Day 29 – Continuing North

Hi folks, Trust this finds you hale and hearty. I\’ll keep my comments short today…the very articulate Vinny has covered the day\’s events exceptionally well.  Suffice to say we continue to make our way to the north, probably for another 24 hours before heading east toward the Canary Islands.  Forecast is for NE to NW winds so we\’re very hopeful of setting more sail on altering and achieving some quality tall ship sailing…everyone is a little tired of taking it on the nose!  As I type the wind/swell are slowly increasing…perhaps another bumpy night ahead.  Currently steering 010 and making good a steady 5-6 knots.  At this rate we should alter to the east around mid morning tomorrow.  We remain on track to arrive in Tenerife at 1000 on the 20th…fingers (and toes) crossed.  Well that\’s about all from me, I\’ll hand over to Vinnie.  Cheers  Captain Kenny     Day 29 of our journey across the Atlantic centred again around taking some time in between our daily watches to continue to get to know each other better and have some good old fashioned fun. After being treated to another Saturday Sea routine, (allowing those who weren’t on watch the option to rest until lunch) the crew and staffies immersed ourselves in our tournaments of 500, chess and uckers. The café came alive in the afternoon, with two watches worth of crew members battling it out, or watching, at a time – which of course is conducive to lots of chatting, yelling and of course the occasional sledge. The staffies are helping this commotion by teaching us the true art of “ucking” someone, whereby with their playing piece they send their opponent’s piece flying as far as possible. The only foreseeable pause to these games before we get to Tenerife is the change of watch, the beautiful meals prepared by Cheffo Aaron and his two trusty sidekicks of the day ( Go Tilda and Max!) and potentially some sleeping as well (now that we’re out of four metre swells the boys at the front of the ship are actually sleeping!)  With the wind on our nose the sailing conditions are less than ideal, but during watches the staffies, lead by the tough, fearsome, and formidable Captain Kenny (Knuckle) are making sure we don’t become too complacent in the middle of our journey. This is achieved in orthodox and not so orthodox manners – Lauren is making it her duty to keep us fit to climb the rigging with some impromptu dance parties around the helm, Dion enjoys picking our brains about some sail theory and Taffy is allowing us all to fulfil the classic pirate dream in scrubbing the deck. Youthie Tom also enjoys keeping people on their toes by sneakily steering the boat sharply in the opposite direction when they’re not paying attention, and then watching them panic to try and recover.  Right now as the sun begins to set we are witnessing some beautiful “crepuscular” rays (there is much argument to whether that’s the right word for the rays shining through the clouds). Regardless of what is the correct terminology, day in day out we are treated to some absolutely magnificent ocean views – tonight Sian and Ronald chose to scale to the top of the main mast and enjoy the view from that vantage point.  It’s funny – in some ways days seem to blur into each other with the routine of sailing, but there is always a thought lingering of the value of every moment. Further to that, being aboard a tall ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean really drives home things that we sometime take for granted or miss in the sometimes chaotic nature of day to day life on land. These things are sometimes of a physical nature, such as putting on a load of washing, creature comforts of home or the distant idea of taking a shower without the constant fear of being thrown out across the bathroom because of a 4 metre swell. With the distance and nature of life aboard Young Endeavour, it also quickly becomes apparent that we sometimes can overlook the value of time spent with loved ones, or with the advantage of being able to remove ourselves, we realise that we can spend too much time dwelling or consumed by things that at the end of the day really don’t matter. So on that note – I’m sure I speak for all of the crew in sending best wishes to our loved ones abroad.  Vinny  PS. Hi Mum, Dad and Sonia! I had a great time in Cape Verde and can’t wait to tell you all about it. Everything is going really well, first day back on was a bit rough again but I still haven’t been sick! We land soon and I will get in contact as soon as I can. Miss you all. Love Andrew YM&OF”