At Anchor Portarlington

Hi Everyone,                       Welcome to day 10 of our voyage .Following a busy night of sail plan changes the Youth Crew had the ship well positioned for its entry into Port Phillip Bay. At 0700 this morning (slack water) they handed in the majority of sail and safely passed through the infamous Port Phillip Bay ‘Rip’ where we altered course to the south and proceeded to Portarlington via the Western Channel. Once through this channel the Youth Crew again brought the ship under sail then safely navigated us the short distance over to Portarlington where we came to anchor at 1130.Once at anchor the Youth Crew set about completing the rest of their tasks prior to handing the ship back to the Staff Crew at 1300.With Command Day successfully completed the Youth Crew were ferried ashore where they were given the opportunity to have a quick swim or browse through the Portarlington shops before all returning to the ship at 1630.Late this afternoon with everyone safely back onboard we conducted the Command Day debrief then to complete the evening activities we held a very entertaining ‘Sods Opera’.The time is now 2100 and we have just settled into anchor watches for the night ensuring that all of us are well rested for tomorrows Community Day Sail.Until tomorrow evening, take care. Yours AyeCaptain Gav 11th JanuaryCommand Day 2From Portarlington, GeelongAhoy there,Youth Crew Captain Matt and Sail Master Mason here!It was a long night for most of the Command Team, as we were travelling around 60 Nm with some of the best sailing weather we have had all voyage. The favourable easterlies led to a comfortable night on squares, and later on the fore and aft sails.Reports from our Watch Officer show us reaching speeds of up to 10kns during the guts watch. Good speed was held through the night, leading to the handing of some sail, in order to arrive at our deadline of 0700 at ‘The Rip’. After the Staffies helped us pass through the Rip, we again received control of the ship once we safely passed through ports waters.  The wind quickly dropped off, leaving us stranded and bobbing around at 1kn at the exit to west channel.Breakfast was just as successful as the seafood themed dinner with pancakes, smoothies and French toast on offer. Morning brief followed a bit later than usual with the disappearance of Salty, but a friend of his had been dropped off for our Command Day voyage. Brackish Pete taught us the origins of the phrase ‘down in the sticks’, and also managed to gain a good laugh from Brett.Motors were soon used to transit us to the anchoring grounds just off Portarlington, Victoria. The rest of the tasks were feverishly completed to the best of our abilities. Jordo was pretty happy with the polishing.Lunch followed and once again, we were surprised by the standard of food coming from our Youthie chefs. We would like to thank them for their success and keeping our morale high (and stomachs full).We would like to formally thank the Staffies, for staying up all night keeping and eye on us, but also giving the Command Team a nudge in the right direction. Thank you for helping us when we needed it most, and preparing us for this day to the best of your abilities. We truly appreciate the hard work you lot put in – you make your jobs look easy!To the Youthie crew members – we could not have asked you to work any harder or put up with us the way you did, so good job! Thanks for always asking how we were doing, not getting too frustrated, and also doing a superb job in putting our plan into action. Without your complete cooperation, the success of command day would not have been as successful.Thanks to the Command Team for a successful day. We had some hiccups, but learning from our mistakes is the key to a successful team.After the conclusion of Command Day at 1300, we had a quick run ashore into Portarlington with some of the local Youthies on board showing us the best spots in town.SODS Opera followed after a superb dinner from Keely – we truly don’t understand how you manage to create so much high quality food in a tiny (and swaying) galley! The Staffies kept the Youthies laughing through their entire skit so much, that our sides hurt.Anchor watches will be held tonight with an early morning tomorrow, heading for Williamstown.Until tomorrow,Captain Matt and Sail Master Mason.