Captain's Log

V08/15

12 December 2015

GALE FORCE CONDITIONS

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 20 of our voyage. Tonight will be a quick Captains Log entry from me as we are currently battling a pretty strong storm (40-50kts of wind and a 4m swell) so I am required on the bridge and havenâ€™t got much time to sit in front of this computer screen tonight.

A you will read in tonightâ€™s entry late this afternoon we got hit by these gale force conditions so we have reduced sail and now have a modified sail plan with storm sails set which is still giving us 8-10kts of boat speed and keeping us well balanced. Our World Voyagers have been doing a fantastic job and are handling these conditions really well.

Currently we are located 1615nm WSW of Fremantle battling gale force 35-50kt winds and a 4m NW swell.

Kindly volunteering to write the Captains Log in these extreme conditions is Alice V, please enjoy!

Until tomorrow, take care.

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

CAPTAINâ€™S LOG â€“ 12 DEC 15

Ahoy from the stormy seas of the Southern Indian Ocean, where wind speeds are pushing 40 – 50 knots as I type this. Currently 6 brave souls (Dougie, Jimi, Matt C, Claudia, Megan and Josh A) are battling the elements up the Foremast to gasket (secure) the Topgallant Sail and the Course â€“ 2 of our Square sails for all you landlubbers out there.

This morning started off pleasantly with our last watches in our Ice, Polar and Arctic Watches before they were to be switched up again at Morning Brief. In our eternal optimism for warmth, the new watch names have distinctly warm weather connotations with Tahiti, Whitsunday and Hawaii winning over Warm, Hot and Scorching. While it is nice to have some new faces in each group to mix up the conversations, this is our last watch rotation before we head back into our original groups for the last few days. This means that there will be some people that we wonâ€™t have been grouped with at all, which is a bit of a shame, so we will just have to try and catch up with them wherever possible when not on watch.

As Ice Watch won the rope races for this rotation, they escaped from the Happiest Hour of the day (Ship Cleaning) and got to relax in the Staffies Mess, while the rest of the Whiskey Victors (World Voyagers) made her Ship Shape.

After Happy Hour, while Polar Watch finished off their last watch, the rest of us relaxed in the cafÃ©, where a lot of books were being read, and card and chess games abounded.

The Sun made a brief appearance, which gave us a chance to defrost our bones, and dry/air some laundry to stop hanging them in the Engine Room, which does give clean clothes a distinctly diesel smell, and inflicts the smell of wet socks on poor Horto! This came at the perfect time, as all the watches had been stood down for 4 hours to give everyone a break, before the new rotation started at 1600.

Unfortunately the sunshine did not last, and midafternoon the inclement weather, and heavy wind meant that the call went out for as many hands on deck to Brail in the Main Sail (bring it in, again for all the land lubbers out there reading this as are furl and clew) as the winds were too strong! The storm Tri-sail was put up in its place to help balance out the ship, as we are all learning to walk at a 30â° angle. Whitsunday Watch also got to furl the Jib, Clew the Course and set the Fore Staysail â€“ so they had a very busy first watch together!!

Dinner was delicious as always, and given the conditions, Chef Jenko and his team of helpers deserve a round of applause. We did have to form a chain of people to get dinner plates to the tables safely, however there were only a few casualties of chicken and vegies, so not too bad!

The weather looks like it will hang around for a few days, which will break our streak of beautiful sunny days on our Sunday off, but this is part of the reason we came down to the Roaring Forties!

We are having a Rock and Roll Time out here, but are still looking forward to warming up a bit.

Signing out now, and sending our love to our Families and Friends â€“ Alice V

Shout outs:

Mum & Dad, finally hit some rough weather here, having a blast! Miss you both lots! Love Tam ïŠ

Happy Birthday Dad, Hope your having as much fun as I am. Hi Mum, will let you know when we get into Freo. Love from Megan.

Poseidon, Neptune and Huey â€“ Thanks for the Weather! Jimi

Granny, every time I see an Albatross I think of you, love you more (and you canâ€™t dispute that when I am out of contact!!), and love to all the family! â€“ xoxox Alice V

Proper shout out to Ben this time! Youâ€™re going to love your voyage on here in June; itâ€™s magnificent even when youâ€™re rolling around in a storm at 30â°. Canâ€™t wait to see you again in Perth, we both have much to catch up on. Nic

Mum â€“ Iâ€™ve lost the plot! I climbed the mast in a storm! Love Josh A

Latitude/Longitude:

43 degrees 7 minutes South / 84 degrees 28 minutes East

Conditions:

Currently located 1615nm WSW of Fremantle sailing under a reduced sail plan and experiencing 35-45kt NW Gale Force winds with a 3-4m NW swell. Our current speed is 9kts and the temperature is 8 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

You might also be interested in

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

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

THE VOYAGE

Latest Captain’s Log

BEFORE YOU APPLY

Apply for Financial Assistance

FOR GUARDIANS

Youth Safety & Mental Health

FOR ORGANISATIONS

Scholarships for Local Youth

ABOUT US

The Young Endeavour Youth Scheme

OUR COMMUNITY

Make a Donation

GALE FORCE CONDITIONS

Latitude/Longitude:

Conditions:

You might also be interested in

Ready to set sail?

More Information

Donations

Contact Us

1800 020 444

Keep in Touch

1800 020 444