On Thursday 2 March, Y5 visited Landrover BAR headquarters in Portsmouth. Excitement was an all time high as the visit began with a crossing on the Gosport ferry before a quick walk to the building. Beverley, the education advisor, met the children on the 2nd floor but it was a long way up! To start, the children learnt about the history of the Americas Cup, how the boats, clothes and safety aspects had changed and what the programme of events for this years cup were. They also learnt how STEM played an important role in BAR as only 12 of the 100 employees are sailors.

Y5 then moved onto exploring the last boat – half of it was on display and they were allowed to climb all over it. They learnt about the best material to build the hull with – aluminium is the lightest but rusts easily, how to maintain the tension in the sails, how bone conducting headphones work and finally the environmental work that BAR are doing.

Before leaving, the tech deck was handed over to the children where they learnt about all of the above in more detail and pilot the boat through a virtual reality headset. Unfortunately we then had to leave. Back on the ferry we were hoping it would go as fast as ‘Rita’ (the new racing boat) but sadly it stayed firmly rooted in the water with no hydroplaining!