'A Life on the Ocean Wave......'

Date: Friday 22 May 2009

For the last decade, the last week of the first half of the Summer Term has been given over to the sail training exercise, for the whole of the Middle Fifth Year Group, entitled either CCF Afloat or Middle Fifth Afloat.

Last Tuesday lunchtime, therefore, five members of staff, plus the huge majority of the M5, encoached for the Universal Dockyard on the River Hamble, adjacent to Southampton. The most difficult part of the week was finding this base, and after a couple of abortive circuits of Hamble Village, contact was made and arrival secured. The staff team included two complete novices in the shape of Messrs Knight and Hodge, and three experienced helmsmen and woman - Guy Hawkins (i/c), Hartley Alleyne, and Marketing Director, Bridget McBean.

Five vessels had been allocated to us, and they became our homes for the four days away. Nick Hodge and his crew enjoyed the brand new comforts of 'Merrilyn', Bridget with the all girl crew of 10 on 'Helen Mary R', Guy and his crew were on the more elderly 'Donald Searle', and DEK and his eight were on the intimate, but very well equipped 'Discovery'. Each of the vessels was captained by an expert skipper and mate; 'Discovery' had Captain Dave, and mate Debbie.

Those of us on 'Discovery' soon learned the vital terminology, like the loos were known as 'heads', and pumping in and then pumping out was the best way to an odour-free vessel, and if you wanted to make a cup of tea the place to be was the galley. We all shared cabins, had a bunk to ourselves, could seat all eleven of us in the saloon for our meals, and all had a go at steering the boat from the cockpit. Mainsail and foresail had to be raised and lowered, winching was the key to tacking, and sailing directly downwind got you nowhere fast!

The idea of the week was to develop both teamwork, and year group bonding. And it worked: the competitiveness between crews was healthy as each boat vied for the winning position overall - based on all sorts of factors ranging from tying knots to cleaning the heads! A whoop of delight was Ms McBean's reaction to learning that her boat, the 'Helen Mary R' had won first place; the crew of 'Merrilyn' expected to, and did win the Quiz Night, where knots, rope throwing, and nautical terminolgy were tested! 'Discovery' were happy to come an honourable second in both competitions.

All in all a great week: there was enough wind to make sailing fun without extra danger; the sun shone, and suntans were enhanced without even trying; meals were cooked, proficiently and enjoyably, and there were few, if any raised voices. And believe you me, our skippers and mates were not prepared to tolerate slackers! A lot of people learned a lot of new skills, and learned, with 11 people in a 45' cruiser, the art of communal living - for four days!