Twenty young people from the Naval Children’s Charity (NCC) will benefit this month from a development opportunity onboard a 72ft Challenger yacht with Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT), when they join the charity for legs four and five of its Round Britain Adventure.
The young people are a mix of girls and boys from NCC, which is subsidising the voyages as part of its work in supporting children of Naval families for nearly 200 years.
For the sailing adventure the young people will be divided into two age groups of 12-15 and 16-25 for the different legs, starting from Whitehaven for six nights and then from Greenock to Peterhead for seven.
The first voyage with youngsters aged 12-15 will set sail from Whitehaven on Tuesday 16 August and end in Greenock on Sunday 21 August. The group of 16-25-year-olds will then depart from Greenock on Wednesday 24 August and finish in Peterhead on Wednesday 31 August.
Clare Scherer, from the Naval Children’s Charity, said:
“We are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity to our young people. The combination of the extraordinary experience onboard the iconic Challenger yacht, learning to sail and gaining their RYA certificate, combined with meeting and bonding with other young people from Naval families with shared experiences, will really enhance their lives.
“We hope that this experience will give them insight into the opportunities and experiences out there in the world for them and we are proud to offer this life chance to our Naval children”
The young people will take part in a once in a lifetime experience sailing onboard TSYT’s Challenger 4 — famous for having sailed twice round the world as part of the Global Challenge Races.
TSYT is the UK’s oldest and largest youth development sail training charity and is delighted to be running its Round Britain Adventure tour for the first time since 2019 owing to the pandemic.
James Hudson, Director of Fundraising and Marketing at TSYT, said:
“We’re delighted to be partnering with NCC for these voyages, which will be an exciting and challenging opportunity for the youth crews involved.
“Working together onboard, the crew take part in all activities and pull together to overcome common challenges, such as preparing to sail in bad weather and living in close quarters. This helps develop transferrable life skills such as communication, resilience and teamwork.”
“We’re looking forward to welcoming these two groups and further young people from the charity over the coming years as we build our partnership.”
Throughout the residential adventure, the young people will be doing everything from steering to food preparation, maintenance and cleaning.
Importantly, they’ll be supported by TSYT’s professionally trained crew who work with young people to increase their practical life skills as well as develop their personal and social skills.
Visit: www.tallships.org for more information.
