Day 9 – Our Final Night

Welcome to day 9 and the final night of our voyage. Following a great night of sailing Bass Strait the Youth Crew made their final waypoint by 0630 this morning and after handing in all sail we passed safely through the Port Phillip Bay ‘Rip’ at slack water as planned at 0700. Once safely through the Rip we transited down the Western Channel and around to Cario Bay where we came safely to anchor at 1120. 

Now I will handover to Oliver assisted by Willy G to tell you all about the Youth Crew exploits for today.

Take care. Yours Aye

Captain Gav

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It is the final night aboard Young Endeavour and I have been fortunate enough to have the task of writing the last captain’s log. Command day also took place and ended today, so without further ado let us begin in the grim late hours of Tuesday night…

Red watch began their tough and enduring 6 hour watch at 8pm. Throughout the night, the wind and seas had picked up and shown their true strength. The waves were tilting the boat to 30 degrees and the wind had forced the boat to a steady 7.5 knots. Closer to the end of the watch was when the work really need to be done. The gaskets needed to be tied on the square sails so Joe and Niamh bravely volunteered. With the ship swaying madly they climbed to the topsail and managed to get the job completed (great work guys).

By 2am, Green watch was up and running. Certainly tired and not so looking forward to the ‘oof’ watch, we met at the bridge and enjoyed a hot brew. I believe we may have had some contact although I’m not too sure, Toby was an awfully quiet lookout. Staying on course thanks to our terrific navigator Sam, we snacked on some lollies and remained on lookout for some time. By around 6am the sails needed to be furled which proved a challenge which the green watch tackled head on. Will, the watch leader, led charge as he commanded his team. Toby, Carl and I heaved on the heavy lines which we immediately knew would be a mighty strenuous task whilst Randy and Sari checked away. In a three man super toboggan, we furled the jib sheet which according to Will was a terrific job (however the struggling faces were difficult to watch).

 
With all the sails furled, we went to breakfast and devoured some croissants prepared by our hardworking chefs Stuart and Alex. By now, the ship was wide awake and we smoothly motor sailed towards Geelong. The youthies were rewarded for their hard work over the past 24 hours with a 2 hour nap which nobody took for granted. After lunch the Ropies Grand Final took place. The bonus challenge involved passing through your watch’s legs. Red watch aced the challenge and ultimately won Ropies (let’s go red watch).

 
Soon after, we harbour furled the sails and took some beautiful pictures with the youthies and staff aloft. As sad as it was for us to never set the sails again, our bodies our thankful for the rest. Each watch was then given roughly an hour to prepare a short play and song. The staffies kicked off the show telling a story of two bandits, Claudia Caramel and Veronica Vanilla and their law breaking attitude and violent acts. Blue watch performed an amazing poem and dance filled with memories and white watch recounted the tale of Willy G and the nacho girl. Red watch finished the show with the tragic story of Carl and his Cordial (very sad times).

Jarrod prepared a multitude of pizzas for a delicious dinner and soon after we wrote letters to our future selves which we will be receiving in 6 months’ time. The night ended with a funny, heart-warming slideshow of all our destinations and activities we did on Young Endeavour (thanks Gabby).

 
Tomorrow, as we enjoy breakfast together, pack our bags and climb the masts one last time, I hope we can all remember the joyful time we have spent together supporting, chatting, working as one great team.

Written by Oliver S with help from Willy G.