Day 7 – At anchor off Rye (Capel Sound – Southern End of Port Philip Bay)

15 Jun Day 7 – At anchor off Rye (Capel Sound – Southern End of Port Philip Bay)

Today started with Young Endeavour (YE) continuing her passage to Port Philip Bay under almost a full spread of fore and aft sails. Morning brief kicked off the day at 0830 before we rolled into Captains Setting and Furling Drills. This was the last hurdle that the Youth Crew (YC) had to overcome before I was happy to hand the ship over to them for Command Day. The drills are designed to get the YC to show the Staff Crew that they can handle the basics of sail handling ‘safely’. This task was achieved during the scenic passage along the southern end of the bay. All watches passed the standard required with flying colours!After we anchored, round 5 of rope races was conducted with an exciting bonus round challenge – the challenge was for each watch to get their Watch leader to eat three pieces of fruit. Blue Watch Leader Pete came up trumps at the end. Healthy living and 3 serves of fruit a day are all part of life in a tall ship.Once lunch was over the YE pool was opened. Every one got the chance to go for a swim off the side of the ship before heading ashore to conduct Command Day Elections. Rye has a lovely sandy beach to go for a swim off and kick a football on.Command Day elections over, all personnel returned to the ship for a BBQ dinner and one final communication exercise.Below are comments from some of the YC:Geordie:Hello fellow youth crew members. I’m on the young endeavour and having the time of my life! Command day is tomorrow and I’m going to be a watch leader, very nervous but it’s a good challenge and I’m glad that I did it. The youth crew and staff are the coolest kids ever! Our captain Hippo is a great captain with loads of experience and so do all of the other crew. My watch leader is Bell and she is so cool. Anyway I gtg rushed for time, had a great day at port today��_.. Cheers Geordie.Amelia Brayley:Battling sea sickness, home sickness and colds, the Young Endeavour has been one of the best experiences of my life, clich� I know but it is true. During the six days I have had the privilege to meet many other amazing people all from entirely different backgrounds and places. The Endeavour has taught me new things about boats which I was completely ignorant to before. I had absolutely no idea what a ‘sheet’ was other than something on your bed – it turns out it is a rope. Day one I knew no names of anything on board, now I’m down with the sailor lingo. The crew on board have been fantastic; all of staffies are so down to earth and are willing for a conversation. Everyone on board is familiar and close to each other. So a special thank you to the Scone Shire particularly Donna and Jodie who made this possible for me. Cheerio Amelia! Megan Blom:It was pretty sweet spending a day on land today, but I have to say I think I speak on behalf of a few crew members that coming back on the boat was a bit like coming home. Spending too much time on land was making us land sick” so it was a relief to get back on the rocking deck. We were so lucky to get a hot sunny day to mess around on the beach