Day 44 – Command Period Day 2

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 44 of our voyage. We are now well into the second half of the Command Period and the World Voyagers of Passage Four are doing a fantastic job. Yesterday we got in some really enjoyable sailing in the Bay of Biscay and overnight tacked the Ship twice to pass through a required waypoint. All of this has been achieved with a minimum of fuss and lots of fun.Today we had a change of Captains with Ann taking over from Derry. The rest of the crew have remained the same and are very focused on completing as many of their tasks as possible and most importantly reaching their mystery destination tomorrow.Attached is tonight’s log written by Captain Ann, Zac, Lucy, Kirra and Mitch, please enjoy!!Until tomorrow, take care.Yours AyeGavPS Will return to being Captain tomorrow!Captains Log: 06 June 15Bonjour from the Bay of Biscay,We’re currently 35 hours into our command period. At 1000hrs this morning, Co Captain Derry Doyle handed over control of the ship to myself. Cap’n Doyle has done a spectacular job and I’d like to thank him for sharing this role with me. Cap’n Doyle had the harder part of the task getting us moving and on track.Today we’ve continued towards our waypoints. Engines went off at 1600 yesterday afternoon and we had an excellent night of sailing, including a midnight tack! The wind which is our friend one moment and not so friendly the next decreased and at 1015 this morning engines were turned back on. We’ve kept the sails up and have been assisted by the engines and will continue like this until our destination. Through out the day Crewies have been working their way through the various tasks to be completed as part of our Command Day challenge.By the far the highlight of the day has been the way the 24 crewies have worked together to command the ship. The crew has done an exceptional job of commanding STS Young Endeavour, everyone has stepped up. I can’t fault anyone! Great work team!We’re on track to reach our destination tomorrow morning. I’ll sign off with today’s quote, ‘While I breathe, I hope.’Yours Aye,Cap’n Ann CarrollSaturday June 6th 1815 hrs: Welcome to day two of command day! Crewies have the ship again! The day started at midnight this morning with a pipe calling ‘all hands to tacking stations, all hands to tacking stations’. Many groggy and bug eyed Crewies stumbled up the ladder bays and out into the fresh night air preparing to turn our wonderful ship in the right direction. All went very smoothly and within half an hour all hands not on watch had headed back to bed. Considering they were all rousted from their beds, all the crew took it in their stride and participated with good cheer and enthusiasm not usually seen at that time of the night.Breakfast was another huge success with our chefos cooking up another fantastic menu. There were muffins, fresh bread and rolls, bacon, eggs and plenty of laughter. This was followed by morning brief at 0900 with the command team putting on a good show. Our favourite Tom told the “true” and wonderful story of where the phrase ‘as rare as hen’s teeth’ came from- and yes, it most certainly included the characters Jack and Will being stranded on an island and Mike Tyson?! We farewelled our Captain Derry Doyle as he passed his role over to our new Captain Ann Carroll for the next 24 hour command period. We received our plan for the day and then went off to cleaning stations.Following the happiest time of the day, we were all brought to midships for a little ‘sharing of the love’- each person had selected a name from the pirates hat and were required to tell us three things they have learnt about that person that they find either positive, motivational, inspiring or encouraging. It truly was a very special moment of the journey, hearing such positive comments from each person about another member of the team. It left us all with a warm heart and may possibly have brought a tear to the eye. This journey has not just been about the distance travelled, learning the ropes or even surviving the seasickness, but has been well and truly about watching peoples confidence grow, challenges overcome and memories which will last well in to our grey years.As we ran out of time in the morning to finalise our ‘sharing the love’ chats, we rotated through lunch and continued our watches. Some had a chance to sort through some of our set tasks, collating photos for a slideshow, adapting some sea shanties and creating a documentary ready for new crew members. Others were busily preparing for a disco in the 12 berth, all in the name of ‘task ticking off’, any excuse for some Sandstorm, Bohemian Rhapsody and Pirates of the Caribbean to be piped through the ship! Around 1430 we regrouped again and finished our ‘love’ chats- lots of ahhs and hugs were shared and lots of laughs as memories were revisited and friendships strengthened. It was now time to send our Staffies into the ‘competitive-non-competitive’ ropies with a twist. The wonderful engineers planned some hilarious games where our staff members needed to find the owners of some clothing items and dress them appropriately. May sound easy with the basics such as hats and sunglasses, but it certainly was entertaining watching Watch Officer- Salty Old Sea Dog Matt, dress our dearest Vicki in her overalls! Sarah then attempted to teach us the Cup Song, most picked it up easily and managed to turn a cup into a rhythmic melody, however, not all- some did just enjoy giggling and getting so very confused, this ended as expected, with most Crewies (and maybe some staffies) stealing others cups and going off on awesome-but-not-so-melodic solos!Hot Watch then took control of the bridge as others had some much needed down time or continued tackling the plethora of tasks set as a part of our command period.One of these tasks was a themed dinner, and our Cheffos stepped up to the challenge! They cooked up a Hawaiian storm and presented the crew with a beach bedecked midships, Hawaiian style burgers and some cool Sunday beach music. The crew and staffies cracked out their best floral attire and were serenaded by a frightfully muscly Hawaiian beauty, with long flowing locks, killer calves and the voice of an angel! Not sure where she’s been hiding for the past 43 days!Minties (who now call ourselves the RaRaa’s) are about to finish our second dog watch and head below for a disco party in the 12 berth before bed! A dull day aboard STS Young Endeavour is yet to be seen!!!Yours AyeZac, Lucy, Kirra and Mitch.Hey everyone, hope all is well back home. I can’t believe I’ve been away for so long, time has been flying bye! Missing you all (but not too much). All my love to Mum, Dad, Tess, Sheila and all you other friends and rellos reading this. Talk to you soon. Mitch.”