Volunteer Information

SAVE THE DATE
Saturday March 1st 2025** – Volunteer Conference for ALL volunteers – Venue Cardiff Bay Hotel (9.30pm – 5pm). This will count towards 1 day of your 2 training days required to be a volunteer crew person.

This page provides essential information for volunteers. It includes the crew schedule, training dates, policies, merchandise, expenses, and details about safeguarding training. Remember to check back periodically for updates. 🌟

What is a Shore-side volunteer?
Helping shore-side can mean helping with ship-shape days (that’s maintenance), fundraising (with a collection pot or organising a pub quiz or cake bake day at your work), manning a stand or helping with boat tours and some of our events when the boat isn’t sailing.

What is a Crew volunteer?
If you are one of our volunteer crew then your role is to crew the boat supporting young people and adults to get the best out of the day, while of course having fun yourself!

Returning to Challenge Wales soon after your qualifying trip makes jumping back onboard less nerve-wracking. For new volunteers or those returning after a long break, attending a crew training day, working through your Personal Logbook and getting competencies signed off, and actively participating onboard are essential for building confidence. 🌟

THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON 23rd December with further updates on Maintenance timings, some changes to training sessions and the addition of First Aid courses and VHF Assessments as well as the first draft of our 2025 Sailing Schedule.

CREWING and the SCHEDULE

CREW SCHEDULE:

Please find the first draft of the Crew Schedule here. There are still some gaps as we need to shuffle some residential voyages around to accommodate some day voyages. Please put yourself forward for the voyages you can do.

To put yourself forward for crew just let us know which voyage number/date you would like to crew on and email the Challenge Wales office. If you have multiple dates of availability please select your preferred choices or order of preference and we will do our best to accommodate. We try to confirm back to you as soon as possible and will aim to do this within 5 working days or immediately if voyages are within the next 7 days.

YOUR FEEDBACK

We want to give volunteers a space for providing Challenge Wales with feedback of your experiences. You may wish to remain anonymous or you may wish to leave your name so that we can respond directly – either is fine. Challenge Wales is a small charity that continues to grow and evolve and without our volunteers we wouldn’t be the charity we are today.

Provide your feedback here.

POSTERS

We’ve produced some posters that volunteers can use to put up on community notice boards, pubs, yacht clubs, company offices etc. Please make sure you have permission before posting them! You can find them here.

The posters can also be found as a dropdown under the ‘Support Us’ tab on our website

Shore-side Maintenance

If you are unable to volunteer as crew, then why not continue to be part of the Challenge Wales community and help with maintenance?

MAINTENANCE: 2025
All activities unless stated will run 10am – 4pm and please bring a packed lunch if undertaking Maintenance locally in Penarth.

**Due to the volume of maintenance work required, particularly in Gosport, if you know anyone who might be interested in helping for a week or two in particular then please let us know**

January Maintenance:

3rd & 4th January – Skilled and unskilled maintenance (survey specific, painting, planned maintenance)
6th , 7th, 8th January – Skilled and unskilled maintenance (survey specific, painting, planned maintenance)
9th – 10th January – Tidying up and doing the inventory in our workshop/store room (based in the office). Hands are needed to help move things. Several hands welcome – no skills required.
10th January 2025 – Planned Maintenance – if there are sufficient hands then maintenance will continue on the boat as well as activities in the workshop / store room.
16th & 17th January 2025 – Planned Maintenance (skilled and unskilled hands required)
20th, 21st & 22nd January 2025 – Skilled and unskilled hands required
31st January 2025 – several people required to help reinstall wind sensor on the mast with the new cable. This will mean someone going up the mast and several people below to help hoist person safely.

February Maintenance

1st & 2nd February – Deep Clean of Challenge Wales and testing of equipment before departure to Gosport
9th February – 2 x transporter sized vans required to bring sails and line from Haslar to office. Extra pair of hands needed to help move items from van into office on arrival in Penarth
10th – 16th February 2025 – Lift Out Prep – Haslar Marina, Gosport. This will involve the removal of the interior of the boat (including the Galley). A maximum of 6 people but a minimum of 2 volunteers required. Accommodation during this time will be onboard Challenge Wales.
16th February 2025 – 2 x transporter size vans required to take interior of boat back to Penarth
17th – 19th February – Boat in yard. Minimum of 2 volunteers and maximum of 4 required (Accommodation will be off the boat)
24th – 27th February – Boat in yard. Minimum of 2 volunteers and a maximum of 4 required (Accommodation will be off the boat)

March Maintenance

- 6th – 24th March 2025 – Hull Painting (weather dependent) but lots of skilled and unskilled jobs to do in Gosport in the Boat yard culminating with reassembling the boat. A minimum of 2 volunteers are required and a maximum of 4 throughout this whole maintenance period. (Accommodation will be off the boat)
- 17th March 2025 – 2 x transporter vans to return the interior of the boat from Penarth to Gosport. A couple of hands required in Penarth to help reload vans.
- 27th March 2025 – 2 x transporter vans required to return the sails / lines / other kit from Penarth to Gosport. A couple of hands required in Penarth to help reload vans.
- 27th – 29th March 2025 – Challenge Wales launch, final refit and deep clean prior to youth group joining at Haslar at 4pm on 29th March to sail boat back to Penarth. Minimum of 4 required and maximum of 8 (accommodation provided off the boat).

Anyone planning to attend should contact the office to let them know you are planning to come and so that we can organise jobs. Snacks and refreshments provided. If you can come for a morning or afternoon while the boat is in Penarth then great (please let us know when) and if you are coming for the whole day, please bring a packed lunch with you. Food will be provided in Gosport. Please let us know as soon as possible if you can help so that we can manage tasks and co-ordinate travel/accommodation if travelling to/from Gosport.

To avoid lone working and to reduce risks, no volunteers should just turn up and undertake a job on their own without liaising with the office or the Skipper.

Crew Training (Shore-side and on boat)

There are several different crew training sessions you can join, to try and make it easier for you we have blocked them together on training subject rather than a huge list! You can attend a training topic more than once if you need to.

Please don’t be offended if we invite you to more training – it’s part of your personal development enabling the young people to get the most out of their experience.

You will notice that there are lots of opportunities to do training on consecutive days. If you wish to stay overnight please let us know so we can book you in. There is no additional charge for staying overnight but you do need to sort your own food out.

**YOUNG VOLUNTEERS TRAINING SAIL (ages 16 – 25)**
Ideal for; any volunteers of any level aged 16 – 25 years
Time commitment; 1 day
Numbers; Up to 10 young volunteers plus additional volunteer crew
Am I sailing; Yes
Is there a crew fee; Yes, £10 but if you are a youth member this will be reduced.
When;

Sat 18th January 2025 (9am – 4pm) – Boat familiarisation, Emergency systems and safety processes, Sailing techniques – pontoon based
For our young volunteers aged 18 – 25 years, then please note there is adult volunteer training on the following day, after the above so you are welcome to stay the night on board.

** BOAT FAMILIARISATION & SAFETY SYSTEMS **
Ideal for; new volunteers, those who haven’t sailed for a while, those who just want a refresh, those who want to build more confidence or tick a couple of things off their Personal Competency Log.
Time Commitment; 2.5 hours (10am – 12.30pm or 1 – 3.30pm)
Numbers; 5 or 6 people on each one
Am I sailing?; No, this is pontoon based and will happen regardless of weather
Is there a crew fee?: No crew fee will be charged
When;

Sun 5th January 2025 (9.30 – 12.30 Morning session only)
Sat 11th January 2025
Sun 12th January 2025
Sat 5th April 2025
Fri 16th May 2025
Sat 13th Sep 2025

** SNAKEPIT AND REEFING TRAINING **
Ideal for; those who are unable to run the snakepit on their own or reef, those who haven’t sailed for a while and need to update themselves on any new reefing or snakepit processes.
Time Commitment; 1 day
Numbers; Up to 12 people on each session
Am I sailing; Yes, this activity will take place at sea
Is there a crew fee? Yes, a £10 crew fee will be charged, and lesser crew fee for youth members

Sun 19th January 2025 (9.00am – 4.00pm) – This is now changed to MOB Training on Pontoon.
Fri 11th April 2025 (9am – 4.30pm)
Sun 14th September 2025 (9am – 4.30pm)

** MAN OVERBOARD DRILLS (MOB) **
Ideal for; Everyone – you can’t have too much MOB training
Time Commitment; 1 day
Numbers; Up to 12 people on each session
Am I sailing; Yes – this will be a combination of Sailing and Shore time
Is there a crew fee; Yes – a £10 crew fee will be charged, and lesser crew fee for youth members
When;

19th January (9.30am – 4.30pm) – MOB training on Pontoon
Saturday 10th May 2025 (9.30am – 4.30pm) *Live rescue with Live person
Sunday 11th May 2025 (9.30am – 4.30pm) * Live rescue with Live person
Sunday 12th October 2025 (9am – 4pm)

** BOAT HANDLING – WATCHLEADERS & MATES **
Ideal for; Watchleaders, Mates and those wishing to become Mates
Time Commitment; 1 day
Numbers; Maximum of 4
Am I sailing; Sort of, you will be manoeuvring in open and close quarters.
Is there a crew fee; Yes there will be a £10 crew fee
When;

Saturday 12th April 2024 (9.30am – 4.30pm)

** WATCHLEADERS & MATES – EMERGENCY DRILLS **
Ideal for; Watchleaders, Mates and those wishing to be Mates
Time Commitment: 1 day
Numbers; Maximum of 12
Am I sailing; Be prepared to, but not necessarily
Is there a crew fee; Yes, there will be a £10 crew fee. If you don’t sail, the crew fee will be waived
When;

Sunday 13th April (9.30am – 3.30pm)

If you are interested in attending any of the training sessions please email the office

Below you will find details of some of our manuals however, we’ve popped the Draft Training Manual here as it is a really useful document. It is for REFERENCE ONLY as it is a live document and does not form part of our policies or procedures but is a very, very useful read!

POST-CREW TRAINING SURVEY:
IF YOU HAVE UNDERTAKEN CREW TRAINING THEN PLEASE COMPLETE THE VOLUNTEER CREW SURVEY. It should take 3 minutes to complete. Just click here to complete the survey.

Shore-side Training

SEA-ing the bigger picture is a shore-side training session that focusses on working with young people, understanding youth work, safeguarding and safeguarding scenarios and can help towards getting the soft skills element of your Personal Logbook signed off. Attendees of these sessions have found them extremely beneficial.
2025 Dates will be announced shortly

RYA Courses

16th January – RYA First Aid Course. 9am – 5pm at Challenge Wales office, Penarth.
£92 volunteers | £85 for volunteers who are Members. Limited places available. If you are currently signed off as a Mate then you should have already been contacted about this course. 2 places available.

16th January (evening) – VHF Assessment (evening at Challenge Wales office, Penarth). Cost £84 volunteers | £77 Members for the online course and and additional £76 for the VHF exam which is paid directly to the RYA to pay for the examiner/assessment/certificate. Limited places available. Prior to the assessment you would have undertaken the online VHF course through Challenge Wales’ Chief Instructor. If you are interested then please contact the office. If you are currently signed off as a Mate then you should have already been contacted about this course.

17th January – RYA First Aid Course. 9am – 5pm at Challenge Wales office, Penarth
£92 volunteers | £85 for volunteers who are Members. Limited places available. if you are currently signed off as a Mate then you should have already been contacted about this course. 8 places available. Minimum number of 4 needed to run course.

Safeguarding Training

All volunteers are required to undertake safeguarding training. This will need to be undertaken either before you continue volunteering with us. This is being provided free of charge and can be accessed here: Group A Safeguarding | Social Care Wales
Once you have completed the module and downloaded your certificate please email it to reservations@challengewales.org If you have undertaken Group A Safeguarding in your line of work or other volunteering activities then please forward us your certificate. This training has been developed in line with changes in safeguarding legislation in Wales.

VOLUNTEER EXPENSES

Volunteers who have helped to crew the boat, helped with maintenance or helped with a shore-side activity can claim their travel expenses in 2024 so that you are not out of pocket. At the moment this is for reasonable travel costs in the UK (e.g. 2nd class train travel, bus, car, bike). At the moment we do not fund any travel outside the UK (e.g. Tall Ships Racing) or personal travel insurance. We also don’t fund food or drinks while travelling and suggest you take your own packed lunch if required.

If you do not want to claim your travel expenses, we encourage you to claim them but then donate it back to the charity which means we can often gift aid it as a donation – and is a great way to support Challenge Wales. We also encourage car sharing to help keep costs down.

Please note: As per our Volunteer Expenses Policy any travel being booked online should be checked whether it can be booked through Donation platforms such as Easyfundraising or Give as You Live and if eligible bookings made through these sites. To sign up to these please visit the Shop and Raise Funds page on our website. If you need help with this please contact the office.

Please note that ALL expense claims must be submitted to the office within 30 days of the activity taking place. And, have the appropriate receipts.

You will need to complete two forms and return these to the office when completing volunteer expenses. We suggest for ease that one claim is submitted for each month (so you don’t need to complete a form for each activity if you do multiple activities in a month).

Any volunteer claiming Expenses should read Challenge Wales Volunteer Expenses Policy for the full details.

Expense Claim Form: CWF 17
Claiming Expenses Bank Form: CWF 111
Skipper Accounts Form: CWF 26

Getting Ready for your voyage - UPDATE and MEDICAL Forms

Every 12 months we will ask volunteers to complete an:

Update Form: CWF 98 Update Form Rev 1 (which includes consent for photos/video)
Medical Declaration Form: CWF 01 Medical Declaration Form Rev 12

If you haven’t completed one within the last 12 months, you will be required to complete them before sailing with us.

Once you have completed your update form in 2024, you will not be asked to complete another one unless your details have changed OR you change your photo consent decision.

PLEASE EMAIL THESE FORMS TO THE CHALLENGE WALES OFFICE OR POST THEM TO THE NEW OFFICE:
CHALLENGE WALES, CROWN HOUSE, WINDSOR ROAD, PENARTH, CF64 1JG

If you are contacted regarding a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check, please respond to the email as you will not be able to sail on our adult and youth voyages without an Enhanced DBS. We will contact you when it is time to renew it and can undertake this free of charge for you. We encourage all volunteers to register their DBS online as soon as possible to make it portable.

Volunteer Competency Log and Pre Requisites

Please note the Volunteer Competency Log is now updated for 2024 to include current competencies and revised competencies, including soft skills and will be in place ready for the start of crew training.

Crewing Competencies; Check here what qualifications or experience you need to be one of our crew and if you wish to progress to the next level (*Please note all crew should be progressing from Trainee to Competent/Experienced).

While this section of the website is waiting for updating, the competency log syllabus can be viewed in the February E-newsletter.

Read the latest Volunteer E-newsletter...

If you’ve missed a volunteer e-newsletter then you can find the last few e-newsletters here:

30th August 2024 vols
12th July 2024 Vols
24th June Adventure Wales Impact
14th June crew Request Vols
5th June 2024 Volunteers Week
10th may 2024 Vols

Merchandise

If you wish to purchase any Merchandise, please order by the Friday by contacting the office. Your order will be placed on the following Tuesday. You can check out the Merchandise here
Gill Marine Merchandise can be ordered at any time as we don’t keep stock onsite.
All volunteers get a discount off merchandise, and Challenge Wales Members get an additional discount.

RYA Shore Side Courses

We are not running any shore side courses at the moment.

Challenge Wales cannot run Day Skipper (Practical) or higher practical courses as our vessels are too big. If you wish to look at which other operators are running RYA courses please visit the RYA website Course Finder here.

Policies and Manuals

Volunteer Expenses Policy Rev 1
Drug and Alcohol Policy Rev 9
Health and Safety Policy Rev 9
Child Protection Policy CWP03 Rev 9
Equal Opportunities & Diversity Policy Rev 7
Volunteer Policy Rev 14 (CWP 06)
Ex Offenders Policy Rev 7
Waste and Garbage Management Policy Rev 6
Behaviour Policy Rev 2
Anti Bribery Policy Rev 2
Code of Conduct Policy Rev 4 (CWP 14)
Environmental Policy Rev 2
E-Safety Policy Rev 2
Social Media Policy Rev 0

Manuals
By signing off on your Volunteer Competency Log that you are aware of, and have read, the Manual’s and policies on this page (which are also on the boat and in the office) means that you have read and understood the documents above and below. If you have any questions about this please speak to the office or the Skipper.
CWM 01 Section 2 – Operations and Responsibilities Rev 10
CWM 01 Section 3 – Health and Safety Rev 8
CWM 01 Section 4 – Volunteers Rev 6
CWM 01 Section 5 – Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Rev 3
CWM 01 Section 6 – DBS and Criminal Convictions Rev 4
CWM 02 – Emergency Offshore Response Plan (Challenge Wales) Rev 11
CWM 04 (CW) – Safety Equipment Training Manual Rev 10
CWM 11 Training Manual Rev 2

Policies, procedures and manuals are reviewed annually or earlier if legislation changes or an earlier review is needed.

Operational Notices

Operational Notices are written when we need to tell our volunteers something important or we have changed the way we do something.

SEA-ing the Bigger Picture: Shore side Training

Below is the presentation and handouts that were used at the recent Shore side course:
Shore Side Training Presentation

HANDOUTS
Youth Work in Wales Principles & Purposes
Trans*form – Transgender Young People in Wales Video
Working Together to Keep People Safe
Sea and Tell
Position of Trust Guidance
Outcomes Compass
Volunteer Competency Log
Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form
Behaviour Contract
Teamwork Workbook
Teamwork Workbook (Cover page)
ASTO Theory of Change

What can I do at home...

What can I do at home?
Before your voyage you can make yourself aware of what is missing on your Volunteer Competency Log to see what areas you need to learn more in. If you can’t complete one or more items then you need to find the answer. You might want to think about purchasing an RYA Competent Crew book (available through Challenge Wales at £10) to learn the basics. An essential skill is to tie knots. Most knots have several different ways to be tied but it is essential that you know how to tie knots (as indicated in the Volunteer Competency Log) quickly and correctly AND be confident in showing young people. We’ve come across a website to help you learn your basic knots (Bowline, Single & Double Sheet Bend, Reef Knot, Clove Hitch, Round Turn & Two Half Hitches, Rolling Hitch, Lightermans Hitch) check our the interactive website here.

The best way to get in touch regarding volunteering is to email the office.

If you aren’t able to do this or have any questions or queries then please call on 029 20 704 657

Crew Fees

Crew fees are in place so that crew contribute primarily to food/fuel costs while onboard. Other sail training organisations charge more for training (we’ve seen this at £99 for a weekend of training) and require volunteers to pay an annual crew fee where as we have aimed to keep ours as low as possible and are charged on the days you are onboard.

Crew fees are £10 per day each day you are onboard with us regardless of what type of voyage it is. If you are on a residential and you join us on Day 1 (e.g. Monday afternoon) and depart on Day 3 (e.g. Wednesday morning), this is classed as 3 days so £30 would be due.

Members of the charity who are paying a monthly contribution to Challenge Wales do NOT pay a crew fee on youth voyages. Young Person Members (so those who are in education and under 26 years and pay an annual membership fee) will also received a reduced crew fee on standard voyages (non-young people trips). Details of the Membership scheme can be found on our Membership page on the website.

Crew fees are not charged when volunteers are staying onboard for an open day event (e.g. Bristol Harbour Festival where a crew fee would be charged to take the boat there but not for the few days of the festival when volunteers are undertaking boat tours even though we are providing food). Likewise, crew fees are not charged when staying on the boat and helping with maintenance.

Volunteer travel expenses are at the moment not normally paid although we are working to try and bring in more funding to be able to offer this.

Volunteer Induction Info

Volunteer inductions are there to give volunteers a snapshot of what is expected of them and how we operate and includes some behind the scenes information on why we do things.

Read the latest Volunteer Induction Presentation here.

SAVE THE DATE ** Saturday March 1st 2025 – Volunteer Conference for ALL volunteers – Venue Cardiff Bay Hotel (9.30pm – 5pm). This will count towards 1 day of your 2 training days required to be a volunteer crew person.

SAVE THE DATE
Saturday March 1st 2025** – Volunteer Conference for ALL volunteers – Venue Cardiff Bay Hotel (9.30pm – 5pm). This will count towards 1 day of your 2 training days required to be a volunteer crew person.