Day 18 – Aegean Sea

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 18 of our voyage. Well the World Voyages handed back the Ship in one piece following a very successful Command Day. Caitlin and the Crew did a fantastic job and should be proud of the way they ran the Ship throughout the 24hr period.This morning in the Aegean Sea started of extremely cold with everyone putting on extra layers of clothing and wet weather gear. We did make good speed overnight but had been expecting a strong northerly change at anytime which ended up arriving early this afternoon with 25kt winds and a 2m sea which really did slow our progress. Having studied the weather forecast I didn’t think that it would last for to long and on this occasion have proven to be right as at 2030 the wind magically veered to the East and has now dropped off to 15kts which has made it quite pleasant.The good news is that we will arrive in Canakkale on schedule tomorrow which given the weather that we have experienced throughout this voyage and distance travelled is simply amazing.The next 3 days will be memorable and extremely busy for all of us but we will still manage to find some time to write the Log and tell you about our experiences.Writing tonight’s Captains Log is Dani who has been waiting for the past 18 days for this opportunity so please enjoy!Until tomorrow, take careYours Aye,Captain Gav Captain’s LogTuesday, 21st April 2015Today marks a milestone (or approximately 1600 NM since leaving Cadiz, Spain), when our Whiskey Victors were given their first sighting of the Turkish coastline as we passed Psara Island.The day was once again packed full of activities: the ever entertaining morning brief that saw some terrible jokes from our sailmaster Knuckles, fun facts, score updates for various sporting teams, a talk from our excellent navigator Miquela, ridiculously tall tales from Taffy- our resident salty sea dog (yet again on the origins of 2, 6, heave) and finally another talk from our fearless leader Captain Gav who saw fit to give another one of his inspirational quotes!Later we saw a crew PT session on deck (including planking and push ups on a 300 incline!); took up arms in the form of a mop/bucket, chucks and surface pray at our cleaning stations during ‘happy hour’, partook in the infamous ropey races to test our skills and cunning; carried out the setting and furling of the fore staysail, main staysail and mainsail (as allowed by the weather gods); and viewed the next daily instalment of the Gallipoli series as emotions are starting to build amongst the crew, the closer we get to ANZAC Day in Gallipoli.Late this afternoon we mustered for a debrief of our (successful) 24hr Command Day which saw many life lessons learned. Amongst them were lessons in leadership: leading from the back as all members of crew bring strengths and attributes which lead to our troubleshooting/problem solving efforts, as well as some essential take home messages including informed decision making, good communication and teamwork. It was a challenge but one that all crew members rose to and collectively problem solved and carried out all that needed to be done!As today is ‘Navigator Appreciation Day’ I feel the need to give a shout out to our brilliant navigator Miquela whose skills go unmatched on board, for getting us back on track as this time last week we all had concerns about reaching out destination in time. Another shout out to our fabulous assistant navigator Jodie- on behalf on the Whiskey Victors we thank you! (Many hug’s coming your way). Today also marked ‘Hug a ranga day’ which Taffy and Adam were very proud of.As a magnificent sunset drew yet another day of sailing to a close, I can’t help but think of and miss our family and friends back home. It’s often the simple things that matter the most- a home cooked meal, a warm hug or a friendly smile from loved ones says it all.Yours aye,Dani Skews  PS Hello to my family back home (The Fords) and especially my beautiful fiancée Amali, I miss you and can’t wait to see you in Istanbul in a few days! Love Jack  PPS Hi Mum and Dad and family and friends! Hope everything is going well at home, looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks. Love Amanda xoxo  PPPS Hi to the whole Dearing clan, and a big shout out to Kristy, miss you all and speak real soon. Love Dim.”