Voyage of Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:43:00 +0000

The Voyage Of Recovery – A First Mate's Story, Leg 4.

For more latest (plus tracking!): www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

I've just got back from a week on Tectona with 11 people in recent (or fairly recent) rehab from drugs and alcohol. Not only were they delightful company, and not only did we achieve some serious passages, but the words 'life-changing' keep coming into my head. Even though I've been sailing on and off for over 55 years this trip has affected me in the same way. I need to try and work out why.

Clearly, this has got to be rooted in both the boat and the people. I've often heard it said that sailing is all about the people and the boat is merely a tool for them to use, but I don't agree. Tectona has a strong personality of her own, which makes a clear impact on those who sail in her. They often say "I love this boat" and they are usually referring to the way she has looked after them, made them feel secure, and how their physical effort has been rewarded by crossing longish distances of potentially threatening sea. The gear is heavy, but not too heavy for you to rapidly get good at handling it in teams of 2 or 3 people, and a well-executed tack or gybe soon becomes a very satisfying achievement. At these times, the boat is dictating what has to be done right now, and personal issues have to take second place or be put on the back burner for a bit. But the voyage is absolutely about those issues, so it is usually not long before there is a lull in activity on deck and people relax and talk.

On this most recent leg of the VOR, my job as first mate became much easier and more rewarding once the tasks began to be understood by the guest crew. This also meant I had to understand them myself first! Particularly the art of sweating and tailing on a rope is key, because the boat will not sail well (or even completely safely) until this is mastered by most if not all of the people working on deck. I'm naturally fairly quiet and it takes an effort to use a loud voice to goad people into action; sometimes with such words as swabs or even scurvy dogs (for emphasis, you understand). So when the teamwork was settling down I became much happier, and I was then able to begin to discover about the delightful individuals we had on board. The humour was simply amazing. One time we were hoisting headsails. "Right, fore-stays'l!" I shouted. "Bless you!" came the reply from the team. We all fell about and took several minutes before we had enough breath to even think of pulling on a rope.

Perhaps unlike other groups of people who go sailing, rehab people have all been through some very tough times, and stories of emotional abuse in childhood are common. But despite this, the conversations are never self-pitying or mawkish, quite the reverse. There is a feeling of joie de vivre, an excitement and pleasure in simple things that had been impossible a few months ago. Our conversations very quickly became animated debates about some serious issues: Russell Brand; the meaning of Abstinence, or Is Everyone Addictable? These really stimulating talks went on sometimes for hours, often at night under a starlit sky.

Meanwhile Tectona would be forging through the waves, her steady onward surge giving a feeling of immense power with the balance of a thoroughbred. Looking aloft the main and topsail would be slowly making an arc against the sky, first one way then the other, blacking out the stars behind. The sails are inanimate sheets of Terylene stitched together by the consummate art of our traditional sailmaker; a part of what Frank Mulville called the symphony of spars, shrouds, halyards and sheets that have for centuries made up a traditional sailing boat. I couldn't think of anywhere else I would rather be.

R.C. 31^st August 2012.

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:36:00 +0000

The Voyage Of Recovery – A First Mate's Story, Leg 4.

I've just got back from a week on Tectona with 11 people in recent (or fairly recent) rehab from drugs and alcohol. Not only were they delightful company, and not only did we achieve some serious passages, but the words 'life-changing' keep coming into my head. Even though I've been sailing on and off for about 55 years this trip has affected me in the same way. I need to try and work out why.

R.C. 31^st August 2012.

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:14:00 +0000

WE'RE OFF! THE VOYAGE OF RECOVERY BEGINS.

Track Tectona in real-time on the Yellowbrick website: http://yb.tl/tectona

Tectona left Plymouth on Wednesday 1^st August on the first leg of the Voyage Of Recovery. This is the start of 12 weeks of sailing round the UK (to be precise, England, Wales and half of Scotland) and also the end point of months of work in association with our two partner charities; Island Trust who operate Tectona and Phoenix Futures.

As you can imagine the last 12 months have been a crescendo of work at many levels. Fundraising has been done by Phoenix, and over 50% of the costs have already been raised through activities such as supermarket bag-packs, a Dragon Boat day, a gala supper, the Bilge Rat Band's new and highly original CD (including their monster hit Mutiny In Barn Pool Bay and available from us at £5 if you send your contact details), themed dress days, and many more activities as well as approaching numerous funding bodies, plus new and existing benefactors.

Each voyage will have a team from a different Phoenix unit around the UK. There will be 10 service users and 2 Phoenix staff sailing Tectona under the watchful eye of the 3 Sea Staff – Conall Morisson (Skipper), Ryan Lloyd or Jim Whiteford (First Mates) and Darren Long (Second Mate) plus a handful of Volunteers including Roger and Barbara Crabtree.

Our recent experience with this work is that Tectona really does make a difference to people in Recovery with an effect similar to that achieved with 'disadvantaged youngsters', only for Rehab People the effect seems even more potent. We have had markedly better outcomes in terms of staying off drugs, with the approx 30 Phoenix people who have been on Tectona voyages compared with their non-voyaging peers.

But although we all know it works, we are also now beginning a full University Research Study, being done by the Peninsula Medical School based in Plymouth and Exeter. The costs of this are being met by donations made to the Tectona Trust and we are extremely grateful to those who have helped us to fund this, as this aspect of our work will not only help us to raise more money in the future, but will also enable us to refine and improve the work we do as time goes on – many, many thanks!

Thanks again to everyone involved. More anon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 13:24:00 +0000

WE'RE OFF! THE VOYAGE OF RECOVERY BEGINS.

Track Tectona in real-time on the Yellowbrick website: http://yb.tl/tectona

But although we all know it works, we are also now beginning a full University Research Study, being done by the Peninsula Medical School based in Plymouth and Exeter. The costs of this are being met by donations made to the Tectona Trust and we are extremely grateful to those who have given us money, as this aspect of our work will not only help us to raise more money in the future, but also to refine and improve the work we do as time goes on – many, many thanks!

Tectona's first VoR voyage is from Plymouth to Portsmouth. She can be tracked

Thanks again to everyone involved. More anon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:29:00 +0000

2012 THE VOYAGE OF RECOVERY. Now taking shape!

For once the motley crew around Tectona's table were not youngsters needing a boost, but the stalwarts of the Voyage Of Recovery steering committee, drawn from Island Trust, Phoenix Futures and Tectona Trust. We had just been hearing the latest updates on the 12 Ports Tectona will visit and about the venues for the Promotion Days in Glasgow (5^th September), Tyneside (end September) and London (11^th October). Phoenix's imaginative and energetic approach to fundraising had also been discussed, not to mention the sales of the Bilge Rat Band's one-off CD including Mutiny in Barn Pool Bay, one of the scariest sea songs ever performed… Copies are available at £5 + p&p by contacting us through this website (see blue panel below).

Ports to be visited with dates:

Benefactors & supporters voyage: Plymouth to Portsmouth, 1^st-6^th August.

Portsmouth arrival 6^th August; departure 8^th August.

Milford Haven 14^th August

Holyhead 21^st August

Liverpool 28^th August

Glasgow Event 5^th September

Fort William 12^th September

Peterhead 19^th September

Tynemouth 26^th September

Ipswich 3^rd October

London Event, HMS President 11^th October

Portsmouth 17^th October

Plymouth 24^th October.

People often ask how an adventure sailing voyage fits in with someone's recovery from drugs, and at what stage it is most helpful. Our experience is that this only helps people once they have achieved abstinence from drugs, and what it brings is nothing medical but some intensive personal development. We think of 'Recovery' as the very long-term process (perhaps even life-long) by which an ex-user moves from Rehab back into Life. Rehab only takes you part of this journey, and for many people coming out of Rehab leaves them vulnerable because the underlying issues that drove them into drugs in the first place, may still be active and set to demolish their efforts to stay clean. At this time, a working voyage may give someone's self-respect a new lease of life, and give them confidence that a tough challenge can truly be met. One of the encouraging findings from previous research about adventure sailing is that these changes tend to be permanent and strong enough not to be knocked down by someone going back into a difficult living environment when the adventure is over.

Peninsula Medical School will be carrying out a new research project on the VOR. It will be both a quantitative and qualitative study. This aims to establish the effectiveness of the voyage experience for Service Users and to identify what aspects of the voyage were most / least helpful for Trainees. These plans are subject to confirmation at this stage.

We hope that, as well as the expected confirmation that adventure sailing does what it says on the tin (which everyone has known for years!), we will learn a lot about how this work is best done and be able to develop some Best Practice models. The outcomes from the study should be completed early in 2013.

More anon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:30:00 +0000

2012 THE VOYAGE OF RECOVERY. Now taking shape!

The map shows the Voyage Itinerary and further revisions are likely, though now they should be minor!

More info: www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

More anon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:25:00 +0000

2012 THE VOYAGE OF RECOVERY. Now taking shape!

The map shows the Voyage Itinerary and further revisions are likely, though now they should be minor!

For more info on the VOR, see: www.phoenix-futures.org.uk

More anon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:17:00 +0000

February 12^th - The 2012 Voyage Of Recovery is starting to take shape.

Why are we doing this?

It was all Stu's idea. Why should Phoenix Alpha, the Southampton Residential Service, keep a good thing all to themselves? Phoenix is a UK-wide organisation, and the Innovator Factor competition in December was the perfect venue for a bid to take everyone sailing!

When we sat down and looked at it, it was true that the 30 Alpha clients who had been on Tectona seemed to be doing a lot better than might have been expected, in fact 98% of them were still clean after 6, 12, even 18 months. Maybe we really had hit on something here.

Darren was soon on board in every sense and at an early meeting in Somerset we concocted a seriously persuasive power point. Not content with that, Darren insisted on starting the presentation off with one of his voice-broken-at-the capstan-bars sea songs, a combination of Johnny Cash and acute laryngitis.

You know the rest; the competition was won, Phoenix were right behind us to get the Voyage off the ground as soon as possible. They have been magnificent. 5 1/2 months to go...

The 12 weeks will be crewed by groups from different Phoenix locations. Client selection is as ever key, and our absolute rule is that people must be abstinent and proven to be so. One of the fundamental ideas of Tectona Trust's approach to this work with rehab people is that abstinence, hard though it is, is the first step to rebuilding one's self esteem and value. This is non negotiable. We do not take this lightly, and are seriously impressed by the success people have – Darren is a case in point.

We now have the schedule of ports that will be visited, as follows:

Portsmouth (arrive Monday 6^th Aug)

Milford Haven (arrive Tues 14^th Aug)

Holyhead (Tues 21^st Aug)

Liverpool (Tues 28^th Aug having visited Isle of Man)

Glasgow (Tues 4^th Sept)

There will be an 'open boat' day on Wed 5^th Sept in Glasgow.

Fort William (Wed 12^th Sept)

Aberdeen (Wed 19^th Sept)

Hartlepool (Wed 26^th Sept)

Ipswich (Wed 3^rd Oct)

London (Wed 10^th Oct)

There will be an 'open boat' day on Thurs 11^th Oct in London.

Portsmouth (Wed 17^th Oct)

There will be a special delivery voyage back to Plymouth, arriving on Wed 24^th October.

As the time comes nearer we will post on this blog, the details of where Tectona will be, so do come and say hello!

Finally, we are busily fundraising for the Voyage – and to pay for the research we plan to do, to validate our gut feeling that this really works.

If you're able to support us with money or other help, please make contact through the "If you'd like to be kept informed" blue panel below on our main page.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!

More info at: http://www.phoenix-futures.org.uk/

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Details of the 2012 Voyage Of Recovery will appear here soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tectona Blog) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:08:00 +0000

This is a new blog set up to feed the latest news about Tectona and the Voyage of Recovery to the website.