Captain's Log

V08/15

16 December 2015

BACK TO LIGHT WINDS

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 24 of our voyage. Overnight our great run of strong winds finally ended and sadly this afternoon we had to start the main engines so that we could continue to make our scheduled arrival in Fremantle. Over the past five days we have been able to sail nearly 900nm which is a pretty good effort considering all of the different weather patterns that we have experienced.

Given our improved conditions we have been back running activities with the World Voyagers looking after most things as we have handed over most of the responsibility of conducting and organising the daily routines to them. They also have their own Sail Master and Watch Officers who look after the navigation and the sailing of the ship under the watchful eye of the Staffies.

Currently we are located 970nm WSW of Fremantle experiencing light WSW winds with a 3-4m swell. We expect these conditions to remain with us overnight with the wind due to freshen again from the south early on Friday morning.

Kindly volunteering to write tonightâ€™s Captains Log and a Poem about Evan our Navigator and BBQâ€™s is Bec and Tim, please enjoy!

Until tomorrow, take care

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

CAPTAINâ€™S LOG â€“ 16 DEC 15

Our Captains Log for today begins with the reteerns lling of a compelling story.

A story about barbeques and many things galore,

A bewildered Evan stopped right at the door,

His sights set on a barbeque and nothing more,

With a range of options though he found he couldnâ€™t be sure,

The one he had spied however would not be leaving the floor,

They told tales of other brands that would even the score,

And a range of deals and accessories that meant he would probably leave poor,

But still the one he wanted would not leave that store,

For the salesman continued on and on and it started to become a bit of a bore,

I want that barbeque! As this has become quite a chore.

Surely thatâ€™s a violation of Australian Consumer Law!

Last night for Tahiti watch was an evening filled with music with the guitar making a cameo appearance up on the bridge. It was not all fun and games however as we also furled the storm jib, storm tri-sail, jib and the topgallant staysail as the strong winds we had been experiencing began to wane. While we were hard at work our resident navigator Evan was enjoying himself on the bridge preparing to serenade us with a beautiful tune â€“ self composed. What about you may ask? Barbeques. A topic of conversation that has unfortunately dominated our last few watches. With the help of other renditions of popular songs the night quickly disappeared.

In the morning the PA system featured the soothing tones of Jimie and Nic our co-sail masters for the day. Tahiti watch took to the bridge for the forenoon watch. Alice, Bec and Brig went for a morning climb to warm up, while Tim gunned it on the helm as we left the Roaring Forties this morning. People began to emerge for morning brief only to be greeted by some cheeky sail handling as our captain wanted to set the mainsail and see how it fared. At morning brief the sail masters gave us a run down of the day packed full of fun activities that were in store. We were then given another presentation from the staffies on the origins of some more nautical terms before we were on our way to cleaning for the day. The titanic pair, Rose and Jack â€œbrushed upâ€ on their polishing skills making our shipâ€™s bell shine for our journey home. While exchanging tales on the bridge, Hamish got to shining every polish worthy item in the chartroom resulting in some very shiny dividers for our navigators.

Lunch was just around the corner with some delicious meals prepared by our chefs of the day, Claudia, Tammy and Brigida and then we stepped into afternoon routine with some Boga meets Sail Handling as Dougie mended some lines around the ship. Rope Races tied down the afternoon as we completed another round in our summer-themed watches with a very interesting bonus round. Our challenge was to create a â€œworking, singing fountain using only a bucket of water, some line and a peg. The MacGyvers in our groups got thinking into some interesting contraptions and we had a re-enactment of Incy-Wincy Spider by Whitsunday watch and a mechanically sound water contraption from Hawaii Watch. Not to be outdone, and also to take home the win for the bonus round, Tahiti put our heads together and came up with a performance of â€œItâ€™s Raining Menâ€ with our fountain of water being poured on Jackâ€™s head as our piece de resistance to take it home.

After rope races the groups split into some more sail handling to furl our remaining sails as the wind had all but disappeared for the day. We completed this with ease and some of our remaining Voyagers split to participate in some Christmas Carols themed Choir for the afternoon. Dinner was delectable as always with some Nachos and a Mexican themed evening with some pavlova (Timâ€™s favourite) before we proceeded into a quiz presented by our sailmasters. With some debate over the legitimacy of the questions and some possible(obvious) collusion by the Sailmasters and their Hawaii Watch, the quiz was a success and another day aboard the Young Endeavour was done.

SHOUTOUTS

Congratulations to our Brilliant Hamish and Rhiana on their ATAR results. You put the beautiful mind to shame!

Hello parents. Thank you for my ATAR results, they seem pretty good. Hamish

Hi Scott, how was America? Just letting you know that Iâ€™m alive and having a great time! We get back to Aus next week so ill call when I can. Say hi to the guys at work and your family for me, wishing them a very merry Christmas. Miss you xx See you when Iâ€™m home – Brigida

Gâ€™Day Davey, been bashing about for a few days out here. Looking forward to a beer when Iâ€™m home! Cheers, Dezmond. P.s. Thanks to you and Pa for the ginger tinge! – Dylan

Happy Birthday Steph!.Enjoy T-Swizzle. Hi Eliza. From Rebecca

Shoutout to Anna, Ben, Bec, Teya, Dan S, and Ramon. See you all again soon! Nic

Ma & Mark on Merkava; am sure youâ€™re enjoying the best Simons Town and the peninsula. If you’ve caught up with Tayo and Gemma ask them for hugs from me, and give some in return please. Hope you enjoy Cape Town as much as I did. Love James

Kelly Belly (Kelly Dâ€™Soyers)! Guess who. Bec and Jimi talkinâ€™ bout you. Why you ainâ€™t here?????

Hi Anthony, Mum, Dad and Bina! Looking forward to seeing you in a week in Freo! I canâ€™t believe how fast the time has gone. Glad itâ€™s getting a bit warmer now. Love Bec xx P.s. hope you are feeling better mum!

Hey everyone, a final shoutout from me before we get into Freo early next week. Its been a voyage full of some interesting ups and downs and Iâ€™ll fill you all in on the stories once I get into port, get some reception and can try and pay my phone bill! Talk soon! Tim

Latitude/Longitude:

39 degrees 29 minutes South / 97 degrees 56 minutes East

Conditions:

Currently located 970nm WSW of Fremantle motor sailing in light WSW winds with a 3-4m SW swell. Our current speed is 7.5kts 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

V04/24

19 February 2024

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

V04/24

19 February 2024

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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