V06/16 DAY 9 – 28 MAR 16

Ahoy Shipmates, it’s Youth Captain Morgan,

Command Day is now officially over, the Staff have control of the ship again, and Youth Crew are hopefully catching up on some much deserved sleep! In my 24 hours of Captaincy, I have concluded that the Youth Crew aboard are some of the most resilient and tirelessly hardworking people I know, and am thrilled that I was able the opportunity to lead them in what I hope was an enlightening, fun and challenging Command Day that they won’t forget.

At 0030 hours a brief squall swept through from the port side that kept the crew members on watch from staying dry and warm, and unfortunately when it left it took all the wind with it. From then on Navigator Estelle was able to conclude that because there was no wind in the sails, we essentially could not continue forward, and in fact at one point we were going backwards. This was very disappointing for the crew, as it meant that all the designated waypoints could not be reached.

However, as a team, we pushed through and instead decided to focus on the fun tasks set ahead for us. After a beautifully made breakfast from our Chefs, with the help of crew member Mika, morning brief was held, with the Youth Leaders taking charge and trying to make sure that we could get as many laughs and smiles out of both the Youth crew and Staff crew as possible. A special mention should be made to Navigator Estelle, Watch Officer Harry and Watch Leader Mary for their fun spins on ship culture and to crew member Lachy for his sportsmanship when we presented him with a frozen hat.

The rest of the day was, simply, fun. We had a party in the 12th berth to which we all partied hard to American Pie, designed a memorable mural at midships, paying special attention to crew member Rachael’s amazing artistic skills, and crew member Charlotte gathered together all the photos from Youthies cameras to compile into a slideshow. All in all, ship moral was definitely improved and it made the day go by very fast.

Command Day was definitely challenging, and Captaincy is something I feel like I need at least 20 more years studying before I can do it perfectly; however the experience alone is something I will treasure forever. The crew members I worked with over the last 24 hours have put 100% into the running of the ship, have been behind me the whole way, and despite challenges and conflict have managed to keep the “22 million dollar ship” (as Captain Mike kept reminding me) in pristine condition. Special mentions should be made the command crew who kept charge with me over Command Day. Watch Officers Harry, Anneke and Matt made certain that the ships safety and crew were being upheld, and that any concerns were relayed back to me. Watch Leaders Mary, Noah and Zenaida kept their crew informed and reliable. Navigator Estelle and Sailmaster Tyrone assisted me in any major decision making, offered me support and advice, and helped keep the ship on course and sailing. The obvious should also be noted, that all of this was made possible because of the amazing crew we had working hard throughout the night and day. I could not have done any of what we achieved today without you all beside me, I hope you all had as much of an experience as I have.

Until I have another 20 years of experience!

Youth Captain Morgan
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Ahoy there Shipmates,

As Youth Captain Morgan detailed, the Command day for the Youth Crew was an incredible journey, a day filled with individual and team discovery, challenges, rewards, lessons, friendships and beauty. Now that we are at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sydney Harbour, we have many post-Command Day activities we need to complete before we can relax. The intention is to remain at anchor overnight and sail tomorrow morning to allow the youth crew to host the community-day sailors and show them how much fun it is to sail Young Endeavour.

Until tomorrow.

Yours Aye

Captain Mike