Day Seven – Have Safely Crossed the Bight

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to day seven of our voyage. As forecast the cold front past over the Bight late last night and during the early hours of this morning which provided us with some strong SSW winds and some good sailing. Regrettably with these winds came a large 3m swell which made conditions onboard less than pleasant for our young mariners but they battled on.
Given these conditions we postponed the morning’s activities deferring them to later in the day when the conditions were forecast to improve. This occurred early afternoon when the wind moderated to 15-20kts and the swell dropped down to 1-2m. With these improved conditions we conducted the ‘egg drop’ activity which was followed by the setting of the topsail and topgallant prior to conducting a good set of demonstrational tacks.
By sunset this evening we had made landfall on the Neptune Islands and were continuing to make good speed towards Kangaroo Island where if all goes to plan we expect to anchor later tomorrow morning.
Kindly volunteering to write an entry in tonight’s Captains Log is Flick and Angus from White Watch, please enjoy!
Until tomorrow evening, Take Care
Yours Aye
Captain Gav

CAPTAINS LOG 17th December
G’day everyone. Angus and Flick here from White Watch. We have just changed our clocks to Adelaide time and are excited see land and hug some trees tomorrow on Kangaroo Island. Today has been a jam packed sunny day under sail. Excitement struck last night during our first watch, when we returned from the café after doing self a improvement exercise to see Captain Gav on the bridge in his PJ’s. After waiting all day for a forecasted low pressure system the wind had finally changed. Captain Gav had us furl the topgallant staysail and had watch leader Jimmy, Sam and Angus brave the 35 knot winds to climb the foremast so that we could all set the topsail.

After morning brief and a short, sharp and shiny happy hour the rest of the crew enjoyed a well deserved nap while Whiteys were on watch. Just before the call for today’s rope races, a pod of about 20 dolphins were spotted on the starboard side. This was an awe inspiring sight after not seeing anything on the horizon for days on end. After a very even rope race between the three watches, Engineer Horto gave us all an egg and a bucket of everyday items from around the ship. The eggs were superheros tasked with saving midships and dropped from the foremast ratlines. Bluey’s superhero was first to drop with a successful landing and safe superhero. Unfortunately for us, the duct tape parachutes built by bush mechanic Brando didn’t hold up and Super Egg nearly took out Navman as yolk was spread all over the deck. Red watch followed with an impressive shot put causing another broken egg inside an orange.

Tacking and wearing demonstrations were lead by Captain Gav and Sailmaster Evo. All the watches were together and everyone got an opportunity to see it all happen from the bridge. We then enjoyed an extremely homely Saturday night roast and French onion soup dinner put together by our master chef Jenko and his three youthie apprentices. We are all impressed with the quality of his dishes given the small size of his galley and the unrelenting rolling of the ship.

We better go as Brando might take the helm again and Blue watch will be here to relieve us so we can get a good night sleep. Ready for our morning watch were we expect to see the Neptune Islands.

Yours Aye,

White Watch