TAVISTOCK College student sailors have been awarded qualifications after spending a week on a tall ship.

A total of 55 young people from Tavistock College and five from Callington were taken on six trips by Tavistock Tall Ships (TTS) throughout 2009, and all achieved the Royal Yachting Association's internationally-recognised start yachting or competent crew certificates.

John Collacott, chairman of TTS and director of personal development at Tavistock College, said: 'We sail up to 360 nautical miles on the week-long trips and each student is on watch for up to ten hours during the night. Very often there are no adults there with them; it's just two students doing anchor watch. They're responsible for 14 other people's lives at night and they rise to the challenge.'

Such a high level of responsibility instils confidence and maturity in students, who often have a new outlook on life when they return to land.

Mr Collacott organised a party and presentation evening for the Tavistock College students to receive their qualifications.

He said: 'Congratulations to everyone for successfully completing the trip and RYA certificate.

'Thank you to the Co-op which gave us vouchers to provide food and drink for the party, and to Trinity Sailing Trustees and all the staff who help me run the expeditions and secure bursaries.'

Mr Collacott and his team pursue numerous funding avenues to ensure as many students as possible can attend, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Sarah Jones, a teaching assistant at Tavistock College and secretary of TTS, secured more than £9,000 of lottery money to help the trips go ahead.

She said: 'About four years ago we decided it would be good to offer opportunities for lots of children to go. TTS steps in if a young person wants to take part and for some reason the money isn't available. Confidentially we put the money in so they can go.'

David Turner, who also helps to run the expeditions, said it had been a true privilege to go on tall ships. He said it was fascinating to watch young people from quite different backgrounds taking part in something that was usually a new experience.

Tavistock College student Amy Collacott became one of the youngest people ever to pass the competent crew certificate aged just 12 during one of the 2009 trips.

'We had to learn eight different knots and go on watch for six hours on, six hours off,' she said.

'It was a fantastic experience. The best bit was probably when a cook had some old clothes which fell overboard. She left them there saying they would sink but the shoes floated with their soles up. It looked like a person so we had to do a man overboard exercise and pull them in else other ships thought it was a human.'

If you would like to donate to Tavistock Tall Ships, please call 01822 614231 and ask to speak to John Collacott or Sarah Jones.