Bright Eyed and Ready to Go

Situation at 20:00-Overnight we continued making ground towards the East, motor-sailing into light headwinds. The Youth Crew were able to take their first tricks on the helm, learn the duties of the lookout and conduct rounds of the below deck spaces.All hands closed up on time for morning brief, bright eyed and ready to go. After XO Chook went through the plan for the day,Navigator Bullet outlined the distance each watch travelled overnight. His ‘spewometer’ reading was just under medium and fallingwith every mile gained. Salty Sea Dog Lukish once again managed to entertain us with his imaginative description of the nautical origins of an everyday term. Today’s was ‘Hijack’. Engineer Rags grinned fromear to ear as he plunked down his scran bag full of gear he had found sculling. Most of the Youth Crew were found to be guilty of leaving their personal items unsecured, and had to pay a penslty to have them returned. This Youth Crew have great voices and lots of enthusiasm, which is good because as Rags says ‘sorry is such an empty word’. Happy hour was next and before Chook could say ‘pass me my white glove’ the Ship was spic and span from stem to stern. Today’s Galley hands baked some delicious chocolate and banana muffins for morning tea-well done guys. The last event of the forenoon was a talk by XO Chook on how the square sails are set and clewed up.After lunch Navigator Bullet brought out the chicken bones and lectured the Youth Crew on the mysteries of his black art. Thisinvolved much nodding sagely and secret handshakes, but they were quick to see through his malarkey and grasp the basics of navigation.The Youth Crew then laid aloft to cast loose the square sails and put into practise what they had earlier learned in theory. In no time there was people on all three yards and the square sails were readyto be set and clewed. These drills lasted until the end of the first dog watch when all hands laid alow for supper.Today has been another good day and the Youth Crew have settled into life at sea with little difficulty. There is a goodlevel of teamwork developing amongst them, and all hands are working towards achieving their goals. The only sour note is the headwinds that force us to use the iron topsail. During the night watches theYouth Crew will practise setting and furling the stay sails, as well as standing their tricks as helmsman and lookouts.YOUNG ENDEAVOUR Fact File: Being a Brigantine, YOUNG ENDEAVOUR has a foremast and a mainmast. Three square sails arecarried from the foremast (the T’Gallant, Topsail and Course) and fore-and-aft sails are carried from the mainmast and the stays. Other than the two masts, the Ship’s spars include the yards, the boom and the gaff.YOUNG ENDEAVOUR Glossary: Yardarm- The outer quarters of a yard which lies outboard of the lifts on either side of the ship, ieport and starboard yardarms. Gaff- The spar to which the head of a four sided sail is attached on the after side of a mast. In YOUNG ENDEAVOUR the mainsail is secured to the gaff at its head and loose footed to the boom at its foot.Thought of the Day: The seven sins of the world: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Worship without sacrifice. Politics without principle. Mahatma Gandhi.Yours, AyeJohn CowanLCDR, RAN