COMMAND DAY CONCLUDES

Ahoy there! Welcome to day nine. Overnight the Youth Command Team sailed a wide course around the north point of Hook Island before heading east toward our final our final destination of Blue Pearl Bay.First thing in the morning, the entire Youth Crew awoke to engage in their favourite morning activity, wearing the ship! Bringing us into the wind and giving us an easterly heading towards Hayman Island with an expected arrival time of approximately 1030. From this point on it was full steam (or wind) ahead.While on our course toward the beautiful Blue Pearl Bay, we had our very eventful morning brief! With special guest appearances from our Navigator Anna, our Sail Master Tooves and myself. During morning brief we completed two more tasks out of our 24 set tasks. Following morning brief we commenced Happy Hour! And completed two more tasks, with great effort from the entire Youth Crew.With only one more Waypoint of Glory to achieve before we anchored, we got a little excited, overlooked our current course and accidentally turned the ship against the wind, but to our advantage! As this brought us on a more suitable course to make our last Waypoint of Glory. With the final destination almost within our grasp, the excitement was building, along with the fatigue and anxiousness.We reached our anchor point under engines with the assistance of the Staff Crew at our estimated time of 1030! We were right on schedule. After we went to anchor we set about completing the remainder of our set tasks, and decided that we would need a little extra time to complete them before handing the ship back over to the Staff Crew. With a grant of an extra hour and a half from Captain Damien, we were more than confident that we could finish off our last tasks.With that, we launched our six-person Beach Assault Team! The BAT was assigned a special mission, to row ashore with the national flag, and raise it as high as possible while singing the National Anthem to claim that land for our country! While the BAT was busy in progress, the rest of the Youth Crew started work on our on deck hammock that had to hold all 24 of us, our deck mural depicting our journey so far, a photo slideshow, and having all 24 Youthies aloft on the foremast!Our endeavour to achieve all 24 goals was met with success, with all but one of them satisfactorily completed. With these tasks done and our entire crew very fatigued, it was time to hand the ship back over to the Staff Crew. The rest night was then spent having fun and relaxing after a huge 25.5 hours, with an on deck BBQ and showcase, highlighting the range of talent onboard Young Endeavour.After completion of Command Day, the entire Youth Crew had drawn so much out of the experience, gaining tremendous knowledge about teamwork, cooperation, communication and striving for a common goal. I personally took much more out of my role than I could have imagined, and now have a much broader understanding of the aforementioned concepts of a team and leadership. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as Captain, and was a little sad when handing the ship back over. But it’s an experience I shall never forget, and will carry with me my entire life.Youth Captain Joel