and that none of us suffered from sea the rigging life.
guarded the entrance to Southampton harbour. That night sickness.
it provided us with our last night of real bed sleep before
setting off the following morning for four nights in our Cowes World

cabins on Solent Adventure, the Corp’s annual sail training
exercise. We were introduced to the joys of Yacht Club ablutions;
standing outside with wash kit hoping someone who
Four Crews actually knew the door code would arrive to let us in,
rather than having to slink back to the boat admitting we

We gathered bright and early the next morning at had forgotten, and Cowes’ world famous fish and chips.
HMS Hornet (which is actually a building) to meet our
crewmates for the week ahead, have some breakfast Cruising
and grab that all important stash. Under the auspices of

experienced sailors and the invaluable experts from the Across the following three days we cruised, flapped and
Joint Services Adventure Training Centre we were broken learned our way up and down the channel. Glorious
into our four crews for the week before going through weather lent some of the longer runs a truly blissful feel.
to a classroom based run through of the essential safety Passing the majestic forts which guard the channel, the
equipment. The equipment which would keep us alive famous Needles and the beautiful houses sat on the Isle
should either we, or most of the boat, end up in the water. of White’s coastline, all viewed from the leaning deck of a
32 foot boat. With a little help from the wind, were driving
Gaining Our Sea Legs with purpose across the water.
After our very reassuring introduction to the kit we set out Teamwork
for an afternoon of familiarisation with the vessels, in our
case the mighty Pochard. This was an old school, wooden Sailing seems just about the perfect activity for developing
decked yacht which, after a rather tense exit via the busiest teamwork. There is almost nothing an individual can Restorative
freight shipping channel in the country, we put through accomplish on the boat without at least a few others Fish and
her paces in the Solent. It may be more accurate to say pulling on something, winching something or else simply Chips in
that she put us through our paces, as we learnt our way looking out and making up for the lack of a parking sensor Yarmouth

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