Day 5 – Sydney Harbour and Square Sails!

Ahoy shipmates…Day 5, another jam packed adventure! After a restful night in the serene Jerusalem Bay, we departed at 0700 in a thick smoke haze bound for a quick visit to Sydney Harbour. The ship has recently gone through an extensive maintenance period and is now in a very sound condition (as always…she gets looked after pretty well!). The quick stop was to embark the ship’s rigger for a final rig tune after some time at sea. Good news…only minor tweaking required! With our guests returned ashore we left Sydney in brisk condition (20 knots), turned right, and are now flying down coast under square sails. We are pushing hard to make ground towards Jervis Bay, our next stop, before a southerly change kicks in during the early morning. But enough from me…I’ll hand you over to Issy and Louisa for their version of events. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-

Ahoyyyy there!! It’s us, back again, here to report on the wild, wild adventures of the STS Young Endeavour. You might have thought you’ve heard it all before, but today … wow, here we go.
A slow start with “Sail away with me” blasting over the speakers and the troops arriving up on deck with weary eyes. They didn’t last for long though because the Ubutu card congo line morning games soon had us jazzed up for Day 5. We left behind the beautiful scenery of Jerusalem Bay to sail over Broken Bay during brekkie. But the day didn’t truly begin until we had a surprise visit from Nana to keep us all on our toes. She introduced the famous banana song and dance to get us rearing for the day.
Before we knew it the happiest hour of the day had returned despite us all still struggling with the rhythm of the happy hour song – the Youthies still sounding like a bunch of monkeys.
To test us all on our knowledge the watches were put head-to-head with Rope Races Round 2. Excitement was high as our memory of the sails was challenged. As expected from the eagerly watching crowd, white team was once again off to a flying start. Everything was on the line when the weetbix competition put three Youthies in extreme discomfort as they were asked to basically inhale a weetbix. Some handled this better than others haha. White and Red watch are tied winners until next time.
The handsome Capt’n Kenny once again imparted his wonderful wisdom of the ocean and put us all back to work setting the sails. But not without first promising a poem recital as a farewell gift for the voyage under much duress. We entered Sydney to anchor in Athol Bay to collect the ship’s rigger whilst sailing past two of our most iconic landmarks; the Sydney Harbor bridge and the Opera House. It was all hands on deck for tacking station practice, this time switching watch positions around and realizing “damn, there is a lot to learn before command day”.
It came as a surprise to all of us that we were halfway through the voyage and it was time to do Mid Voyage Chats within our watch groups. It was a rare opportunity to reflect over what we have achieved so far and the skills we’ve gained in such a short time. The afternoon also included the Youthies gathering on the deck to attempt some impossible riddles and laugh at those struggling. What bonding moments.
Sails set again as we left Sydney Harbour with the northerly 20 knot winds. Now en route to Jervis Bay at 9 knots with a delicious dinner in our tummies!! Hopefully the rough conditions don’t make us regret it.
Youthies out.