Hi to all our friends, families and supporters of Lively Lady and her Team

We look forward to seeing you all at Gunwharf about Midday, Although you should be able to see the Lady as she makes her way into the Solent and towards Southsea Castle for 1100.

So give her a cheer and a wave, whether you are lining the route along the sea front, the round tower or down at Gunwharf, All the Young Adults involved will be out on the water.

Ports cheered one good team in earlier this year now lets see if we can do the same for this Young Team.

Thanks Everyone for your support.
x
Carol

Here I am sat on the engine box inside Lively Lady and find myself writting my last journal of the voyage.

Every day, while Lively Lady has been at sea we have always managed to send something in to the website to keep the thousands of supporters up to date and involved with what has been going on. And with out a doubt, it has been one of the strengths of the Raymarine Lively Lady Project. without their support we would not have had a project
I started sending information into my base station way back in 1997 and in those days it ether by Fax or telephone when we could. Now, every sailor or adventurer takes it for granted that this has to be done, but we did it first and we believe the young adults on the project have set new standards in reporting their experiences on an hour by hour basis.

Again, as we approach the finish of this amazing voyage, I wonder if any of the people who either tried to stop, or bad mouth the voyage will be brave enough to come to Gunwharf Quays to see us back
.
There is a saying that was told to me by a very prominent adventurer some years ago that is always in my mind “People who say things cannot be done, should never stand in the way of those who say it can”
And that is how we have made this voyage work.

Saturday is going to be a very special day, not only for the Young Adults who will enter the record and history books by being the first crew to sail a classic boat completely around the world, but for the Late Sir Alec Rose’s memory. having got to know the Rose family, Sir Alec wanted this voyage to happen, and I think that in some way he was always with us on our journey. After 28500 miles, Lively Lady is still in amazing condition and looks identical to when he sailed into Portsmouth 40 years ago.

One thing that is for sure. Sir alec and his beloved boat Lively Lady will never be forgotten again.

See you very soon
Alan

The sail training on Lively Lady is never over and as we set sail at 04 00 this morning, I put Jay in charge of the boat. This was the last thing he expected and after a lot of head scathing the sails were finally hoisted and we headed off towards our RV point where we are going to meet up with HMS Mersey.

I am sure (I hope) that a full and detailed journal will come out late today.

See you all tomorrow
Alan and his motley crew.

We left St Peter Port in Guernsey dead on 0700 for our short trip to Alderney to meet up with the John Lang which will be sailing over later today.

Last nights civic reception went very well and what was supposed to last 1.5 hours went on for 5!
Such is the popularity of Lively Lady.
A full report and journal will follow later

Cheers from all on board Lively Lady with only 100 miles to go until she his home
Alan

1st Leg Wrap Up Journal.

Well, how can I begin to wrap up all of what has happened in the past 5 weeks. It has been like a dream for me.
It has been so amazing, but it has gone too quickly. It was hard for me at first because the longest time I have been away from my family is 1 week, and still in England! So to be on the other side of the world for 5 weeks was quite a challenge for me.
My highlights of this trip would have to be, having such drastic changes in weather (yes this is a highlight for me!) it was amazing to sail through a cyclone! Also to Sail across the Equator and
across the Indian Ocean, seeing wonderful wildlife.
Also Being In Australia and Singapore, 2 places I wouldn’t
ever have dreamed of going to. Australia was absolutely stunning, I most enjoyed staying at Carol’s Parent’s house, it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. I saw kangaroo’s as well which was brilliant.

Singapore was quite a contrast though, with busy people and streets everywhere, but I found it amazing.
This trip has really opened my eyes to so many things, and I have learnt so much from the whole experience.
If there’s a few life skills I’ve gained from this trip they would be; determination and perseverance.
Determination: to keep your mind set and keep you motivated, because if you don’t believe you can do something you won’t be able to, something Steve taught me. Perseverance to get you there, if you lack this then you won’t get anywhere, you’ll just keep failing. During the trip there were plenty of times I wanted to give up, or thought I couldn’t do something. But I got through them and am more than glad of it. I just hope the other people in this project have gained as much as I have from it. I really do feel lucky.
I really will take away so much from this experience and will never ever forget it. The trip really has been a once in a lifetime experience and can’t express how lucky I am to have been given the chance to take part in the project.

2nd Leg Wrap-up Journal.

Well, I was more than blessed when I was asked to do another leg. I found out about a week before and as you
can imagine, I jumped at the chance! Alicante, although it was night when we arrived and didn’t manage to see anything, still held some surprises for us! The boat was in a bit of a maze to get to. We went for a couple of drinks at a bar called coyote ugly which was fun. it was really nice to be back on the boat. It brought back all the brilliant memories of my other trip.. and told me just how lucky I really am to have been involved in this project.

The sights were really amazing just like the other trip and I had cravings for McDonald’s again! It was amazing weather as well which was really good, and I thought I had sorted out the weird tan lines from my last trip but I made them a little worse which made me laugh.
On the way to Gibraltar we saw so much wildlife; Dolphins, Pilot Whales, Turtles. Gibraltar was an amazing country as well, I didn’t get to venture up the mountain with the monkey’s but I got a real
taste of the life there which was brilliant.
I learnt allot from this trip as well, even though it didn’t last as long, I learnt to appreciate what I have and that there is so much else going on in the world. I definitely know I’m going to continue
with sailing, I really love it.
Once again, I can’t thank the people who have helped and organised the project enough. This project has done so much for me and I won’t ever forget any of it.

xx
Lucy

Journal of a Co-Skipper David’s Journal this time as a co-skipper not our Weather man

Now that my leg is over I thought it a good time to write a journal about my experience of this part of the project.

I have been involved with the Lively Lady project from its early days but probably not very visible to most of the young people who have taken part. I have, however, been with you in spirit on all the legs. Perhaps my greatest involvement has been in providing weather updates for all but a few days throughout the voyage and I really did hate having to give bad news about the weather. I seemed to take it very personally and always felt guilty about doing so.

From the start I was always only going to do just one leg and it was always going to be the one from Gibraltar to Guernsey. I didn’t realise that this would become a cruise to North Africa, Portugal and Spain as well.

We have had our share of breakages and repairs on this leg and the old girl is suffering a bit from the rigours of sailing all round the World in just about every weather available. One has to question, however, how many of the millions of modern plastic boats around the globe could cope as well? Not that many probably. Lively Lady is a boat that you either love or hate. I have always loved her since I first sailed her in 1996 but that love gets strained a bit after days of trying to make it to windward and getting nowhere. Then the wind shifts to abaft the beam and she starts flying and once again she becomes the lovely lively lady that is such a joy to sail.

Something that I have always understood about sailing is that to have a happy boat the crew must get on. One awkward soul can ruin it for everyone on board. I’m happy to say that we all seemed to get on well on this leg. I spent my watches with Kat and found that she was very good at spotting ships in the distance and lobster pots that were in our path. All potential hazards to be aware of. I was also amazed at how must sleep she could manage in a day. Kat, it has been a pleasure to sail with you.

I have had some interesting philosophical conversations with Celise during the leg and tested her on her Chemistry and other college work. Celise, it was a pleasure to sail with you too.

It was lovely for me to sail Lively Lady and not be the skipper. Having that extra little bit of responsibility removed takes away that little bit of pressure that the skipper is not always aware of but is always there. Colin does the job well and I was very happy to sail under him as his co-skipper. Thanks, Colin.

This leads me on to thinking about the conditions on board. I very soon learned that even if you think that you have found a very small corner where it is safe to leave something valuable it soon gets wet. I found out very quickly that where I thought it was safe to keep my mobile phone was in reality a salt water swimming pool. It did not recover. In fact there is almost nowhere on board that you can guarantee will stay dry if there is any sort of sea running, so everything has to be kept in dustbin sacks to keep dry. If the Government was to consider jailing prisoners under such conditions it would be taken to just about every human rights court in the World over such abuses. Then to cram four people into such a small space where there is only room for two to sleep at any one time, rock it around so that you can’t stand up without holding on to something, and then telling them that they have to go out into the weather at 2am to get cold and wet, keep a watch, trim sails and all the other things that go on during a watch must be considered something that no human being must ever be allowed to do to another – yet we were all volunteers. I’m not quite sure what this says about us all but I am sure that almost everyone who has sailed a leg on this project will have got something out of it. If they haven’t I will be very surprised. On the other hand if this project has helped just one young person to sort out in their own mind what they want to do with the rest of their life – and to realise that if they put their mind to it they can achieve more than they ever thought possible it has been a roaring success. Thanks, Alan for setting it up and especially for keeping it going.

Thanks also to Carol who has been the glue that as held everything together. I know some of the worry and frustrations that she has had to suffer but I also know that there has been very much more. It’s been great to know you.

Thanks also to my wife, Jane, who has been supportive of me and my part in venture throughout even though she is not a sailor herself.

It should be a great day at Gunwharf on 5th July. Most of us will have lots of memories of our own part in this massive achievement. Be proud of what you have done. We will all be able to say with pride “I was part of it – I helped make it happen”.

David the Weather Man – Retired.

Raymarine Lively Lady has arrived in St Peter Port Guernsey.
We will no doubt hear from one of the crew once they leave the showers!!!

So now its just the last little hop across the channel and she will be home, which as you all know will be Sat 5th July, coming into to Gunwharf at 1258.

Thanks to everyone for their support through-out the project
Carol

Position at 0600 BST on Sunday 29 Jun 4917.5N 00257.3W

We rounded Ushant yesterday morning but only caught glimpses of the coast and Le Stiff lighthouse through the murk. After that we made steady progress towards Guernsey in westerly winds.

With 18 miles to run to the southern end of the Little Russel, the channel running up to St Peter Port, the wind is light and we are going quite slowly. However this is not a problem as the earliest the tide will be high enough to get into the marina is about 1430 and we should be there before then.

So just a short way to go now.

Colin

Good day, Celise here!

Well this is hopefully going to be my last journal so I best make it a good’un, the thing is I don’t really have much to say. Not much has happened in the last couple of days for me to comment on apart from the weather.

Yesterday was another sunny day and I should have been rather smiley considering we haven’t long left. But I had a major headache and threw up a couple of times, still ate my dinner afterwards though! Today is rather foggy making everything a bit damp but I feel better so I think I can tolerate one more day of smelling like mould.

The real reason the weather is rubbish today is because me and Kat didn’t pray for the sun. We did that a few days ago and it’s been sunny ever since. We also prayed for some form of westerly wind and that came too, I think it’s fair to say we have some control over the weather. Praying isn’t the only crazy thing myself and Kat have been doing; we did a little aerobics class a couple of days ago because we were that bored. We also pretended we were going for a run, it actually feels like it if you look out to sea at the same time. As Kat would say we’ve got Cabin Fever (apparently something from ‘A Muppet Treasure Island’).

Colin and I are still on the biscuits and I’m still craving cheese on toast. Or generally something oven baked, food is a hot topic these days. I miss everyone and can’t believe the homecoming is only a week away and I’m especially excited about the John Lang! It’s going to be so good having everyone together.

Well I know this hasn’t been the best of journals but all there is to look at is the sea and there’s only so much you can write about.
Home soon J.

X
Celise Kat Colin and David

Position at 0600 BST on Saturday 28 Jun 4817.3N 00522.7W

In the last 24 hours we have been making excellent progress in south-westerly winds of 15 to 20 kts so that now we have about 10 miles to run before we start rounding Ushant.

Not that one would know that looking from here. The visibility is quite poor so although we should be able to see land there is nothing but grey.

The wind has shifted a bit more towards the west so we will be on a run up the Channel towards Guernsey.

On a more philosophical note I suppose that, soon after we round Ushant, and cross the longitude of Falmouth, this time going east the boat will technically have completed its circumnavigation. Both points are in the Channel, we left going west and are now coming back going east. However getting her back home is the more important milestone and we are still heading towards that.

Colin