Regatta complete ahead of Tall Ships Festival

With all ships competing in the Falmouth to Royal Greenwich regatta now safely past the finishing line, a five-day festival is set to commence on Friday. Andrews Sykes are delighted to kick-off the celebrations by hosting a hospitality event on board the Jantje, where guests will enjoy food and fireworks, while gently cruising along the Thames.

We were also pleased to sponsor two young, local sailors who took part in the regatta. Dominic Paul and Thanh Lee were selected following a vigorous application process and headed down to Falmouth last weekend to complete their induction. And Dominic took to documenting his experience in a diary format; the extracts of which are written below:

Day 1 – I woke up at 6am, giving me plenty of time to have a jog before breakfast. At 8am, we all congregated at the back of the ship to raise the flag ahead of departure. Later in the day, we learnt how the sails on the ship work and how to adjust them according to wind direction. In total, there were 26 sails on board our vessel. We were also taught how to tie the ropes and lay them on deck, ready to be used again. The first day was very interesting and I expect to get a bit more “hands on deck” in the forthcoming days.

Day 2 – After a seven hour sleep, I woke up in good time ahead of my 8pm-12am shift. Our first job was to dry the edge of the ship so that it could be painted, following rain the previous night. We then needed to peel soap bars and mix them with water so that we could scrub the deck. This became a little tedious over time, which led to us carving sculptures out of the soap! But once this was completed, we had the opportunity to climb to the first level of the mast! It has also been mentioned that we will get the chance to climb up to the second.

Day 3 – It is now my aim to reach the top of the mast. The overall experience of sailing on this ship has been great so far, as there’s so many jobs and tasks to complete during your shifts. By the end of the journey, I’d love to join the crew in the engine room…

Day 4 – Today was our last day at sea, and a pretty calm one at that. After breakfast we were informed of our duties – I was presented with polishing the brass along the bridge. After that, we just chilled out on deck and waved at people on land as we progressed along the Thames. Eventually, we completed our journey and docked almost parallel to the Cutty Sark, marking the end of a truly unique experience.

We would like to congratulate both Dominic and Thanh on their successful voyage, and were glad we could help them achieve particular goals. As a company, we pride ourselves on reaching out to the community wherever possible, and this represents the most recent example of this. The upcoming event promises to be a fantastic occasion for all involved and we hope to see as many people as possible enjoying the activities and striking tall ships on show.