ANZAC Day

Ahoy there Shipmates, A well deserved night’s rest at anchor in Little Manly Cove was had by all. I think everyone onboard slept very soundly and for good reason, most were exhausted from Command Day, but that didn’t stop us from conducting our usual Early Morning Activity, which this morning was a quick game of ‘Knights, Mounts and Cavaliers’. Sail Master Harry mustered us all on deck in overcast and cool conditions for an ANZAC Day service, for which Tug was the Master of Ceremonies The service included singing the Naval Hymn, I gave an ANZAC Day reading, a youth crew member recited a prayer, Harry recited the Naval Ode, the last post was played and after a minute’s silence the reveille was played, Chef Zac recited the Benediction and Sumo finished up with a ANZAC Day address. We then lightened things up with the Morning Brief which included an explanation from ‘Salty’ of why we split the Dog Watches. This again was achieved with the use of Staffie dubious acting skills and dress-ups. At 0900 the youthies completed another of their command day tasks, the Beach Assault Team. That involved 6 youthies paddling a rubber boat 600 yards ashore to a local beach where they reclaimed a section of the coast line for the youth of Australia and then rounded up passers by to help sing the national anthem, which was transmitted to the ship by a portable radio. The youthies were then ferried ashore to Manly Wharf where they walked to local cafes to conduct their end-of-voyage discussions. They all returned onboard by 1300 and we all had lunch. At 1400 the youth crew began harbour-furling the square sails. To achieve this all of the Youth Crew proceeded aloft on the yards to fold-up the sails and then stow them inside their UV covers. On completion we weighed anchor and proceeded up the harbour and as we approached the harbour bridge we put the youthies aloft to ‘man the yards’ on the foremast to give them the experience of being aloft as we pass under the bridge and then we proceeded alongside the Fleet Base at Garden Island.  Once we were at the Fleet Base, Chef Zac treated us to a pizza night dinner enjoyed on the upper decks enjoying the views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Next we viewed a slide show depicting the voyage, compiled by Madison Lancashire, and listened to a song about the voyage, composed and performed by Alexis Taverner. The last thing on the agenda for the day was the post-voyage administration. The youthies completed a feedback questionnaire on the voyage and wrote a letter to themselves about their experiences onboard, which will be posted to them in 6 months. We then encouraged everyone to ‘hit the sack’ after another long exhausting day! Until tomorrow.   Yours Aye Captain Mike
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather - occasional showers, Wind - light and variable, Swell - nil, Temp - 18 deg. C
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
