Captain's Log

V08/15

13 December 2015

STRONG WINDS AND A LARGE SWELL

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 21 of our voyage. Sundays are meant to be a day of rest for the Young Endeavour Crew but that certainly hasnâ€™t been the case today. With the exception of a mysterious lull in the weather this morning which saw us becalmed for just over an hour we have all been kept extremely busy fighting the elements and everything the Indian Ocean wants to throw at us. That has meant numerous sail plan changes in 25-35kt winds and trying to stay on our feet while the ship is thrown around in a large 4m swell.

Our World Voyagers are holding up very well and to e honest appear to be really enjoying the challenge of sailing the ship in these conditions. Most of the crews throughout the World Voyage have all stated that they wanted a really good storm during their voyage and I can assure you that Passage Eight have gotten their wish.

We are now into day three of our five day sailing run for the Boston Teapot Trophy and have continued to make good speed the only thing being that due to the gale force conditions we did have to reduce down to storm sails which did reduce our speed for a number of hours overnight. That said, we are now back sailing under fore staysail, 3 squares, main staysail and storm tri-sail and getting along quite nicely so we will keep doing the best we can.

Currently we are located 1425nm WSW of Fremantle sailing on a very broad port reach and maintaining a boat speed of between 9-12kts.

Volunteering to write tonightâ€™s Captains Log is Jack and Brig from the recently formed Tahiti Watch, please enjoy!

Until tomorrow, take care.

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

CAPTAINâ€™S LOG â€“ 13 DEC 15

Greetings from an incredibly wet Indian Ocean (Ocean bit aside, itâ€™s just raining a lot). Tahiti watch were woken by a very soggy Hawaii watch for the forenoon watch this morning with the news that conditions had eased somewhat. This was a small victory as we were smacked by a big squall as soon as we got up on deck. First order of business was to furl the storm jib and send Jack and Hamish up the mast to cast loose gaskets on the course. This happened just as the wind backed and we entered the â€˜eye of the stormâ€™, meaning conditions got very unconducive to walking in a straight line. These relatively calm conditions persisted for about an hour and forced the furling of the jib, the topsail, the course and centring of the main staysail. It also gave â€˜jack of all tradesâ€™, engineer Horto the chance to fix a damaged jib sheet. We were eventually forced to start up the engines to get us moving again. This must have sent a signal to Huey who immediately restarted the wind and the rain.

Moving to lunch provided yet another challenge to all on board, we must however be getting better as nobody hit the deck and Rose stayed safe from any mysterious swinging arms. After lunch a few of us settled in to watch one of the greatest films of all time. Whatâ€™s that youâ€™re saying Goose? You feel the need for? Ohhhh, the need for speed! The showing of Topgun meant that a few World Voyagers were compelled into pretending to be fighter pilots for the rest of the afternoon. Things soon quietened down as we settled into a delayed siesta and watches continued to march on up to the bridge.

Dinner of roast pork and spag bol was served by fill in chef Marcos, giving Jenko a well earned break. His day was not without incident however as he was seen marching about the deck looking for the potatoes. These were immediately assumed by Jenko to have been stolen. On further investigation and some querying Kenny came forward with a revelation. It is now accepted that as water rushed on deck last night it filled the potato footlocker with water opening the lid and spilling the spuds across the deck and into the drink. This means no more potato skin chips unfortunately.

BREAKING NEWS!

As we write this captains log we are interrupted by the announcement that we as Tahiti watch have just broken the World Voyage speed record! Reaching a staggering 15.6 knots under sail with Rose at the helm, we are now very pleased with ourselves and announce Tahiti as voyage 08/15â€™s speed demons.

Watches are now continuing overnight as we look forward to a couple more days of good sailing conditions before a lull forecast to arrive on Wednesday. This may spell the end of anymore real sailing for the voyage but who knows we may get some more favourable winds as we approach Fremantle.

That is all from your scurvy sea writers,

Jack Attack and Brig the Flying Dutchwoman

Shout Outs

Hey Jack! Hope you received my post card. Eleven!!! Missing you like crazy xx Not long now. Wish your Mum happy birthday from me. Love Rhianna xxxx P.S. The playlist is perfect.

Greetings friends and family! Experiencing some big waves and some awesome sailing. See you soon, Bec xx

Hello family, having a great time in some rough weather, see you in Melbourne, Hamish.

Hi, from CafÃ© Corner- Matt Harland

Hi Charles, Thank you so much for my journal, Iâ€™m loving it. Iâ€™m looking forward to reading you a few passages from my adventure. Merry Christmas- Matt G

Hi, Timâ€™s girlfriend. Please forgive Tim for his rude behaviour the other day. Despite what he says he really does love my beard. He hopes to one day have a beard of such stature. Peace out homie, Jack

Hi Mum and Dad. Had some crazy weather overnight, all very exciting (except for lack of sleep) still having a great time! Glad I packed that extra jumper and thermals but itâ€™s starting to warm up again as we get closer to Aus. Keen to see you in WA! Love Brigida

Latitude/Longitude:

42 degrees 20 minutes South / 88 degrees 0 minutes East

Conditions:

Currently located 1425 nm WSW of Fremantle and experiencing very strong 25-35kt WSW winds with a 4m NW swell. Our current speed is 10kts and the temperature is 10 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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STRONG WINDS AND A LARGE SWELL

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