Captain's Log

V08/15

15 December 2015

A VERY LARGE SWELL

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 23 of our voyage. The squally conditions remained overnight which kept everyone on their toes and deprived most of us of some much needed sleep. Sunrise this morning provided us with some clear skies and some much needed sunshine but with daylight we could see the full height of the 5-7m swell that we were now surfing which is why we have been achieving some amazing boat speeds.

The large swell has made things even more uncomfortable and it has been a challenge just to try and walk around the ship so given these conditions our Sail Master of the Day â€˜Kateâ€™ decided to make it a relaxed day which enabled most of us to catch up on a little sleep and in my case to finish some more paperwork.

Since this morning the swell has reduced to 4-5m so things arenâ€™t to bad except we are still rolling around a fair bit. Currently the wind s forecast to back to the west late this evening o that should allow us to set some more sail and continue to make good speed to Fremantle which is now only 7 days and 1100nm away.

Kindly volunteering to write tonightâ€™s Captains Log is Rhianna and Jamie, please enjoy!

Until tomorrow, take care

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

CAPTAINâ€™S LOG â€“ 15 DEC 15

Ahoy mateys!

Last night after the Captains log was created Hawaii watch started the 8pm- 12am watch. This was nothing but eventful. With all weather conditions thrown at us within the four hours and staff called to help out the youthies we can happily say that we should be qualified pirates by now! All shades of weather appeared including hail, rain and sunshine. Not to mention the waves crashing onto the deck leaving us all soaking wet.

We have to give it to the staff though! They were up and helping us within a minute or maybe two of being called. Decked out in wet weather gear and all! Its time to lift our game!

Whilst Hawaii made sure to get a good night sleep the other watches were trying to break records. On the 4-8am watch with the one and only Kenny on the helm the speed record for the World Voyage was broken, twice! First with 15.9kn and the again with 16.9kn!

This morning at the morning brief (Ran by the days sail master Kate) we were please to hear that today would have Sunday vibes, so that means chilling, reading and watching a movie unless your on watch. This was because of the weather conditions which also meant we had a more relaxed happiest hour of the day (cleaning, more or less).

As we saw the sun come out this morning and it keeping the appearance for the day World Voyagers slowly started to defrost and make their way to the deck to soak in the rare ray of sunshine that we have missed dearly. This also allowed us to do some much needed washing with the hope of it drying before the end of the day!!

Thanks again to the amazing Jenko and his master chefs for the incredible food! On a side note, galley duty has come to involve having the best cafÃ©/restaurant name possible! Some names thrown around have been the three stooges, The Stormy Sea CafÃ©, The Red Boat, just to name a few.

Today has had a very Sunday feel and has allowed us all to relax a bit before some more hectic weather which is on its away. We hope that the sun can stay and it gets a bit warmer, so we can make use of the summer clothes we packed to many of! Hope all reading the logs are well and enjoying our stories from the Indian Ocean (currently about 1100 NM from Fremantle)

Yours Truly,

Rhianna and Jamie.

SHOUTOUTS:

The count down is on. Not long to go now. I canâ€™t wait to see you all for Christmas. Merry Christmas Mum, Dad, Chris, Shane- Love Matt G

Dear mum, dad and Julia, Hope allâ€™s well at home. Still having a brilliant time and donâ€™t want the trip to end, but canâ€™t wait to see you all next week. All my love- Alice D

Hi Anne, Dave, Kate + Stinkface. Looking forward to seeing you guys at Christmas. Iâ€™m having an awesome time + will see you in just over a week! Love Josh C

Hi Mum and Dad having an awesome time xx See you in a week. Lots of Love Rhianna

Latitude/Longitude:

40 degrees 16 minutes South / 95 degrees 1 minutes East

Conditions:

Currently located 1100nm WSW from Fremantle sailing downwind under 3 Squares and experiencing moderate 14-18kt SW winds with a 5m SW swell. Our current speed is 6.5kts and the temperature is 12 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

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Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

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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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A VERY LARGE SWELL

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