Under new leadership, this year’s MR SAILEX took advantage of the gap in the unseasonal weather experienced in September to make the most of a glorious weekend of sailing on the Solent. Filling six of the Joint Service’s Sailing vessels, 28 members drawn from 10 units of the Maritime Reserve enterprise took part. Although smaller than previous years, over 80% of participants had not been on a MR SAILEX before, with many of the skippers and mates leading vessels for the first time. All of this would not be possible if the support, provided by the Ulysses Trust, was not in place.
The aim of the MR SAILEX primarily looks provide challenge in the form of sailing as a means of strengthening maritime skills ideally targeting both junior officers and ratings to provide them with scope to develop and to support the sailor-first initiative. On top of this, the expedition aims to enhance the connections, relationships and coherence of the Maritime Reserve as one of the very few opportunities to train alongside reservists from outside your own unit and trade.
Yachts were mixed by ability, units, trades and experience – allowed for valuable discussion and knowledge of the wider reserve experience and making lasting friendships. One of the important outcomes is to provide space for individuals to grow and develop the leadership and personal resilience skills, that are desired during active service. For 2025, the expedition had two vessels commanded by Midshipmen/Sub-Lieutenants, providing them with a clear link between the skills they have been learning during their training by commanding their vessels and resolving the inevitable issues which come from travelling in yachts. This was best demonstrated on the vessel led by the Sub-Lieutenant, where engine troubles left him in the position of making a challenging entrance to a harbour, leading his team to resolve issues, a rapid use of radio and google to look up options and then trust his team to deliver made for an interesting, or as he described ‘nerve racking moment’ – but shortly after recognising that this environment tests one’s leadership in many ways.
Planning: Planning for the event started almost immediately after the conclusion of the 2024 expedition, using a well-established pathway for the expedition. A slightly later date than usual did impact the availability of Reservists as there were multiple conflicting events occurring across the UK and in specialisations. However, having the right amount of suitably qualified staff and training audience plus a healthy number of attendees meant there was sufficient scope for a number of new participants to take part.
Expedition: The weather, on both the few days before and after the expedition threatened to impact the expedition severely. However, the expedition happened to fall favourable between a gap in two weather fronts and allowed full use of the Solent for the weekend. With near springs helping make the intended destinations of the expedition possible, everything was in place for a fantastic weekend on the water.
Day One – saw the Skippers and Mates welcome their teams to the expedition, and taking their time to check over the inventory of their vessels. The early sailing was aimed at shaking out any rusty practices the skippers may have had, and the afternoon was spent conducting bumps and grinds, man overboard drills and basic level instruction for those that have never sailed before. Winds were steady, but Portsmouth Harbour appeared to be alive with many comings and goings occurring in the port’s mouth, including the ex-HMS Argyll being towed into harbour looking ready to take part in its next life.
Day Two’s aim was to head out across the Solent to reach the Beaulieu River in time for its tidal window by lunch time and to conduct a transit up this delightful part of Hampshire. With the historic Buckler’s Hard reached, it was time to transit over to Cowes before an impending force 7 squall was due to hit. Many of the boats arrived in Cowes just as the winds were hitting, making for some slightly nervous berthing by each boat’s skipper and, perhaps made boat owners particularly nervous given the challenge of wind against tide impacting the positioning of the vessels as they attempted to come alongside in a seaman-like manner! The expedition was treated to dinner and hosted superbly by the Island Sailing Club allowing the team to discuss their voyages whilst looking over the exceptional views of Cowes Harbour and into the Solent.
The final day of the expedition was perhaps the most enjoyable. With all vessels departing together, there was the opportunity to put some formation drills into practice as all the vessels sailed in line, abreast in a large group with a steady northerly breeze over calm waters making for a cracking return sail over to Gosport before returning the vessels back to the Joint Service’s Team.
More importantly perhaps, was that the expedition went without incident (apart from a slightly nerve-racking engine issue) but with lasting memories and morale high, the aims of the expedition were easily met, with strong praise and much interest in coming back again.
Upon return to work the next week, a cryptic email waited in the OIC’s in-tray from the leadership in the MR HQ, wanting a meeting ‘to make their life more difficult with the level of ambition wanted for SAILEX 2026’ – next year’s report may be far more of an interesting read!
Feeback from participants
The most indicative indication of the expedition’s popularity is the 92% Net Promotor Score drawn from the 22 returns of the MR SAILEX feedback form.
Although not as high, over 75% of the respondents considered the offer of events such as SAILEX to be an important factor of their MR experience, supporting the retention-positive impact of the expedition.
What was positive to see during the 2025 expedition, was that 63% of the participants had never previously attended a previous expedition before, with a further 21% having only attended either one or two expeditions in the past. Highlighting that new people are able to attend and that more people across the organisation are managing to experience events of this type.
Although the majority of the participants felt that the expedition did not overtly take them outside of their comfort zones, the level of safety, inclusivity and sense of belonging scored particularly highly at 9.58 out of ten, indicating that regardless of the rating/officer divide, the format of the exercise is supportive for all.
Improvement themes: Recommendations from the participants on how the SAILEX could improve largely related to extending the length of the expedition for the Skippers and Mates to provide them a longer period to (re)familiarise themselves with their allocated yacht. Although this could speed up the arrivals process, it would add additional RSDs for approximately a quarter of the participants, it would also likely result in a more ambitious sailing expedition resulting in additional berthing fees.
Other elements which were requested for improvement were more fresh fruit/veg in the victualling and also more meals take ashore. However, the storing of fresh victuals becomes more challenging in a limited space and unknown sailing conditions, whilst more meals ashore would increase costs to the expedition.
Summary: MR SAILEX 2025 was a resounding success, with an extremely high level of satisfaction drawn from the participants. It should be noted that without the support from the Ulysses Trust, the cost to the individuals would likely exceed the RSD value of the expedition, especially for the OR2 level participants. If the scope or level of ambition for future SAILEXs aims to increase, then additional or alternative funding models are likely to be needed.
The advertising of SAILEX needs to be increased and an advert and reinvigoration of the SAILO function, alongside the AT Officer is needed to maximise development opportunities for MR members.