Challenger 72' Yacht!

Challenger 72' - OYT Scotland - What a Week!

Well, after what was an all to short week, my opinion on Wafi's has changed. It was quite simple one of the best weeks that i can remember. Not only did i gain some technical knowledge on ropes and wind, charts and met., i gained life skills, new friends and i learnt a lot about me.

We were sheduled to board the yacht at 1400 on the Monday afternoon, and we thought we would set sail soon after but unfortunetly the weather just wouldn't permit. We spent the night in Greenock and the next morning, we were off.

Tuesday wasn't the best say for some of the crew, 8 out of 12 of us being sick only hours into the journey (thankfully not me!). The water was rough, with some serious waves and winds, but in good spirits as everyone was we knuckled on. There was no set destination initially, we were just heading down the Firth of Clyde but it soon became apparent that a great distance was out of the question as winds picked up and night came in. We headed down the East coast of Arran and sailed into Campbeltown where we spent the night at anchor. It was a long night but truly awesome.

Wednesday was a relatively calm day, very easy sailing as we headed for East Loch Tarbert in Loch Fyne, a little North of our position. Not much to say about that day, except that me and Tim were cooking and everyone has lived to tell the tail!

The Race To Loch Ryan

On the Thursday morning the other Challenger 72' yacht that was travelling with us left about 30 minues early, so after catching up to her the skippers decided to make it a race down the 12 hour sail to Loch Ryan, first yacht west of the Buoy, won. It had a few tense moments where both yachs were neck and neck but we eventually took a commanding lead to arrive 30 - 40 minutes ahead of the Alba Explorer.

Loch Ryan was also pretty amazing, it is a very busy ferry terminal and it was nice to see some of the vessels that a few cadets on this course will be working on.

As we led up to the end of the week things were all pretty calm, until the Saturday. Forecast was Force 7/8 Gusting at 9 - yeah she was at 9 all right. It was tremendous. The weather was fantastic, waves - massive waves - crashing down on the deck, we were soaked, 15 knots at one point and we were tacking and gibing all the way down and up - AMAZING.

Onboard Lifestyle

Onboard all the crew took a turn at cooking Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Also every morning we had a 'happy hour' where one watch cleaned the decks and the other wach cleaned below the deck. It was an essential daily clean to maintain hygeine on board.

The beds were like cots or hammocks with sides. They were relatively comfortable and after a day on deck you were ready for a sleep. The Galley was small but well designed and he seating area was awesome, a large table that most of the crew could sit around for meals.

The Challenger 72'

The actual yachts we were on were 72 foot world class yachts. They are in a class of there own and have navigated the World twice. They are designed to sail at a list to increase speed.

OYT Scotland

Ocean Youth Trust Scotland are a Volunteer orginisation who take 12-24 year olds out on these yachts. The orginisations work does wonders for young people, from boosting there confidence to getting them out and about, interacting with others, learning new skills and most importantly having fun! For more information on OYT Scotland visit there web site: http://www.oytscotland.org.uk/