Fantastic sailing prize is up for grabs by city youngsters

LUCKY youngsters from Southampton are in with a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime adventure trip aboard a historic sailing vessel.

The Daily Echo is backing a compeitition being run by Ordnance Survey and the Jubilee Sailing Trust to offer an amazing, seagoing prize to two young people from the city.

The competition, also supported by Southampton City Council, will see the youngsters board Lord Nelson with 40 other new recruits, to sail from Portsmouth to Spain and back to Falmouth.

The winners will join a 50-strong crew, helping with everything from setting the sails to cooking in the galley.

The adventure of a lifetime will last for two weeks, between July and August this year, to mark the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The so-called New Trafalgar Dispatch on board Lord Nelson will retrace the historic voyage that delivered Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's news of victory at Trafalgar and the death of Lord Nelson.

Stop-overs will include the Spanish port of Cadiz, Brest in Brittany and Falmouth, England.

All 16 to 25-year-olds who live in the Southampton City Council area can enter by requesting a leaflet from the Romsey Road-based Ordnance Survey.

There are a few questions to answer and applicants must write 250 words explaining why they should be selected to join the crew of Lord Nelson. The deadline for entries is April 30.

Those successful in the first round will be invited to take part in a selection day on June 1 in the company of record-breaking explorer Andrew Cooney.