This message was received in 2016 from a man in his fifties about a voyage he did with us as a teenager in 1979: Big thanks to sea staff Andy Brown, Lauren, Josh, Glyn Collins, Nige Bush, Rob Jelley and Hannah Blyton. We don’t usually sail all day, every day – voyages include time ashore, a chance to explore a new place, have a shower, play games, have a beach BBQ or buy souvenirs. On Monday we started a new voyage, with Harris Merton school from south London. Diggory says everyone is having an amazing time!

In January 2016, our previous vessel John Laing was named Sail Training Vessel of the Year by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and the Association of Sail Training Organisations. A voyage with OYT South really can transform a young person’s life – and it can have an impact in so many different ways. This video tells JP’s story: In 1898 she was sold to Sweden and moved to the village of Halleviksstrand on the west coast, on the island of Orust (home to Hallberg Rassey, Najad and Malo Yachts). From there she spent the next half-century fishing in the North Sea, from Halleviksstrand to Utsire in Norway, to Shetland and Peterhead, to Skagen in Denmark. They set off late on Wednesday after a very close encounter with a dolphin in Portland, and had a lovely gentle sail to the Solent, and a late arrival into Cowes. Our sea staff make every crew member a promise: whatever effort and enthusiasm you put into the voyage, we will match and beat. Whether your aim is to have the holiday of a lifetime, or to learn more about sailing and seamanship, or to experience the challenge of life at sea, Prolific has something to offer.In due course there will be a chance to thank Diggory for all his efforts this season and for creating such a happy atmosphere on board, and you can contribute to his leaving present here. But meanwhile we need to search for the right person to build on his legacy and take the charity forward. There is a detailed job advertisement here including job description, person specification, timescales, salary and more.

They anchored by the North Channel between Hurst and Milford, where they were able to go ashore and had a beach BBQ: I feel I have some appreciation of what you and your team do but what I can see is lots of enthusiasm, knowledge, and consideration for others and teamwork, carry on the good work. Thank you for a great day’s sailing.” Several of the Amber crew were very focussed on using the voyage to develop skills that will help them move into employment and independent living and at the end of the voyage remarked on having practised “Trying different ways to deal with a situation”; “ Teamwork to get jobs done”; “Keeping myself busy to take mind off things”; “Negotiating organisation of jobs”; “Communication when doing jobs”; “Doing jobs for people who did jobs for me”; “ Doing a knot wrong and learning from it”; “Relaying instructions and how to do stuff”; and “Feeling confident around new people”.You can also volunteer with us ashore, or by helping with vessel maintenance. We also need help with the essential work of raising funds, to maintain our boat, pay our staff, run the charity and enable us to offer bursaries to young people who could not otherwise afford to sail with us; and we occasionally need volunteers in the office. Spread the word We work with other charities, mainstream and special schools, local authorities, social workers and youth workers, who refer young people to sail with us. Especially in school holidays, these may be mainstream groups from families who can afford a voyage (including young people doing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Gold Residential); but we also work with young people who are disadvantaged or vulnerable in some way, particularly for term-time voyages. This includes young carers, siblings of life-limited children, young offenders, young people not in education, training or employment, children who have been bullied, abused or neglected, homeless teenagers, victims of crime, young people with physical and/or learning difficulties, children in care and many more. Super day out, thank you! Lovely to meet everyone and learn about what you do! Really inspiring and some fantastic stories to share. Looking forward to staying in touch in the future.” Volunteering brings benefits to our volunteers as well as to the charity. Our volunteers can learn new skills, make new friends and have a lot of fun – alongside the immense satisfaction which comes from making a lasting difference to young people. Read what some of our volunteers say about why they do it. Volunteering at sea