DAY 10 – COMMAND DAY COMPLETED

A final Ahoy to Everyone,The final day of sailing for the Young Endeavour ended in the early hours of Friday morning as we successfully passed through the final waypoint and motored into Sydney harbour. The ship is anchored below the Taronga zoo and looking out across the harbour to the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and CBD.The Crew were woken up at 0700 to complete the last of the tasks given to us by the Staff. After such a disturbed sleep this proved quite the challenge. Tasks were delegated between watch officers and managed to complete them all and hand over the ship by 1300.The tasks we had to complete today were: Create a humorous/catchy song or poem that was put together by our master musicians on board and I am sure will be stuck in both the crew and staff’s minds for quite some time. Draw a mural on the deck that depicts our journey. Form a Beach Assault Team that had to paddle ashore and claim a small piece of Australia for our youth and sing the National Anthem with as many locals as possible. Piece together a power point presentation that was entertaining and showed everyone at least once including everyone aloft. Make a hammock strong enough to hold all 25 crew members without touching the ground. Finally a few crew members were selected to polish all the brass including the cannons to be judged after the hand over of the ship.At 1300 everyone mustered to midships and the handover ceremony began first by handing back the “Hat of Knowledge” and original telescope. This was followed by all the staff judges approving the youth crew’s completion of all required tasks successfully. I would like to give massive congratulations to the youth crew for performing so well for Command Day and hope everyone had a great time doing so.Youth Captain ScottA couple of the youth crew would like to leave a message,This whole voyage has been an amazing journey, one that I would never have dreamed of taking. It has opened my eyes and made me see things in a whole new light. Being aboard the Young Endeavour for 11 days has made me realise just how much there is out there in the world to do and experience and this trip has definitely been the most unique any of us have had yet. One of the things that I noticed while being onboard the Young Endeavour is how beautiful the stars are at night. When you’re laying on the deck and the ship is softly swaying, it makes the illusion that each star has been hand crafted and hung up there in the sky swaying in the wind especially just for the people on earth to look upon. Each one, individual, just like every one of us that embarked on this voyage. If I can pass on any wise parting words of wisdom it would be to make every day different from the day before making it special in its own way. Thank you, to all of you, staff and crew. I hope your adventures lead you to places near and far remembering all that we have learnt, not forgetting to take that well earned break once in a while. As a wise man once saidï¿½.. There’s always time for tea.AJ BoothLooking out over Sydney Harbour at night is beautiful, but looking out over Sydney Harbour knowing we sailed here ourselves is amazing. This afternoon we were given some time to reflect on our journey across the seas. ‘Wow’ was a word which came to mind first. With this word came thoughts, emotions and memories from the journey I embarked on and will soon complete. Our watches spoke about the challenges we have faced, the goals we have achieved and the tasks we have successfully completed throughout our voyage. As we took the time to reflect and share, we all realised how amazing our time together has been. For me, it has been a time of growth, of overcoming challenges- both personally and on the ship, a time of realising my potential and discovering a love for adventure. Thank you to all onboard Young Endeavour- may we all have many more exciting and challenging adventures to come.Sophie TaylorAnd the final word.After the ship was officially handed back at 1300 and the post command day debrief was conducted the Youth Crew cooked and consumed a magnificent teak deck BBQ for dinner where we celebrated Bill Jo Hurle and Jessica Martin birthday\’s with two fantastic chocolate and caramel cakes. The evening culminated with the Youth Crew presenting a slide show and song, capturing various selected moments and experiences during the voyage. This gave everyone the opportunity to reflect on the past 10 days and their amazing once in a life time journey. The remainder of the evening was spent completing end of voyage questionnaires and letters to themselves, which are returned to each Youth Crew member six months after voyage completion.The ship will weigh anchor depart Athol Bay tomorrow morning for a final passage around Port Jackson where we will climb aloft and man the yards with our accomplished young adventurers for a 1000 final berthing alongside Fleet Base East Woolloomooloo for an emotional farewell to the Youth Crew.Until then it has been an honour and privilege to sail with the Youth and Staff Crew of Voyage 10/11. I wish them all the best for their future endeavours.Carpe DiemYours AyeCaptain DamienÂ

Latitude/Longitude:

33Â°50's / 151Â°14'e

Conditions:

2300 at anchor - Weather scattered cloud, Wind W 11 knots, Swell nil, Temperature 15 degrees, Barometer 1011 hpa

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

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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DAY 10 – COMMAND DAY COMPLETED

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