Planning our adventure 30th April 2021 Yesterday some of our team met up with Morning Star Trust to plan our sailing voyage around the Solent. Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund 6 lucky young people will spend 5 days and 4 nights aboard ‘Eastern Star’ our ship of adventures.
The project voyage aims are for our young people to gain a better understanding of offshore sailing to enable them to more effectively engage with our oral history projects. Our young people will document their voyage by keeping a journal/using creative media.
Voyage Day 1 17th May 2021 Today is VOYAGE DAY 1 around the Solent thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund and Morning Star Trust!! Matthew, Manuel, Kai, Zeno, Kieran and Toby as our skipper and Mary as his mate for the voyage - we set out on the Eastern Star from Northney Marina. After encountering some rough waters, hail and rain with winds hitting around 25 knots we made it to Haslar Marina!! We all had an amazing day (definitely an unforgettable experience!) steering the boat, pulling up sails, and enjoying pesto pasta made by Kai and Kieran for lunch and fajitas for dinner made by Matthew and Manuel. #SeekYourSpark #seekerssolenttrail super excited for day 2, hopefully some sun to come!!
Voyage Day 2 18th May 2021 VOYAGE DAY 2 thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund & Morning Star Trust. Another fun day with Toby, Mary, Kai , Manuel, Kieran Zeno and Matthew. We sailed from Haslar Marina in the morning further west into the Solent on our voyage today we did plenty of tacking and steering in rough conditions, and we also encountered a point of acceleration! We were headed towards Cowes or Lymington, however due to a sea breeze (which are very common in the Solent!) we decided it was best to turn into Southampton and stay there for the night at Ocean Village Marina Today we learnt about gybing and the different points of sail (Close hail, close reach, beam reach, broad reach + run). Manuel made us Cornish pasties for lunch , Kieran and Kai are making a wonderful stir fry for dinner stay tuned for Day 3!! #seekyourspark #seekerssolenttrail
Voyage Day 3 19th May 2021 VOYAGE DAY 3! Another fantastic day with Zeno Da Prato Manuel Bruna Matthew Poulter Kai Wu Kieran Shrimpton Toby Humphreys and Mary on the Eastern Star. This morning we headed out of Ocean Village Marina in Southampton and headed towards Cowes Yacht Haven at the Isle of Wight, where we are staying for the night. The north-westerly wind meant we were on a run coming out of Southampton waters while I was at the helm. During our voyage we learnt how to tie essential knots (reef knot, admiralty knot, slip knot, bowline knot, round turn and two half hitches - which are needed to tie up the fenders!) It took us many attempts but we finally managed !! We practised ‘Man Overboard’ in case anyone needed immediate rescue and kept a very meticulous log book Overall, today the waters were very calm and we had a lovely end to the evening with a spag bowl made by me + Zeno #seekyourspark #seekerssolenttrail
Voyage Day 4 20th May 2021 VOYAGE DAY 4! An amazing day with the team. We left Cowes Yacht Haven and arrived very quickly to Portsmouth as winds were reaching around 21 knots! We were quite sad to leave Cowes as yesterday night there was a beautiful sunset from the pier Before leaving Cowes this morning we changed the Gib Sail to a smaller one because of the winds, and soon gybed into Gunwharf Quays Marina by midday. Clair Martin prepared a wonderful ‘Walkshop’ for a #SpiceIslandTrail. After a debrief, we set out to look for 13 hidden doors with the what3words app around Old Portsmouth (pictures with each door attached!) We started to notice most of the doors eventually led to pubs, sailing clubs and churches. Kai and Kieran are making us a Thai green curry tonight for dinner, before we head out to a pub tonight to meet sailing veterans #Seekyourspark Credit: Greta Fedd
Voyage Day 5 21st May 2021 VOYAGE DAY 5! Our last day with the Morning Star Trust on the Eastern Star. ️ The winds were so strong today our boat was so close to blowing away that we had to tie ourselves to other boats for safety! Mary and Toby decided it was best to stay in Gunwharf Quays Marina instead of heading back to Northney Marina because of the rough waters and winds. Lady Mayoress and Lord Mayor of Portsmouth welcomed us #superseekers at the Spinnaker Tower this morning with Clair Martin where we talked about our experiences from our #seekersolenttrail. We all found the experience amazing, engaging and it was unique to learn sailing on the Solent. My favourite part of the voyage was arriving in Cowes and being on the helm, whereas Zeno Da Prato loved tacking. Thank you so much to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for making this unforgettable experience possible for all of us! Many of us had never stepped foot on a boat beforehand, and after 5 days we are all certified competent crew members Zeno would love to sail in Lake Garda in the future whereas Manuel Bruna dreams of sailing to the Caribbean islands and I would love to sail across the Mediterranean. We ended the day with a cake to celebrate Matthew Poulter Birthday tomorrow, and we cleaned the boat until it is was sparkling. Many thanks to Clair and Wing Chan involved from Seekers Create to make this voyage possible, and everyone else who made this possible too. Can't wait to be out sailing on the high seas again, maybe even further abroad! More pictures attached from the voyage which I hadn't posted earlier. #SeekYourSpark Credit: Greta Fedd
Welcome Home
We had a very warm welcome home from the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth. The team at the Spinnaker Tower along with the team from Gunwharf Quays. Big thanks to everyone involved!
7 Days At Sea
Music production Matthew Poulter https://m.soundcloud.com/matthew-poulter-3
Hi, my names Matthew Kieran Poulter (24 years old) I produce electronic music mainly ambient, I've been making music for 7 years. I hope to one day have a career out of it, as it's something I'm passionate about. I communicate my art through music. I enjoy listening to music as well as creating it, I've been listening to Aphex Twin, Brian Eno and new band I discovered called Sigur Rós. I have Cerebral Palsy on my left side, but I try not to let that bother me too much. I have found ways to overcome my disability to enable me to create music my way.
I really enjoyed sailing although it was something I couldn't see myself doing, as I thought my left sided weakness would be a hindrance. but regardless of that I'm glad I took part now, I've seen places I'd not seen before, like Cowes, I had no idea that place existed. I Learnt new things whilst at sea, I was at the helm on the first day I found it daunting to start but slowly got to know how to control the boat. There was heavy rain, fog and wind so I did struggle at looking out for buoys making sure the boat was heading the right direction. Overall the experience was great, something different from what I usually do. Great memories happened while at sea that will certainly stay with me. I wrote a piece of music for the voyage called 7 Days at Sea. I was inspired by new surroundings when composing the instrumental piece, I tried my best to capture those memories and put them into an ambient track. I overlaid soundbites to the track using clips we collected whilst enjoying a few drinks and conversation in the sailing clubhouse.