Eden to Melbourne
21 January 2025
2025_Day 7, Eden to Melbourne
Hello, this is Isy and Crash (Collison) reporting from the coast of Phillip Island just south-east of Melbourne. Today we woke up after a night of sailing to a warm, sunny day, by the suited ‘Here Comes the Sun’.
Beginning the day in our different watch groups, nervous but excited to have Captain Leups test our knowledge of sail setting and furling. All were deemed competent and pleasantly surprised with fresh Tim Tams that tasted better than ever before. Following our chocolatey pre-breakfast reward we had our morning brief from the Staffies, including a literal off-the charts low for the spew-meter, earning a celebration for no sea-sickness the past two days.
We then broke off to our respective watch tacking stations and took turns up at the bridge to learn what was actually happening to the ship when we close up and execute a tack. We are usually on deck hauling lines and it was great to see it from the Bridge perspective.
After lunch Blue Watch won the final round of ropies, with the bonus round of a race to consume Zooper Doopers the fastest. Calories were consumed. Brains were freezed. Mouths were numb.
With the buzz of the zooper doopers, youthies were disappointed to hear that we had a navigation brief, however, when the plan quickly changed to a swim around the boat, a huge roar of surprise followed. With the current too strong we launched the boat and went for Plan B which was a run in to Cowell Beach, Philip Island.
Captain Leups talked us through a brief on the conduct of Command Day. This is the culmination of all the training and drill we have been doing out here. It is very exciting! After speeches were spoken and votes were counted, the results for the different positions are as follows:
Seth as Captain; Andrew as Sailmaster; Isy as Navigator; Gunita as Officer of the Watch; Crash, Lila, and Mark as Watch Leaders of the new Dog, Cat, and Bird Watches, Sam, Daisy, and Darby will be our Master Chefs; and Amaya and Harry as our created positions of Morale Officers.
The day was then finished with movie snacks while we watched the short documentary, Around Cape Horn, about Captain Irving Johnson’s trip on the 17 storey tall-ship, Peking, in 1927. Despite the vast differences in safety equipment, ship size, and the conditions, the movie served as a reminder of the seafaring knowledge we have gained.
Time to sign off as the final day of being a Youthie, tomorrow we will become proper Salty Sea Dogs.
Isy and Crash Out +