COMMAND DAY (PART 2)

Hi Everyone,Please find attached Part 2 of the Youth Crew Command Day.Yours AyeCaptain GavYouth Crew Captain’s LogWednesday, July 18th 2009What a day it’s been! We made our final way point this morning approximately 1 hour before our deadline, weighing anchor at South Molle at about 0900. As expected there was little sleep had during the night, we were on course until approximately 0400 when the wind dramatically changed direction within a minute and caused us to accidentally tack. Needless to say, there was much panic on the bridge from James our sailmaster, but of course the captain intervened and everything was fine! Ha ha ha. After waking the navigator and all youth crew we were able to get back on course but we had to tack six times, as our course took us into the wind, which kept us awake until dawn.Upon anchoring there was much jubilation and relief at reaching the destination on time with the weather conditions as they were. Our top speed attained was 7 knots which was also the highest speed reached throughout the entire voyage thus far. (And the crowd goes wild!!!)After anchoring the usual routines of cleaning the ship (Happy hour) and briefing the crew had to be carried out so, tired and weary as we were, we dragged ourselves down below decks to cleaning stations and got down and dirty! As an extra task the youth crew were assigned to polish all the brass on the upper and lower decks and I’m pleased to say we achieved this however we discovered there is a lot of brass on the ship! Our reward for carrying out this task is a firing of the cannons that currently reside on the ship, I believe we will get a demonstration before the end of our voyage.Though everyone was tired much enjoyment was found in building a hammock that had to support the entire youth crew at once. We did this by attaching ropes between the midship pin rails and the winches creating a web which we then covered in mattresses!At 1230 James, Karl and myself, on behalf of the youth crew, returned the ship to the command of captain Gavatron and his trusty crew. Not long after we motored over to Hamiliton Island and reconnected with civilisation, i.e. went ashore, phoned Mum and did our laundry.Tonight we debriefed with the crew and their feedback was all posistive with many a valuable lesson to take from our day of command. We, the youth crew, worked well as a team and it was a real pleasure to be captain of such a wonderful crew of people from so many places and backgrounds.Tomorrow brings another excitement for us as past crew from the Young Endeavour world voyages and their families will come aboard the ship for a reunion.Everyone is tired and looking forward to a good sleep tonight, we are at anchor so watches are short!!Love to my family, enjoy all the visitors you have there, it was great to hear your voices today! XxxxSigning off,Petah (ex El Capitano)James (ex el Sailmaster):Today has been a tiring day for all Youth Crew aboard. As explained by our wonderful captain there was an accidental tack during the night, at 0400, due to a large and sudden wind shift which added five tacks to our navigation plan and several hours onto out estimated time of arrival. The weather conditions were 15-20 knots of wind and a swell of 1-1.5m, this gave the ship a real hardcore sailing feel and gave much excitement to many of the crew. Although tacking stations had to be mustered at many times during the morning, almost every half hour which disrupted the sleeping patterns of many crew members, there were no complaints and the tacks were completed on time and very efficiently which enabled us to safely navigate to our destination before the deadline(1000) at 0815 that morning. I would like to congratulate all the Youth Crew for their amazing efforts in mustering on deck and tacking the ship multiple times in the given weather conditions.