Day 6 – NSW South Coast…and Headwinds!

Ahoy Shipmates…day 6 and bloody headwinds! As described below, since leaving Eden we have been punching in to both the wind and swell, forcing us to motorsail with only a fore staysail and main staysail set, and making things a little uncomfortable. As I write we are zig zaging our way up the coast…no control over the weather unfortunately! We are expecting a southerly change in the early hours of tomorrow morning (fingers crossed) which should help our progress. I’ll let the gang from Blue Watch take over from here. As always…fair winds…Captain Kenny.

Day 6 – NSW South Coast
Anchor watches overnight were a welcome reprieve from our usual four-hour watches, allowing us to catch up on some much needed sleep. We left Eden at 0600 under the cover of sea mist and motored out into the wind heading up the coast. We woke up to a lavish banquet of pancakes with berries, ice cream, maple syrup and chocolate flakes for breakfast, which some youthies were a bit ‘gutted’ to find they could not indulge in due to the return of their seasickness (sorry Annie).
The Morning Brief was livelier than usual with the addition of Guv’s liberal ringing of a bell to indicate sailing terminology peppered throughout the continuation of Bill Buckley’s adventure story. A visit from Aunty Beryl left us with a new sea shanty to add to our sing-off repertoire, and a beloved furry seal hat returned to its rightful owner.
Through the use of high-tech, modern equipment (cough cough chalk) we expanded on our knowledge of sail theory in what was for many of us an eye-opening lecture, consolidating our understanding of the sails’ movements over the last few days. However, the wind gods were not in our favour today (no sails ). At 1300 our round of ropies flipped the scores in a shocking upheaval as Blue Watch clawed their way from last place to tying for first. A beautiful rendition of our national anthem following a nail-biting dry Weetbix eating contest and an over-and-under water bucket challenge finished the competition for the day, leading us into a slow afternoon of napping and Uno games, interspersed with an adrenaline-rush-inducing ‘All hands on deck’ call which let us test our reaction speed and get the ship back on course.
As of 2000 we are heading to bed with more knowledge in preparation for command day and a desire to recuperate as much as possible before our early morning wake up.
Love Blue Watch.
Finn, Laura, Louise, Jess and Erin.