All at sea

Hello Shipmates,Welcome to Day 2 of the voyage. Following a well deserved and much needed night’s rest the Youth Crew were woken to a beautiful sunrise at 0630 by Sail Master Kyle, who treated us to an ‘ice-breaker’ deck game to wake us up. After breakfast the Youthies experienced their first ceremony of ‘colours’ followed by the morning brief at which they met ‘Salty the sea-dog’ (Evan), who is the resident expert in nautical terminology. He will be a regular attendee at the morning briefs and it is his job to explain the origin of nautical expressions we use onboard. On completion of the brief it was straight into cleaning stations (this activity is known as our ‘Happy Hour’ and even has its own little song).After a practice of the Ship going to ‘Leaving Ship Stations’, which would be used in the event it was necessary to abandon Ship, Brendon gave the Youthies a more detailed Safety Equipment brief. I gave the order to ‘Weigh Anchor’ at 1030 and we proceeded out of the harbour and commended our passage northwards to Brisbane. Unfortunately the only wind was a light northerly so it was necessary to motor-sail in order to make ground towards our destination. The Watch Leaders progressed deck safety training after lunch to ensure our new crew members would have the necessary skills to be able to carry out the basics of setting and furling Young Endeavour’s sails safely.After a couple of hours of setting and furling the Staysails Sail Master Kyle gave a briefing on the procedures for setting the Mainsail, after which it was set. Next the Jib was set and the Ship sent to Tacking Stations in order that the Youth Crew could experience Tacking the Ship and what their individual duties entail. This is also conducted to satisfy me that the crew are capable of altering the course of the Ship during the night, if necessary. In the 5-10 knot SE conditions with all the fore-and-aft sails set we achieved only 2.5 knots of boat speed. As we need to achieve 5 knots to get to Brisbane on time it will be necessary to continue motor-sailing until the wind freshens.We completed this practical training at 1700 and, after another of Cinnamon’s delicious meals, the crew prepared for their first night at sea. This will involve keeping 4 hour Sea Watches through the night, during which they will keep the Ship safe performing duties as helmsman, lookouts, and conducting below deck engineering rounds. No doubt the crew will sleep well after a busy day! The intention is to conduct an un-alerted Tacking Stations tonight, at approximately 2030, to give the youth crew the experience of closing up quickly to their station at night. The Ship will spend the next 36 hours underway to make the necessary ground towards Brisbane before considering an overnight stop in a sheltered anchorage.Until tomorrow,Yours AyeCaptain Mike