Terry and Chris were absentees, from our recent match, against Biddenden. Here, Chris gives us an inkling of how they fared, in a week of sailing on a training yacht.

  Terry's wife, very kindly, drove us down on Sunday, June 14th, to meet our yacht and home for the next week, with the full crew arriving the next day.

  We set off, across a very choppy Southampton water under power - and I began to wonder if I'd done the right thing, especially as it appeared that I was sleeping not in a bed, nor even a hammock, but in a large drawer, underneath Terry who, when he was asleep and not asking me if I was, made a noise that sounded something like a cross between a braying donkey and a chainsaw.

  The next day, we made Yarmouth and things were just getting better and better.

  Wednesday saw us heading for Cherbourg and I took the helm for a good deal of the way. I was the subject of much stick about my wandering direction across the channel, but I blame other members of the crew for that.

  Cherbourg was hot! The food, drink, showers and sunbothing were good and, early on Friday morning, we headed back to Poole, with the wind in our favour.

  Now, things became more interesting! Our batteries had been overcharged and were cooked. On our way into Poole harbour, we managed to get a fishing net wrapped around our propeller; divers were brought aboard to saw away and release the prop. At just after five o’clock, with some essential maintenance on the electrics, we went on to have the best day’s sailing, criss-crossing our way across Swanage Bay, on a training exercise. Everyone had to take a turn at everything on the boat, with a novice skipper to carry out three manoeuvres, before everyone changed tasks.

  By Saturday, the skipper said that we were a proper crew and I must say that it felt good to have been part of this amazing experience. As for myself, I didn’t want it to end and would recommend it to anybody

  Able Seaman Chris