Command Day

Hi Everyone,                       Welcome to day eight of our voyage. It has been another action packed day for the crew of Young Endeavour starting of with a morning swim at 0630, a continental breakfast, morning brief then Happy Hour (Cleaning Stations. A quick sail repair followed then the Youth Crew Command Team were given 30 minutes with their Staff Crew opposites to ask questions that may assist them during their 24hr command period.Lunch followed then at 1300 I handed the Telescope of Challenge over to Captain Matt and in doing so giving the Youth Crew the enormous responsibility of running Young Endeavour for the next for 24hrs.  On a normal day I would be writing a full days log explaining what we have experienced, observed and achieved but given it is now Command Day I have handed this responsibility over to Youth Crew Captain Matt and his loyal Crew who I am sure will do an amazing job of telling you about their adventures .Until tomorrow, take care.Yours Aye Captain Gav     10th JanuaryCommand Day 1From Cowes, Phillip Island Ahoy There!Youth Crew Captain Matthew and Sail Master Mason here,Today is the 8th day of our voyage and is the beginning of the long awaited command day. After successful elections last night, we are excited to welcome the Youthie Command Team we will be working with.Captain: MattSail Master: MasonNavigator: CourtneyWatch Officer: TrentChefs: Reece, Shaun, Caitie, MaddiWatch Leaders: Will, Patrick, TomAfter an easy night at anchor, the Youthies woke bright and early and were quickly in the pool. With these warmer waters in Westernport the swim lasted longer than the past few days when the pool was open.At 0900 we had an entertaining morning brief with Chris Hemsworth and Kenneth Brenner (or so we thought…) producing a good laugh and teaching us a few things. Tomorrow we will need to produce a brief to the high standard set by the Staffies.After happy hour was completed to our usual standard, it was a lazy morning, as we were resting before the challenge that is Command Day – starting at 1300. For the Youthie command team it was a different matter at 1030 we had our “opposites”- an opportunity to question our equivalent Staffie.At 1300 on the dot we were surprised to hear a harmonious rendition of ‘Summer Holiday’ before the handover of the hat, instructions and ships telescope.Upon receiving these instructions we were surprised that we had 22 tasks that needed to be completed before 1300 tomorrow. Launching straight into planning and retrieving the nav orders that were on shore. This required the deployment of a beach assault team (BAT) with orders to create a mascot and sing the national anthem over the radio to gain the nav orders. Once the BAT returned successfully to the Young Endeavour, we launched straight into planning our route.After a surprisingly good dinner and fantastic dessert from our chefs, we finally weighed anchor at 1830 and got straight into setting the squares to utilise the 10-15 knot easterlies. We ran into a few problems with the sails, but quickly sorted it out.It is now 2100 and we are on the way out of Western Port, under squares and averaging a speed of 4 knots to the south west.Watches will be held through the night and hopefully be at the mouth of ‘The Rip’ in Melbourne at 0700 and on course.  Until tomorrow,Captain Matt