Dead Calm
The ship continued to run up past Fraser Is last night wearing at midnight to close the coast and clear Breaksea Spit. The spit was cleared at 0500 and the ship hardened onto the wind to work southwards into Hervey Bay. The three square sails were clewed up and YC lay aloft to gasket the sails in difficult conditions. More on that experience later.Once inside Hervey Bay my prediction of whale sightings was way off the mark with little to see at all. It was a bleak day with everything looking grey including some of the YC. Everybody was certainly looking forward to anchoring in the afternoon and feeling terra firma under their feet again. A lecture on the ‘rule of the road’ and rope races were held prior to anchoring at 1430.The YC charged ashore in the boat and enjoyed a game of touch footy on the lovely beach while some others did a spot of beachcombing and went for a walk. On return to the ship it was smiles all round as a ‘yum yum yum’ BBQ had been prepared by Ange. The YC were ravenous with all feelings of seasickness now just a memory. Later in the evening we were entertained by ‘three way talks’. Most of the YC did a good job and got into the spirit of it all.Tomorrow I expect we will weigh anchor mid-morning and head north towards Lady Elliot or Lady Musgrave Islands. We have a number of sail drills to complete and of course the most exciting lecture on sail theory will be delivered.YC entry by Amanda Phillpott (age 19 from Nelson Bay, NSW) and Steven Bergmann (age 23 from Ceduna, SA) – This morning we gasketted the course and topgallant sails. While we were aloft 30m in the air, the conditions were quite rough with 30kt winds and a 3m swell. With a mixture of seasickness and nervousness we overcame our fears and were able to focus on the job at hand. With adrenalin pumping through our veins we completed the job in 2.5 hours. We are both proud of our efforts and more confident than ever.It’s dead calm at the moment – I hope we have some breeze tomorrow.Chat thenAndrew (Amanda and Bergy)
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
At anchor Platypus Bay, Fraser Island, Wind - calm, Temp 19
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Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike