Offshore Sailing, 'Solent Dragon Venturer', Channel, Apr 2011, ID 1106

Selly Oak Trust School CCF

From 9^th- 16^th April 2011, 9 students accompanied by 3 staff members from Selly Oak Trust School, Birmingham, a secondary school for students with moderate learning difficulties, took part in a sailing expedition along the south coast of the UK. The Cadets, all members of the Combined Cadet Force (Royal Navy) at Selly Oak Trust School (part of the Lordswood Boys School CCF Contingent), all became active crew members on a 72ft Challenger racing yacht. Tracey Wiltshire, visit leader during the voyage described the trip as a great success :

“Our pupils never cease to amaze me. Although they are faced with the challenges of coping with their learning disabilities everyday, when given the opportunity to take part in an activity such as offshore sailing, they embrace the experience, giving it their all.

There are many misconceptions about the capabilities of young people with learning disabilities and what they can achieve. Our principle is we work with our students like we would any young person. Despite their disabilities, they are still perfectly capable of following instructions and making decisions. Sailing is a great way to give them a level of independence and responsibility while enjoying some amazing experiences. Being from a large inner- city such as Birmingham, many of our students have never before had the opportunity to venture out to coastal areas”.

The cadets kept a diary of the weeks’ events, all of them taking part in adding input on a daily basis. The week went something like this….

‘On Saturday 9th April everyone met at Selly Oak School, We began our journey to Portsmouth, and were there in just over 3 hours. On arrival, we had to make our way to the Marina where we met our crew. They made us feel very welcome, and we soon began bonding as a team.

We were shown around the boat, got split into 2 teams, Port and Starboard and from then on, all tasks and activities would be done in our respective teams.

We then went on a trip around Portsmouth Harbour. We saw several very large Royal Navy Vessels, At this time we also came up with a name for our boat, “The Great White”. We then returned to the marina where we were all issued with wet weather gear and life jackets. We were told about the real importance of always wearing them! After dinner, we made use of the shower facilities, discussed what we would do the next day, and then turned in for the night ready for an early start!

On Sunday we got up at 7am and discussed our days sailing. We sailed from the Marina at 10am and quickly started learning about how to sail the boat, what the sails were called, what the ropes and other equipment were called and used for. Launching the sails was hard work, but great fun. We all became aware about how important team work was!!

During the trip to Cowes, we started learning about the Buoys and other markers used in ship navigation. There was lots of stuff to learn about, but we all enjoyed it! Once we arrived in Cowes we tidied the boat and put all sailing equipment away (lots of teamwork again) and we had a very early night as we were going to be up at 4:30am the next day!

Monday 11th, 4:30am start! Lots of tired eyes, but everyone enjoyed the experience. We got the boat ready with all sailing equipment needed then left Cowes (heading to Portland) and we enjoyed a wonderful sunrise as we passed The Needles. The sea this day was a bit rough, many of us had sea sickness. It was still great fun though! We arrived in Portland Marina at 5pm, by which time everyone was well again and we made use of the fantastic shower facilities at Portland. We planned a rowing competition between all tall ships crew for the next day, so had to blow up a dinghy. Once that was done, given the very early start, we were all tired so had an early night.

On Tuesday, we got up at 8:30am. Our skipper had arranged for us to have a guided tour around the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, venue for the 2012 Olympic sailing. We found it to be a real privilege and got to see all sorts of fantastic sailing boats and were told some interesting facts about the Academy.

When we returned to our Marina we were invited to be shown around a Royal Navy Warship and after that and before leaving Portland we took part in a rowing competition. We used an empty Marina and all got the chance to do some rowing, great fun once again! After lunch we left Portland bound for Torbay. We arrived at 11pm and dropped anchor for the night. We made the boat safe and were all ready for bed!

On Wednesday, we got up at 7am. We had breakfast, then began to clean the boat, including the heads! (toilets). Once completed, we prepared the boat for sailing then lifted anchor at 9.30am heading for Weymouth.

We arrived in Weymouth at 5pm, tidied the boat (in intense rain!!) and decided to have fish and chips for dinner. After dinner, our team started working on a team song that would be performed in a prize giving ceremony at the end of the week. It was hard work deciding on a style of song, not to mention getting it in tune! It was great fun though.

On Thursday, we got up at 8am. We were invited to have a tour of a ‘pirate ship’ called ‘The Pelican London’. We certainly learned how very different sailing was in the ‘olden days’. We then got our boat ready for sailing, and headed back to Cowes. Once we were out at sea our boat together with the other three had a sail raising race. A great effort was put in by our team and we came 2^nd! We had a great day's sailing, arrived in Cowes at about 11pm and tied up alongside for the night.

On Friday, we started off having a treasure hunt on our boat that our skipper had arranged which was lots of fun. Later, our Skipper set our team a brilliant task of letting us plot our own route across the Solent. We all learned how to read and navigate a chart and we got across the Solent very successfully and in good time arriving back in Portsmouth marina at about 1pm.

Then on Friday afternoon all Tall Ships crews attended a prize giving ceremony where two members of our team were awarded a prize for ‘most improved crew’. We also performed our team song to everyone at the ceremony which was nerve racking, but real fun. In the evening we thoroughly cleaned the boat…..everywhere, and packed our bags ready to depart on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came, so did our coach! We all bidded farewell to our fantastic crew, and thanked them for a brilliant week. We arrived back in Birmingham at 1pm where we met our families. The week was over.

Our Cadets were able to develop new skills on the voyage, some of which can be transferred and used within other subjects at school and also to aid their own personal and social development.

Without the financial help and support from organisations such as The Ulysses Trust and the Enterprise Sailing Trust, life-changing opportunities such as this may not be possible for our young people.