Less wind might mean slightly less sailing – but it doesn’t mean less fun!
Day 3
Where the New Forest meets the Solent, Beaulieu River snakes its way through an area of ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’. It’s a lovely place to spend the night, and a brilliant place to get out our kayaks and stand-up paddle-boards, and enjoy a paddle.
The weather had cleared up over night, so we took the opportunity on Wednesday morning to launch the inflatable fleet and enjoy the sunshine on the river for a bit, before heading back out into the Solent. Some turned out to be as keen paddlers as they are sailors, making decent speed and buzzing around the beach, while others took a slightly less efficient and more social approach to stand-up paddle-boarding, by ditching the paddles… and the standing up! 😁
Having swapped out the wind for sunshine, sailing from Beaulieu to Yarmouth turned out to require some help from the “Iron Topsail”. Nonetheless, there was no time for boredom on the way! One of the yachts had been taken over by pirates, ready to launch a sneaky attack – unknowing, that the other vessel had smelled a rat, and were awaiting them with just as cunning a counter-attack!
After an exciting day of paddling, sailing and fighting pirates, we finally made it to our next safe haven – Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Marine Biology guru Lizzy took the crews out on another pursuit of more marine science adventures. Highlight of the afternoon was dissecting a crab and learning all about crustacean anatomy!
And what is the only appropriate way to end and eventful day like this? Exactly, with a beach BBQ!
Day 4
On Thursday morning it was time for one of the most popular Quaystage traditions – exploring Yarmouth on the Yarmouth selfie challenge! We can’t disclose too many details of this secret mission, but we would like to send out a big thank you to the lovely people in Yarmouth, who are great sport when they get ‘voluntold’ to join in as knives, forks, spoons and spatulas every year!
The afternoon saw us slowly making our way back towards Portsmouth, but not without stopping in Newtown Creek first for an afternoon swim break. We dropped anchor just as the sun broke through the clouds, and enjoyed a few hours of splashing around in the water and swinging off the deck on our rope swing.
We spent the night in Gunwharf Quays, where we took both crews out for a friendly Bowling Match. It is unclear who won the match, however, as both crews claim to be the winning team, and all records and evidence have conveniently been ‘lost’.
Day 5
It was an early start the next morning – and after a last night on board spent chatting with newly-found friends, that made for two very tired Sail Camp crews returning home to Port Solent! Nonetheless, everybody worked together one last time to pack up and clean down the boats, and leave them behind ship-shape.
Thank you for a lovely week – we hope to see you all again next year! 😊
Would you like to learn more about our sailing summer camps in the UK? Read all about our Pioneer Sail Camps here!
Ready to go on an adventure sailing holiday yourself? Check our current availability for this summer’s sailing summer camps here and here!
