If you are joining us from a school, youth group or are a parent and bringing young people onboard, the following documents may be useful;
Code of Conduct (for participants): Our staff and volunteers prioritise the welfare of young people, providing a safe, positive, inclusive environment. All participants taking part in our activities will need to abide by our Code of Conduct. This will be provided at the start of the voyage for everyone to sign and can be found here.
Risk Management Policy: Challenge Wales operates a robust risk management system, including risk assessments for sail training activities, shore-side activities and activities within its office. You can read more here.
Accompanying Risk Document: This can be read in conjunction with the above Risk Management Policy and provides further information that schools may need. You can read this here.
Risk Assessments: Please initially refer to the above policy which mentions why we do not just send out risk assessments. Copies are available to review in the office and on the boat. We know that it is good practice to seek details from us of our safety management practices but that does not necessarily mean requesting copies of risk assessments. Challenge Wales invites group leaders to visit the boat and undertake their own risk assessment or health and safety visit. A general risk assessment of sail training can be viewed here.
Insurance: Please find details of our current insurance
The Adventure Activities Licensing Service (AALS) have advised that Challenge Wales who is a Member of ASTO (Association of Sail Training Organisations) does not require an AALA licence. Further information confirming this can be read here.
Booking Terms and Conditions: These are available on each page of our website; www.challengewales.org and via a link from your booking form and can be found here.
Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy:
Our Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy is at the bottom of every page of our website, so it can be easily accessed. Please scroll down to read it.
The Boat:
Challenge Wales raced around the world in the Global Challenge Races and is a safe vessel for sail training. Challenge Wales is certified Category 1 by the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) and is permitted to operate up to 150 miles from a safe haven. Although the vessel could sail anywhere in the world at Category 0, we have opted not to be Cat 0 which is based on where our activities take place. Our vessel is surveyed by MECAL every year to ensure we sustain the standards to safely operate. This classification is part of the MCA’s coding system which sets out the operational limits and safety requirements for different vessels, including ours. For security reasons and to avoid information being potentially misused, we do not send details of our certificates or surveys out. If you wish to learn more about this, we suggest booking a visit to the boat to discuss this with the Skipper where you can also undertake your own risk assessment. However copies of documents, outside of regulatory requests, will not be issued.
Your Voyage:
Once you have completed your paperwork we will send you your joining instructions. This will include your Kit List. To help you plan your voyage you can find a kit list here. If you have any questions on this then please let us know.
The Skipper will form a passage plan for your trip. This is a ‘roadmap’ for the boat’s journey and includes the start and finish ports. Some of our passages have a definate start and finish port (these are often delivery trips or races) that need to be completed in a particular time. When booking a voyage you will be advised of the start and finish port, in most situations this will be the same port. Our passage plan can be effected by tides, weather, marina or port restrictions that are out of our control. Sometimes this might mean we anchor instead of going to a port or vice versa. We will have a rough indication of where we plan to go but plans will start to be finalised as we get closer to the voyage departure.