Balby Carr students sail to Tall Ships Festival in Belgium Wednesday 21st July 2010   Following the success of the previous 2 sailing trips, we at Balby Carr thought it would be a good idea to step up the challenge and take part in the Tall Ships Festival which is a huge annual event that sees 100s of boats take part in races between different countries.   The trip started in Ipswich and we sailed over on a 36 hour trip, settling into watch systems nicely, with 3 hours on and 6 hours off to rest, with hardly any seasickness this year. We arrived in a quaint little village in Holland called Middleburg and spent the night being entertained by a male choir singing songs for us. The next day we had an early start—up at 5.30 am and we started the 80 mile trip to Antwerp—our end port.   After waiting for 4 hours to get into the lock in 36 degree heat we made out berth with Kate Bowskill driving us through the next set of bridges and settled in for 3 days. With awesome thunderstorms on the Saturday night, a 5 aside footy comp, a crew parade and party, the World Cup final in the central square with 1000s of other people, a bike ride around the city of Antwerp—it will be a difficult trip to beat next year!   Over the week we travelled 194 miles with a maximum wind force of 4. 5 people achieved their RYA Start Yachting qualification with one person gaining Competent Crew and being invited back to train as Bosun.   Our return journey took 24 hours and we travelled by foot, train to Brugge, bus to Zeebrugge and then the overnight ferry back into Hull. A great experience by all and most are looking to return next year. Bring it on!!   Students taking part were...   Lee Bell Y12 Martin Dickens Y13 Rachel Ardron Y12 Kate Bowskill Y11 Cheltsea Scott Y11 Heather Sowden Y11 Sam Collins Ex student Graham Bell School Governor Sarah Warner Y12 Laura Kilpatrick Y12   Miss Tredinnick Trip Organiser