At Anchor, Cleveland Bay

This morning the youth crew awoke to something they hadn’t seen all voyage ��� a sunrise! With the rising of the sun and concurrent lifting of spirits, YOUNG ENDEAVOUR quickly prepared to depart our anchorage at Magnetic Island and motor to Townsville Harbour to embark some special guests for the half day sail.Our half day sail today was glorious for sailing, if a little chilly. We welcomed guests from the Cootharinga Society, SOLAS, Kirwan Rehabilitation Unit, and the Transitional Accommodation Support Program. These groups support Australians with physical and intellectual disabilities, mental illness and those preparing to return home from acute mental health facilities.We also welcomed the Honourable Peter Lindsay, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, and Commander Chris Galloway, the Commanding Officer of YOUNG ENDEAVOUR.The half day sail was a great success, with everyone onboard enjoying sailing. Many of our guests braved their fear of heights and layed aloft the fore-mast for a commanding view of the region. We also enjoyed a magnificent feast of cream buns, donuts, sushi, sausage rolls, lamingtons and so on. On completion of the half day sail, the youth crew assisted in storing ship for the next voyage. I think they were amazed at how much food they had eaten during their voyage, and also at how Chad manages to hide all the food away when it is stowed below.With light winds in the harbour, the youth crew harbour furled the square sails in preparation for our arrival tomorrow. Harbour furls are a neat way of rolling up the square sails such that a protective cover shields the sails from damage by ultra-violet rays.We are now at anchor just off Townsville enjoying a seafood buffet and BBQ as the sun sets Halifax Bay to the west. We will shortly witness the artistic talents of the youth crew with the performance of SOD’s Opera ��� a fine tradition in YOUNG ENDEAVOUR where each watch, and the staff, present a short play or skit. The night promises to be amusing indeed.Yours AyePhil GadenLieutenant, RANR’The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.’ Bertrand RussellYouth Crew ImpressionsSean, 17, CanberraHey outside world. Today we had great sunny weather, yay, it’s been great. We had heaps of wonderful people on board and our wonderful chef Chad cooked us a beautiful lunch. We had sushi and pies, you name it. It was wonderful when we got back we sang some songs and had to say goodbye to our guests, then after that we had all the food delivered for the next voyage so once again we worked as a team to get it done. When we finished James and I were lying on the deck and some of the boys and girls thought it would be funny to pour a bucket of water all over me. I was drenched, it was hilarious. I don’t know how but I’m going to get them back. Well I have to run, bye.Sinitta, 16, Thursday IslandHello everybody, I am having a wonderful time here on the Young Endeavour!! The weather was great today considering the last few days out at sea has been quite wet. Today was a really good experience for me, got to meet even more people that I would usually speak to. I personally got a lot out of the half day sail helping, those disadvantaged youth on board. It was great and makes me appreciate life a whole lot more and realise how truly lucky some of us are. To those who were thinking about coming along to the Young Endeavour in the future, I say do it! Heaps of fun and great experience. I’ve got a whole new aspect on life from being here!! Well best be off with just a quick shout out to my family and friends back home on Thursday Island, see you all soon.
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Situation at 1930. At anchor with 3 Shackles on Deck Starboard Anchor. Windo Southerly at 10 knots
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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”
