OK, so I know that’s a terrible pun and I promise I won’t use it again… honest… And I also know we haven’t had our 2022 summer camp yet, but I am already thinking ahead to 2023!

I wondered how the Explorers might feel about the chance of joining up with the Tall Ships Trust (www.tallships.org) for a 5-day voyage on one of their fleet of 72ft Challenger Yachts. The voyage would begin and end in Portsmouth and would give Explorers the opportunity to participate in all aspects of living and sailing aboard an ocean-going vessel. We would start by sailing along the Solent and then along the stunning Jurassic South Coast with likely stopovers including Cowes, Poole and Weymouth.

All these dates could potentially change by a day or two either side, but the rough itinerary would be:

• Monday 31st July 2023 – travel down to Portsmouth. Camp at a local site for a couple of days before joining the voyage.
• Wednesday 2nd August – voyage begins.
• Sunday 6th August – voyage ends. Back to campsite for a couple of days back on dry land.
• Tuesday 8th August – return journey home from Portsmouth.

The yacht itself would be run by a team of experienced, skilled and knowledgeable seafarers provided by the Tall Ships Trust – a Skipper, Mate and 2 Watch Leaders. Each yacht would be crewed by up to 10 Explorers, and some Leaders from Shipton would of course also attend to make sure everyone is OK. If more than 10 Explorers want to go then that’s not a problem – we can just book two yachts!

Explorers do not need to have any prior knowledge of sailing in order to sign up for this trip, but they will all come home with a nationally recognised RYA qualification, amazing team-work skills, and most importantly having taken part in a unique experience that they’ll remember for many years to come.

The trip would be open to anyone who will be under the age of 18 on the last day of the trip. I know some Explorers are most likely unavailable due to taking part in either the Explorer Belt or WSJ 2023 so if that’s the case please indicate as such on the form below.

The total cost per participant would depend on the final numbers and plans, but I estimate it would be somewhere in the region of £550 per Explorer.

If we were to go ahead, we would need to ask for a deposit of £150 per person to secure places, and we would then look to provide opportunities for participants to fundraise as much of the remaining balance as possible during the next few months.

Just to add – none of this is definite yet, and so I am not looking for people to sign up fully or start paying anything… at this stage I just want to get an idea of who might be interested, so that I can work out if it’s viable to explore it further, and if so how many yachts we might need to book. Completing the form below does not bind or commit you to anything.

Could you please complete the form below to indicate your level of interest in this activity by the end of the day on Sunday 24th July 2022.

Cheers,

Dan