Picture of young person on the helm of sailing yacht Challenge Wales

Free Drop-In Event in Cardiff Bay

Join Challenge Wales and other activity providers at a free drop-in event, 3pm – 7pm on Tuesday 7th September at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club.

The event is open to young people, teachers, group leaders and community groups to highlight the sailing opportunities that are available in Cardiff Bay.

The aim of the event is to get more young people on the water and as well as being able to jump onboard for a free tour of Challenge Wales, there are other opportunities to have a taster sail on the bay with the teams from Cardiff Watersports Centre and Cardiff Bay Yacht Club.

There is also the opportunity to speak to the Challenge Wales Team and other watersports providers to learn how sailing helps with young people’s mental health, develops their life-skills to help their confidence and employability prospects, how sailing links in with STEM learning and how to get started in sailing.

Whether you have an hour free to have a go or just 10 minutes to drop in and learn more, the Challenge Wales Team would love to see you as well as the other partners supporting the event.

This event is being supported by RYA Cymru Wales (The National Governing Body of sailing in Wales), All-Afloat (The leading Welsh charity supporting opportunities to get young people into sailing), Cardiff Bay Yacht Club (who are hosting the event and providing taster sailing sessions), Cardiff Watersports Centre (owned by Cardiff Harbour Authority and deliver boating opportunities in the Bay) as well as Challenge Wales (who provide accredited learning and life-skills development opportunities as well as volunteering, sailing and adventures at sea).

The free event is being held at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club, Ferry Road, Cardiff, CF11 0JL. Free parking is available. Although you don’t need to register, if you do plan on attending it is helpful if you let us know you are coming by emailing Phil.tilley@All-afloat.wales

Coop Foundation Logo

Co-op Members Around The UK Can Support Challenge Wales

Challenge Wales is one of the charities selected by the Co-op Community Fund that will be supported this year so whether you live local to the charity or not, anyone who shops at a Co-op shop can help Challenge Wales.
This comes at a great time when food shopping is definitely an essential activity during Lockdown (and of course outside of Lockdown) and charities have been hard hit by the impact of Coronavirus.

Challenge Wales has set itself a target to raise a few thousand pounds through the Co-op and its members to help no fewer than 100 disadvantaged young people through the charity’s innovative outdoor sailing and shore-side activity programme. This will benefit the young people through improved life skills, improved individual potential, and improved mental health, something that Coronavirus has really impacted on.
Young people hoisting a sail on the Adventure Wales boat in Cardiff

To help Challenge Wales reach its target, you will need to be a member of the Co-op (don’t worry, if you’re not a member yet as you can become a member for just £1….which you then get back in-store discounts) and for every £1 you spend, 2p gets donated to community organisations like us.


To choose Challenge Wales as your nominated charity please click here as every penny you spend will really help us.
Remember though, you can only raise money with your Co-op shop if you are a member of the Co-op. To become a member of Co-op you can sign up here or from our Challenge Wales page on the Co-op website.

The Co-op Foundation helps those that are disadvantaged to overcome their challenges by getting the community to work together and help young people contribute positively to their communities.

What an exciting way to start 2021. Happy Shopping!

Forget Finding Nemo, We’re Finding Dino

It’s not every day you stumble into a dinosaur footprint, but for Challenge Wales Youth Worker, Kerry, a lone walk may have taken her into a Jurrasic world.

On a lockdown walk in April on Penarth Beach, Kerry spotted some unusual markings on a section of rock.

Have these been made by a Dinosaur?

Excited, and curious she took some photos and got in touch with the Natural History Museum in London who are now investigating the find to see if these footprints could really be from a relation of the T-Rex.

Although you will often find Kerry on the water on one of our sail training vessels, she has already brought some of the outdoor learning programme to shore focussing on the environmental impact of humans on land through microplastic surveys and analysing litter during litter picks. As a youth worker, Kerry is always on the look-out to develop the Challenge Wales educational programme further with something unique. But, finding dino was not something she was expecting on her lockdown litter-picking walk!

“I knew the area had a history of dinosaur discoveries, so I am hoping I have found something really exciting. “

At Challenge Wales HQ, we can’t wait to see what gets uncovered and no doubt it will add to our outdoor educational activities. And, as the footprints have been found on the Welsh coast, who knows it might be a Dai-nosaurus Rex!

All photos in this article have been taken by Kerry Rees for Challenge Wales to use.

We’re Recruiting | Rydym Yn Recriwtio

Challenge Wales is currently looking to appoint new members (unpaid) to the Board of Trustees to enable the charity to continue to develop & innovate and provide many more life-changing opportunities for young people over the coming years.

We particularly welcome candidates who will bring onboard skills in Fundraising, Marine Operations, Law, Recruitment, Environmental / Sustainability or additional diversity to the existing Board.

Could this be you?

Trustee Role Description and Person Specification
Deadlines:
10th February 2019 and role(s) will remain open is suitable candidate(s) aren’t found.
How to applyEmail your completed Application Form (Rev4) and covering letter, which should detail your suitability.

 

 

Mae Her Cymru yn gobeithio penodi aelodau newydd (di-dâl) i Fwrdd yr Ymddiriedolwyr i alluogi’r elusen i barhau i ddatblygu ac arloesi a darparu rhagor o gyfleoedd a fydd yn newid bywydau pobl ifanc dros y blynyddoedd i ddod.

Rydym yn arbennig o awyddus i groesawu ymgeiswyr a fydd yn dod â sgiliau Codi Arian, Cyfreithiol, Recriwtio, Amgylcheddol / Cynaliadwyedd, neu amrywiaeth ychwanegol i’r Bwrdd presennol.

Ai chi yw’r person hwn?

Disgrifiad Rôl a Manyleb Person yr Ymddiriedolwr
Dyddiadau cau
: 10 Chwefror 2019, a bydd y rôl/rolau yn parhau i fod ar agor os nad oes ymgeisydd/ ymgeiswyr addas
Sut i ymgeisio: E-bostiwch eich cais wedi’i chwblhau  (Rev4) a llythyr eglurhaol, a ddylai nodi eich addasrwydd.

Challenge Wales volunteers evening at Crepe Escape

Festive Evening Celebrates Challenge Wales Volunteers

It was a festive thank you to the amazing Challenge Wales volunteers who’ve donated thousands of hours of their time this year.

Volunteers gathered at the award-winning restaurant Crepe Escape, in Penarth, as Trustees of the charity said a big thank you to those who have helped Challenge Wales this year in delivering voyages, fundraising and maintenance activities.

It’s the volunteers who are working with the young people through accredited onboard learning or our life skills development programme and giving up lots of their time to help others, and then coming back time and time again.

Challenge Wales Trustee, Vicky shared just a few of the amazing achievements that had happened in 2018. In particular, the launch of the second vessel Adventure Wales and starting a sail training programme in North Wales, launching an environmental accredited programme at the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in Cardiff, doing our first group litter pick to raise awareness of one-use plastic getting into the marine environment and representing Wales and the UK at the spectacular Tall Ships Races.

Without our volunteers, these activities just wouldn’t be happening and our sail training programme wouldn’t be growing.

It was great to see familiar faces and new volunteers getting festive and the charity is now looking forward to an exciting 2019 as it celebrates its 10th birthday!!

Challenge Wales volunteers evening 2018

Almost 3000 miles later, Challenge Wales Returns Home to Cardiff

After almost 50 days away, Challenge Wales is returning home to Penarth today having had an amazing youth-led summer of adventure.

Having left her home port of Penarth Marina in June crewed by young people from Newport, Challenge Wales set sail for the South Coast for an adult fundraiser before heading to Sunderland for the start of the Tall Ships Races which would see us visit Esbjerg (Denmark), Stavanger (Norway), Harlingen (Netherlands) before returning into UK waters.

The rest of the summer would see young people jumping onboard representing no fewer than 10 different nationalities to experience one of the largest cultural, youth events in Europe as we represented Cardiff, Wales and the UK.

Those onboard would be racing, cooking, cleaning and running the boat…often jumping onboard with no experience whatsoever….but that’s fine as our volunteers and sea-staff help show everyone the ropes (literally!)

To get a snapshot of what was being experienced on Challenge Wales take a look at the film that one of our French trainees put together;

Although our summer has been fun, it has been educational which underpins all our activities.

From making ourselves more plastic aware and doing a litter pick at one of the ports we stopped at, to developing teamwork and communication skills, meeting young people from all over the world and understanding and accepting different cultures, to working in watches and strict routines, to broadening horizons and developing confidence and making new friends through adventure – It’s sail training in action. We are also proud to have given every young person who joined us a reusable drinks bottle to use during the voyage and to take home afterwards in our efforts to educate young people on the damage one-use plastic is doing to the environment.

49 young people have jumped onboard over the last few weeks, some were doing their Gold DofE, some were wanting to put something different onto their CV, some were onboard as they were deserving of a place and had been nominated for the experience while others were onboard working on an accredited environmental project. What was really good to see was that some of the young people who booked onto one leg, asked to stay on for the next voyage…so we must be doing something really special for that to happen!

What also made the Tall Ships Races exciting was not just the range of weather conditions from no wind to 35 knots, sailing non-stop through the night in watches or seeing a whale (albeit briefly), was that the Tall Ships fleet were trackable so parents, families and friends could follow our progress from home. With regular updates on twitter too, it really felt that you were there experiencing it with the young people!

Did you know that Challenge Wales volunteers helped deliver our summer adventures and this year amazingly 21 volunteers donated collectively almost 250 days of their time to make our overseas summer voyages happen?

And, with Wales’ sail training charity heading towards its 10th birthday next year, who knows what other exciting adventures are on the horizon and will be shared. #SharetheAdventure

Challenge Wales arrives into Harlingen at the end of the Tall Ships Races 2018. Pic courtesy of Sail Training International

 

Adventure Wales Wins Environment Award

Not only has it been our first voyage in Adventure Wales but she has picked up her first award too!

It’s been a week of firsts for Adventure Wales. Her first proper voyage adventuring around the Welsh coast and into England, her first visit to Neyland in West Wales,, her first visit to Aberystwyth, her first visit to Pwllhelli, her first visit to the City of Liverpool, her first group of trainees onboard, her first Tall Ships event but the icing on the cake was being publicly told at the Tall Ships awards ceremony in Liverpool  that Adventure Wales had won the Environment Award. YAY!!!!

The Challenge Wales charity has put sustainability at the heart of its sail training programme. A few years ago the charity started measuring plankton as part of a global citizen science project, we’ve had microscopes onboard looking at what is under the surface of the water, we’ve looked at our own recycling systems onboard our vessels, identified how we can link into other marine action plans to help the environment, we’re currently waiting for our first order of reusable water bottles to give every young person as we aim to ban one-use water bottles coming onboard (this creates a great talking point with young people and adult guests onboard) and more recently we have developed an accredited learning programme around an environmental project (as part of our Big Lottery Funded project Voyages of Discovery) which we hope will inspire our young people to help us all do our bit for the planet.

Adventure Wales in the Tall Ships Crew Parade (Pic courtesy of Sail Training International | Valery Vasilevsky)

The Environmental Award was won by Adventure Wales for its environmental commitment and is a great recognition for the environmental focus the vessel and the charity have taken.

Sail Training International Race Director, Paul Bishop said: “Protecting the marine environment is more important today than it ever has been with the immense levels of plastic pollution in all the world’s oceans today. The Environmental Award went to a vessel which has environmental stewardship education as part of their on board training.”

As a charity it is great for Adventure Wales to be recognised publicly for the work that the Challenge Wales charity is doing in this area.

And this award couldn’t have come at a better time!!! In a couple of days time the Volvo Ocean Race fleet races into Cardiff and on 31st May we are welcoming Dee Caffari, Skipper of Turn the Tide on Plastic onboard Challenge Wales that will be moored within the Volvo Ocean Race village. Although we are wanting to talk to her about our sustainability actions and of course our newly won Environment Award, we can’t wait to ask her about her adventures and ask her some questions too!!

The Tall Ships Regatta, organised by Sail Training International, brings young people from all over Europe together in a spectacular youth and cultural event and the young people onboard Adventure Wales will be representing Wales and the UK. Adventure Wales will race with the fleet before returning back to Penarth on the 5th June 2018.  The race starts in Liverpool and when the event took place previously around a million people turned out for the four-day festive maritime extravaganza.


Read about our sustainability activities here…

Adventure Wales has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund through Welsh Government.

Sailing to take centre stage in Cardiff

Challenge Wales raced in the world’s toughest yacht race, against the prevailing winds, now the next toughest yacht race rolls into town and it shouldn’t be missed!

The Volvo Ocean Race is endurance like no other. Professional teams race against each other around the world facing the toughest conditions the oceans can throw at them. It’s endurance, teamwork, adventure, inspiration and challenge rolled into one, and a big one at that.

The event brings the top performers of the sailing world together but you don’t need to be a sailor or interested in sailing to get involved in the event when it rolls into Cardiff this month as the race has an environmental message with it which we can all take something from.

Leg 7, Auckland to Itajai, start day. 18 March, 2018.

The 45,000 mile race now has the end in sight and the next big race-leg is across the Atlantic from Newport (Rhode Island, USA), up the Bristol Channel and into Cardiff (Wales).

Although Challenge Wales is bigger than the Volvo boats, ok only by a few feet, the Volvo yachts are pure racing machines bred for speed and fly through the water in a not-to-be-missed spectacle. This is the first time the race, in its entire history (since 1974) has called into a Welsh port so it is going to be something pretty special.

During the two weeks that the event is in Cardiff, the Race Village is where you need to head to and will be open (free of charge) to the public. Make your way to the Barrage (from either the Penarth or Cardiff end) and follow the crowd and the buzz of excitement that will be wafting through the sea-air. You will be able to get close to the boats and the teams in this carnival-like atmosphere.

Challenge Wales racing in Round the Island Race and will be heading out to greet the fleet into Cardiff

 

There is a strong sustainability message that comes with the race and one we all need to learn from. We hope that this is the legacy that the race will leave. Marine litter is playing a huge part in devastating the oceans and the wildlife that lives there. If you don’t live near the sea you might not realise this. We need to leave the world for the next generation to enjoy and at this rate with rivers clogged with plastic bottles and straws and microplastics getting into some of the remotest parts of the world and into the food chain it is frightening what will happen next. The event is going to help us think about how we can look after the world better than we are doing now. Something as simple as giving up using plastic straws (there are some great non-plastic alternatives out there), can make a huge difference. The event has also made Challenge Wales think about its sustainability activities too. You can also check out our Marine Litter blog.

With around 200,000 visitors expected to descend into the area for the event, there’s going to be an atmosphere like no other.

What not to miss:

  • A visit to Penarth – Although Cardiff is the host port, the seaside town next door is going to be THE place to watch the boats on the water. The cliff top and the promenade will be great options for the in-port race plus there are lots of retail businesses and restaurants waiting to welcome you. And, if you can pick up a copy of the local Penarth View magazine or follow them on twitter it will give you lots of useful information about the town. It’s a great read!
  • The arrival of the boats – Who knows when the boats will arrive? They are due in 27th – 29th May so Challenge Wales | Wales’ Tall Ship is going to go out hunting for them, for three days via Lundy Island, with the aim to be first on the scene. We want to personally welcome Turn the Tide on Plastic boat who we have been following throughout the race. Will they race across the Atlantic really quickly or will winds in the wrong direction hamper progress?
  • A free festival – It’s half term so bring the family out to soak up the race atmosphere in the Race Village and on the Barrage
  • The Race start – on 10th June the boats will depart Cardiff and head off on the next leg of the race. Jump onboard a spectator boat to get as close to the action as you can. Both Challenge Wales and Adventure Wales will be on the water as spectator boats so why not jump aboard, either on your own or with a couple of friends and have a fab afternoon on the water.

Check out the Volvo Ocean Race Cardiff Stopover website for details of what’s going on.
And, don’t forget that we’ll be enjoying the Volvo Ocean Race atmosphere both on and off the water so come and join us. Read more about our Volvo Ocean Race activities and jump aboard.

Volvo Pics courtesy of Jesus Renedo

Pub Quiz raises almost £200!

Move over Mastermind, University Challenge and Eggheads as this week it was the local Penarth pub quiz and a chance to raise money for Challenge Wales.

Teams of regular quizzers as well as volunteers from Challenge Wales came together at the Windsor Pub, Penarth, to test their  knowledge.

As the quizmaster read out the questions, it was heads down and pens to the ready. Faint whispers travelled around the bar & restaurant as we tried to recall our music knowledge from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, guess the pictures round where we realised squinting at the pictures doesn’t really make any difference and put our general knowledge and geography to the test.

Many thanks to the companies and individuals who donated no fewer than 11 prizes for the fundraising raffle including:

The evening raised almost £200 for Challenge Wales and will contribute to the Challenge Wales bursary fund enabling young people to access our youth development opportunities. It’s a big thank you to everyone who took part!

In less than 10 months, the Windsor Pub has raised a whopping £4520 for local charities and whichever charity you are supporting it is certainly a really welcoming, social evening.


The Windsor Pub, Penarth hosts a community quiz the last Tuesday of the month raising funds for local charities. You can book directly with the pub or turn up on the evening.

Plastic Marine Litter on our Doorstep

Marine litter has been a part of Challenge Wales’ sail training adventures over the years. It’s taken teamwork to recover disused fishing nets that were just left bobbing in the sea and deliver them to a local marina, we’ve sailed past thinning, faded, plastic carrier bags and been nestled in marinas where a change of wind direction and raised river levels have created masses of driftwood and ‘drift plastic’ to congregate. Even on a quiet, windless day, white items of plastic including empty drinks bottles, sweet wrappers and straws can be seen floating in Penarth Marina.

Over the last eight months we’ve been researching the unfantastic plastic and marine litter problem to see how we can really make a difference. We’ve been speaking to organisations who are playing their part nationally in Wales so that we know who to feed our findings or research into, we’ve been doing some market research and thinking about how our future actions can link into the bigger picture….and what a big picture it is becoming.

Challenge Wales plays a large educational role within Wales. Not just in alternative curriculum programmes and accredited learning but through our engagement with children and adults within school, college, university and the work place who jump onboard and into our outdoor classroom. In 2018, to underpin our educational programme and youth adventures will be awareness of marine litter and one-use plastic with a particular focus on plastic water bottles. We want to help change thinking in a throw-away society and bring some new conversations to the table and the people, organisations and suppliers we work with.

TV programmes, blogs, newspapers, social media, conversations, radio have been great in raising awareness of the plastics issue but what next?

Like many, we watched the recent BBC programme Blue Planet II, like many (no doubt) we ordered the free Oceans Poster/Educational pack that was advertised after the show to help us learn more about marine life and the issues around microplastics and marine litter, and to share this knowledge with those who come onboard. With anticipation when our pack arrived we ripped open the plastic package it came in, and like many (hopefully) we popped the plastic envelope in our recycle bin. We had assumed it was recyclable, it must be, surely?!

Our plastic envelope had a 5 PP symbol on it. It’s got recycling arrows on it so must be ok to recycle, surely?

And, this is where awareness kicks in. We had assumed a few arrows in a triangle shape had meant it was recyclable and our local council website suggested all plastics can be recycled, but an online search revealed a Grade 5 plastic made from Polypropylene (shown as PP on the envelope) might not be. But surely such a powerful programme about our oceans and the importance of protecting them in which David Attenborough warned that plastic pollution was one issue that was threatening our oceans wouldn’t get the Open University to send out information in a package that was at the heart of the problem?

A quick call to the Open University, who had despatched the information, gave us not quite the answer we were looking for. But they said: “It can’t be recycled in your kerbside collection but you will need to find a supermarket that recycles carrier bags and they should be able to take it”. But if the plastic packaging was in fact recyclable then why did a packet of muffins with exactly the same logo on it have “Currently not recyclable” stamped clearly on the packaging?

So does this mean there are different plastic composites within different plastic packaging so that even with the same symbol some can be recyclable and some can’t?!

 

So, we went and did a teeny weeny bit of market research and showed 16 volunteers our empty plastic envelope that our poster had come in, followed by the unrecyclable muffin pack and pointing out the same logo, followed by putting our Open University/Blue Planet Poster back into the plastic envelope and re-circulating it. Gosh, what a gasp there was. OK it was a small sample size but it was proving a point. The majority thought that the plastic envelope was unrecyclable, with a couple suggesting to check it out with the council as it might be. And, with most thinking it was unrecyclable there was the shock and questions asked as to why was a programme raising awareness of plastic issues providing us with information in an unrecyclable plastic envelope.

It’s an interesting conversation piece! With our local supermarket advising us that they don’t do carrier bag recycling anymore it now looks like the plastic envelope that our Blue Planet/Open University poster came in….is not going to be able to be recycled and the consensus is that it wasn’t recyclable in the first place. But even if it was recyclable with the information we’ve received it was probably going to be disposed of in the refuse with the risk of becoming marine litter/microplastics and contributing to the problem. Can’t all packaging be labelled in the same way to help the consumer, clearly like our Muffins pack?

Challenge Wales is now going to be helping to turn the tide on plastic through our educational and adult programme and having more conversations like this.

Our first step, yes – you can probably guess, is the one-use plastic water bottle. The Challenge Wales charity hasn’t purchased bottled water to go onboard the boat since it’s been operating. We carry our own water (yep that’s a whopping 1,760 litres of it on Challenge Wales and an almost equal amount on Adventure Wales) so we’ll be discouraging (as we progress to banning) everyone from coming onboard with a single use plastic water bottle and, with financial support, our aim is to be able to provide ALL our guests with a refillable water bottle.

This is the start of our own awareness as we bring the conversation of one use plastic and the impact of marine litter to the table.


As of writing this our plastic envelope is sat in the office on the desk as we really hope it is recyclable.

Challenge Wales sail training vessel has Blue Flag Status through Sail Training International. Blue Flag is a programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education and we play our part through our actions and education in protecting our marine environment.