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2023 End of Season Newsletter 

Intro

• Hi! I’m Sarah Brunner and I’ve been given the pleasure of taking over from Lis Gray as Project Organiser. I’ve HUGE shoes to fill but will do my best! A massive thank you to those who’ve helped me and are still helping me to settle in – you know who you are! I’m excited to be part of this wonderful charity that gets youngsters out and about on the water… enabling them to gain skills for life.  As a parent I’ve seen first-hand how sail training can build confidence, enhance a sense of well-being and fuel an appetite for adventure!

2023 Season review

• We had a busy Season operating at full crew capacity! Voyages primarily ran along the South Coast but we went further afield in the Summer school holidays to the Channel Islands for 4 weeks. In addition, all three of our boats took part in the 3-day ASTO Small Ships race in the Solent in October. We were awarded two cups: the boat with the youngest crew as well as the youngest skipper in the Race – Aaron Middleton who came 3rd on Alexander Fairey. Huge congratulations again Aaron!  

• Thanks to your support we were able to deliver a packed 2023 Season – providing sailing experiences for OVER 500 YOUNG PEOPLE!.  This year we’re also proud to have been able to award 71 Start Yachting certificates, 40 Competent Crew certificates and 5 Watch Leader certificates.

Refits 

• A HUGE thank you to everyone who’s been involved in the refit of Discovery, particularly Andy Broadbent who has been, and continues to be, instrumental in the refit programme. We lifted Discovery at the beginning of November, worked on her every weekend and were able to re-launch her last week. 

• Please join us on one of our refit weekends in 2024! I’m sure you’re aware, we ask that all you lovely members take part in at least one refit weekend each Winter where you’ll be able to help get our boats ready for the forthcoming Season.  Thermoplyae is being lifted early January – there will be lots to do including antifouling, undertaking repairs, checking inventories, office maintenance e.t.c – so click  2024 Winter refits  and if you can help please email Andy at andy@dsp.uk.com. We’ll feed and water you AND will provide accommodation on one of our boats. 

Programme & Sea Staff bookings for 2024

• The 2024 Programme is an exciting combination of members only, training and Summer voyages.  The season starts with familiarisation (FAM) weekends, some RYA Training opportunities and CPDs for Skippers and mates, plus longer voyages in the Summer as well as the usual group weekends. The last sail of the year will be a party sail for volunteers and to begin decommissioning the yachts for Winter Refit. All voyage dates can be found on the 2024 Programme Page and the Sea Staff Page.

• We recently emailed out a form in which you could bid for voyages next year.  If you haven’t yet placed your bids please do as we’ll be updating the Sea staff bookings over the Christmas period. Please note that all sea staff are asked to attend one familiarisation (FAM) weekend before sailing on a “working” weekend. Unless stated, weekends will begin on the Friday evening prior to the 2-day weekend.

We’re hiring a Bosun! 

• Bosun job description This is a part-time (20 hours/week) role based at Universal on the Hamble. If you’re like to apply for this role please send your CV and a covering letter by email to David Wallder at david@wallder.com OR if you know anyone who might fit please let David know.

Discovery Sailing Project AGM and Reunion.  5-7 January 2024

• Thanks for all of you who’ve already replied. If you haven’t please do try to join us!  It’ll be a great opportunity to all get together in London, to share ideas and to find out what our plans are for next year. The AGM will be held on Saturday 6th January 2024 at 1700, with a Watch Leaders forum on the Friday and RYA courses over the Saturday and Sunday. 

Day Skippers Theory course

• A reminder that we’re running a RYA Day Skipper Theory course over 3 weekends onboard Lord Amory, London, E14 3NU on the following dates: 19-21 Jan, 23-25 Feb and 22-24 March 2024.  ALL three weekends are mandatory to complete the course.  If you would like to join this event, please email office@dsp.uk.com. The total cost for the 3 weekends is £300 which includes food, accommodation, RYA DS notes, plotter & dividers as well as a certificate on successful completion of exam.

Finally… Wishing you all a Merry Christmas… hope to see you on the water next year!

Sarah Brunner

At the end of the season Jason, the HM for the River Hamble sends round a summary of the River’s year, including key incident trends that  are worthy of note. Worth a read, I’m sure several of you will relate the information about SUPS – Jason does want to know if you do you experience due to river users who are less aware of the dangers they may be causing !

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The great day is here! Thermopylae is coming out of the water for an end-of-season spruce, clean and polish. Malcolm is currently drying in the lovely sunshine outside HQ

Ahoy!

Belatedly due to Covid, we are creating a book to enjoy alongside the 50th (and a bit!) anniversary celebrations later this year! This is going to include the history of the project and photos and stories from our 50 years.

We’d love it if you could send in DSP photos to help us create the book. These could be anything from 50 years ago to current! Please include a little bit of context for the photos, particularly rough dates, so we can organise them chronologically. For example, Thermo, Tall Ships 2010.

We look forward to seeing all the photos and stories! And don’t forget it doesn’t just have to be photos onboard, events are great too, anything DSP related will be very much appreciated!

Please send to Vikki!

The AGM Reunion is postponed until 1st – 3rd April and will take place at the Docks as usual.
This also allows the opportunity for further training courses to be run as well.