BAY OF BISCAY

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 13 of our voyage. Since departing Brest yesterday we have been experiencing light – moderate NNW winds and really enjoying some pleasant sailing. Given these wonderful conditions our focus for the day has been sailing and Dougie our very talented Sail Master has been busy providing instruction on how to set and brail in the fisherman staysail and also how to set the gaff topsail. Until today our World Voyagers had not had an opportunity to set these sails as they are predominantly used in lighter conditions but today has been perfect and as I write this log we are sailing along nicely utilising both of these sails in our sail plan.One of the challenges that I will be giving the watches overnight is to see who can sail the furthest distance during their four hour watch. They will be allowed to use any sail plan and can adjust sail trim as they see fit so it will be interesting to see how they go.At the moment we are crossing the Bay of Biscay and are encountering a lot of marine life who all seemed interested in coming and having a closer look at Young Endeavour. Sightings today have included lots of dolphins and a pod of whales that surfaced relatively close to the ship.Tonight we are back to Red Watch writing the Log so please enjoy tonight’s entry which has been written by Annie and Brad. Enjoy!Until tomorrow, take careYours AyeCaptain GavCAPTAINS LOG THURSDAY 03 SEP 15Hóla from the Bay of Biscay. The Spanish lessons have well and truly started aboard the Young Endeavour now that we have left France. ”Delfines” (dolphins) is the only other word we have learnt, as since last night the dolphins have been visiting and playing around us in large numbers, intrigued by the ship.Red Watch kicked off the long watches, with ”first” watch last night; 1945 – 2345, and Tug, our glorious watch leader, had a hard time trying to get us to set the course sail, as we were all too easily distracted by the five dolphins that came to play in the bow wave of the ship. Our watch for the night was then very busy as the ever changing wind conditions had us running about furling the fore-staysail and the jib, then setting the topgallant staysail, before packing away all the square sails, to try and make the most of the breeze (we are a sailing ship after all).We were then relieved by White Watch to get a decent night’s sleep until 0700. The morning brought with it the usual routine, including brekky, a brief morning watch for Reddies where we witnessed a pod of up to 30 dolphins playing around the ship, and morning brief with a story from Salty on the origins of the words posh and yobo; posh being an acronym for Port Out, Starboard Home, and yobo meaning Yellow Only, Blue Only, all referring to classes of passengers on transatlantic crossings back in the 1800’s. This was followed by happy hour – cleaning the ship, then into lunch and a cheeky siesta for those not on watches.After a break, those that were asleep (Brad) were rudely awoken by Dougie announcing “Ropeys” – rope races between the watches on the upper deck, with Red watch narrowly being beaten by Blueys. (A discussion with the judges afterwards revealed that they would have preferred to award Reddies the win, but Blueys incorporated some fancy knots in their performance, tying themselves to a bucket to pip us at the post.) A good win to the Blueys, especially since they, and we as a whole ship, are sadly missing one of our shining sailors Kat, who unfortunately could not continue the voyage with us from Brest.With ropeys finished, the World Voyagers were then shown how to set the Fisherman’s sail and the main gaff topsail, the two highest sails on the Young Endeavour which we had not yet worked with. Once we had the new sails sorted, those not on watch had dinner, before returning to upper decks to watch a pod of whales surfacing and blowing, about 300m to the port side of the ship. A couple of dolphins also came back to check out the ship again, but no-one is getting sick of them.The weather is now a lot smoother, with sunny skies and light winds, making for excellent sailing. We are currently making 6 knots under sail (no engines – yay!), heading steadily south west towards the Canary Islands, and if the conditions stay this good we may get into Tenerife a bit earlier then planned.Adios from Annie (Watch Leader and whip cracker for the day) & Brad (chief typist for the evening) – Red WatchA HUGE shout out and hello to our fellow bluey Kat… we are missing your smiling face around the decks and hoping you are feeling a bit better than this time yesterday. Sending all of our healing love for a speedy recovery, and hoping you have a lovely French doctor looking after you! Your fellow bluey’s: Amy, Liv, Rudy, Steve, Teapot, Damo, Lewi & Shaun (and a big loud “What do we think of Kat? She’s alright, HUH!” from the Bay of Biscay!)A shout out from Maddy too, sending a massive Happy 17th Birthday to her little brother Dayne!!A quick hi to everyone back home; Mum, Dad & Brenda, Ryan & Georgie. I’m still alive, having an amazing time here with a bunch of awesome people. Slowly learning the ropes but having a ton of fun doing so. Love you all; Brad.