Tall Ships’ Race 2006
July 2006 See picture library here
St Albans Sea Cadet Flo Oakley competed in the Tall Ships Race in the Sea Cadets square-rigged training ship TS Royalist. She was free having just completed her GCSEs at St Albans Girls’ School. After joining ship is St Malo, they crossed the channel to Brixham, where Prince Phillip started the race. They then sailed, non-stop, over 800 miles to Lisbon. This is Flo’s account of her voyage, which she undertook with fellow St Albans Sea Cadet Kat Harris.
Saturday, 8th July
Arrived in St. Malo at 07.00 in the morning after a tiring overnight ferry crossing from England and boarded T.S. Royalist, home for the next two weeks and some 1000 miles sailing! We were divided into watches as on the voyage the ship would need to be constantly tended, the watch system is used to always have crew available. Sometimes “all hands” are needed for bracing stations to adjust the sails. We spent the morning getting to know the ropes, climbing the mast and so on. We were assigned bunks, which are quite small. There were only sinks to wash in.
Sunday, 9th July
We set off very early to Torbay for the start of the race. It was a rough bumpy voyage. Most of us were seasick as we crossed the channel. It was a great relief to finally get into harbour. This was not how we wanted to spend the next two weeks! Fortunately it was the only time we were sick.
Monday, 10th July
Now that we had all recovered from the previous day’s seasickness we spent the morning enjoying our last few hours on terra firma and then set off at midday ready to race. On our way to the start line we practised tacking and were filmed by the BBC. We also passed the HMS Mersey with Prince Philip, who would start the race, onboard. We were all very excited about the race. The weather was very foggy and it was only when other ships were right up close to us that we could see them. It was like a movie, with huge ships suddenly looming out of the mist. Tall ships look like pirate ships and under sail are pretty silent, quite scary. It was incredible to have so many amazing ships near us at one time. We crossed the start line at 3:02 pm and tactically, an hour and a half later, we anchored up a few miles out from the land. The tide and wind were against us so it was better to use our cunning and anchor up until the wind and tide changed to our advantage while the other ships carried on sailing another 20 miles off course, giving us the advantage. At 21.00 the wind changed and we set off again. After setting and bracing the sails correctly my watch went to bed.
Tuesday, 11th July
Today we have carried on sailing on the same course as last night. I spent 4 hours on watch from 08.00 until 12.00. I helmed for about an hour. I felt quite pleased with myself as I managed to get us up to 5 knots and keep us on course. The staff said I was doing well… girl power! However when I was on watch a bit later I managed to steer us totally off course and everyone had to be called to bracing stations (well at least it wasn’t in the middle of the night). We also found out that our position was a satisfying 7th and then later that we had advanced to 4th.
Wednesday, 12th July
Unfortunately today we were forced to anchor because of another foul tide and poor wind. But this did give us the opportunity to go for a swim! We all jumped off the side into the inviting deep blue sea. Its was freezing, absolutely freezing but by now we were tough hardy sailor so most of us washed our hair in the salty water too! We also spent some time doing a bit of mackerel fishing. At about 10.00 the wind changed and we were able to set sail again. During watch from 00.01 to (yawn) 04.00 we managed to reach 8 knots and at the end I was pleased to be given a well-done award badge from Bosun for my helming. I went to bed absolutely exhausted!
Thursday, 13th July
Today we are continuing to make good progress. We have passed Ushant and are now in the Atlantic. At the moment we are all sunbathing or sleeping. Later… In the evening the Royalist League began, watch against watch! We did a quiz on general knowledge and seamanship, and of course our watch, After Port, won! The League was a great way to inject some fun in quieter moments. The staff did a really fantastic job keeping us motivated and happy without us ever really noticing it.
Friday, 14th July
Got up at 04.00 to go on watch. We stayed on a course of 180° as we are now in the Bay of Biscay on our way down to Portugal. We were very excited to spot a 
few dolphins whilst on watch. Later on loads of dolphins joined the ship, swimming and diving along with the bow. It was absolutely amazing! We all had a moment of, ‘Wow, isn’t it incredible that we’re here!’ Again most people are sunbathing or preparing for the Royalist League practicing tying knots, making costumes and writing poems.
Later… We had a lovely lunch today. Cook and Coxswain made a big pizza for us all and it was gorgeous. Cook has also had to start baking bread, our fresh supplies having been exhausted, and its very yummy. A bit later on we were sunbathing when I was suddenly soaked in water! The surf from bow wave had splashed over the boat and drenched me! I was dripping wet and being laughed at! We’re all getting on with each other really well and it’s such good fun. Even with the ridiculously early watches we have to suffer! The staff are even nice too! For a race, it’s pretty relaxed although Coxswain is making us get a grip on the tidiness of the ship. Luckily my cleaning station is the Captain’s cabin so I’ve got it pretty easy.
Saturday, 15th July
Today was quite calm as we continued to race to Lisbon. Again we spotted dolphins and they came right up to the boat and swam along with us. I made a little movie of the dolphins which is on our website now as a "dolphin cast", see: www.seacadetfun.com ! We’ve all really adapted to the ships routine of watches and being answerable only to the ship and totally dependant on the weather. No TV, text messages, hair straightners or MSN, just nature.
Sunday, 16th July
After another early start we played the games for the Royalist League. This included the egg and spoon race, the fender waddle, “Anyone for a cuppa?” hoopla, the brimming bucket and cockpit skittles. It was a really enjoyable day! We were making about 3kts, which was to be our overall average speed. It‘s amazing to think this is the pace at which people regularly sailed over a hundred years ago.
Monday, 17th July
Today we completed our Royalist League knot boards, poems and sea shanties. In the evening we had our fancy dress party. The costumes were great; there was a dolphin, Super Sailor, a fender, the sailing master, Lord Nelson and many more! We also handed in our knot boards for marking and read out our poems and sea shanties to everyone’s amusement. That night “all hands” were called up several times to bracing stations.
Tuesday, 18th July
After a busy night we were all exhausted. I was up at 04.00 to go on watch and spent some of this time taking down the fore topgallant (sail) that had a rip in it. Again that night we were called up several times to bracing stations, we were on the edge of a storm and the lightening was fantastic! Real fork lightening, the like of which you never see back on land.
Wednesday, 19th July
It was our last day racing and we made very little progress as the wind had seemingly disappeared. We carried on with cleaning stations so that the ship would look smart as it comes into Lisbon. We also had a school of whales swim very close to our ship, it was an amazing sight. At 15.00 we finished the race but as we were out at sea we went for a swim, it was no warmer than last time but we all wanted a good wash! The water was cold but so clear that we could open our eyes and see perfectly underwater. After our swim we put on the engines and motored towards Lisbon. We spent the rest of the day stowing any sails not being used. We found out that our final positions were 6th in class, and 24th overall. We were all very pleased with the result, but just taking part was enough.
Thursday, 20th July
We were up early to prepare to sail into Lisbon. As we got closer we put on our best number 1 uniforms and climbed the mast for our arrival. We had one person at each end of the yard, actually standing on it; it was very exciting and a little scary! As we came into port, we must have looked really impressive, with many people taking photos of us standing on the yards, we all felt very proud. When we finally moored up we had the rest of the day to spend exploring Lisbon.
Friday, 21st July
Again we had more shore leave today and the crew parade and award ceremony. It was a celebratory day ending with the crew party. Then we flew home feeling absolutely exhausted but extremely happy. The Tall Ships’ Race was probably the most brilliant experience I’ve ever had and I know I will never forget it . I also qualified as SCC Offshore Watch Leader which was great. I got back to Heathrow at 05.30 and after a few hours at home was off on the train to Whale Island, Portsmouth for Sea Cadet Summer Camp till the following Sunday! Flo and Kat were supported by the Ulysses Trust, to whom they are very grateful, and without whom they couldn't have participated.