If we have no sails set, are we still sailing?

Ahoy there everyone, what a full day 9 we have had. After an underwhelming breeze started off our command day it quickly picked up its pace, freshening and coming from the west. Soon the wind increased to an impressive 40 knots and all the sails had to be furled, which required an epic climb by four of the Youth crew (Blake, Eli, Tom and Josie) up the foremast to gasket all the square sails. Then all of Bay Watch and Staffies worked together to furl all sails in lashing rain on a deck tilted 45Â° to starboard, before the sails could be damaged by the incredible winds.Even with no sails set, and no engines running, we continued to clip along at 6 knots. If we have no sails set, are we still sailing? Regardless we made good progress throughout the night, although we changed the planned route at short notice due to the dangers involved with the strong winds and their effect on our old course. Jellyfish continued to clog our engines, although the engines managed to stutter on in the early morning during True Blueâ€™s watch, which is fortunate as the wind was coming from 30Â° from the bow, not ideal for sailing. The Diggers took on the final watch to carry the ship through to 0800.Breakfast was a choice of delicious chocolate pancakes or bacon and eggs and lunch was just as scrumptious, boasting chicken curry and roast pork with crackling. The day started out with an early wear and tack in Storm Bay, before an 1100 arrival at our destination, the mouth of the Derwent River. Morning brief was deliveredÂ by the Sailmaster, and included an update from the Navigator, then the Captain told a highly dubious tale explaining the presumed nautical origins for the phrases â€˜knock on woodâ€™ and â€˜use your headâ€™. This included a visit by special guest Mr Knockers, who unbelievably turned out to be Watch Officer Tom Gouvernet! This was followed by a musical number from the crew, singing the National Anthem to three different tunes which the Staffies had to try to identify. Then it was straight onto the daily Happy Hour clean.After lunch, we got started on our remaining challenges including drawing a mural on deck to celebrate our adventures. Then every member of the Youth crew climbed up the foremast for some photos. Next we put our trust in some considerably less reliably rigged ropes, building a hammock to carry our entire crew at once. But our team were well up to the task and we all climbed aboard. Lastly, we listened to some life advice delivered by some of the Youth crew â€“ warm thank you to Digby, Josie, Justin and Blake for sharing some of the lessons they have learned. At 1500 we handed back the Captainâ€™s hat and periscope, along with the ship, to Captain Mike.We really could not have gotten through the day without the amazing crew on this ship. We would like to thank everyone who put in the extra hours to pull us through, whether they were climbing up masts, giving moral support, heaving on ropes, washing dishes, or just keeping a smile on their face. It has been a challenging but rewarding day for us all and I think I speak on behalf of the whole youth crew when I say that we are looking forward to a restful sleep.Liking the cut of your jib,YoursSailmaster Maia HanrahanCaptain Ash Mills—————————————————————————————Ahoy there,Itâ€™s Captain Mike back. Captain Ash handed the Ship back to me at 1500 today after a hectic and very challenging 26 hours, during which they brought the Ship from South West Cape to anchor off Kingston in the Derwent River. We put the youthies ashore for a couple of hours and then once everyone was back onboard we had another BBQ dinner on the upper decks, this time skilfully cooked by Tom Gough and Shan-del.After the clean up from dinner we conducted the Command Day debrief, during which we split the crew into three groups and each group came up with a list of Good Points, Points that could be improved and Take-Away points from the experience of Command Day. We then got the crew back together and each group picked the two most important points from each list and briefly expanded on them. This whole process took about 90 min, after which we let our tired crew get some rest before another busy day tomorrow.The Ship will remain at anchor off Kinston Beach overnight with the youthies helping the staffies with conducting anchor watches.Until tomorrow, Yours aye,Captain Mike

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AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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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

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