Day 28 – Next Stop Gibraltar

Hi Everyone,Â Welcome to day 28 of our voyage. Despite lighter conditions experienced today we have still made good speed and will arrive in Gibraltar at 1000 tomorrow morning.It really has been pleasant day her in the Mediterranean with clear skies, calm seas, pods of dolphins, Loggerhead turtles and enjoyable sailing. To give the World Voyagers something different to do this afternoon I gave them the Captains Challenge. This challenge involved them working together as a crew to put the Ship under a full press of sail, navigating to a designated waypoint then tacking/wearing the Ship and all to be achieved in 90 minutes without any assistance from any of the Staff Crew.Â Â This they completed with minimum fuss and in the required time which was extremely pleasing and just shows how much these World Voyagers have learnt since joining the Ship.Tonight we are back to Pink Watch writing the Log so please enjoy reading about todayâ€™s activities written by Ali and Ann. Enjoy!As we arrive in Gibraltar tomorrow we will not put out another Log until our departure on Wednesday 27th May 2015Until our next Log, take care.Yours AyeCaptain GavCaptains Log: 21 May 15Good Morning!Happy birthday Ailesh! Hope you enjoyed sailing into another year!Â Â Once again the weather gods have been kind to us and bestowed calm seas, increasing sunshine, a quick shower to clean the ship and mostly good sailing winds. Pinkies kicked off the day with Guts Watch along the south coast of Spain in the Sea of Alboran. In the early hours of the morning, Salty took us a through a case study of an incident involving a yacht and a merchant vessel, highlighting the importance of watch look outs and radar use. For the remainder of the watch, Pinkies kept a sharp eye when not eating toast or drinking tea. There were plenty of lighthouses along the coast. We learnt from the charts how to identify individual lighthouses according to the timing and number of flashes observed.Morale onboard was boosted considerably after morning brief when Salty, Cheeky Jack and the Bosun demonstrated the three typical punishments handed out for naughty behaviour in the old sailing days. With these punishments in mind, an extremely thorough cleaning job was done during happy hour today.We were then treated to the audio visual presentation from Dr Karl on celestial navigation and a few hot tips for Floral Friday â€“ what a shirt! Some crewies took the opportunity to dream about the stars while others watch and listened intensely. We now look forward to using our theoretical knowledge and busting out the sextant to sail by the stars after Gilbraltar.Â Â Jenko and the Masterchefs provided another stellar lunch. Those not on watch, were able to have a siesta in preparation for the afternoon activities including ropeys and the Captains Challenge!!Â Â Captain Gav decided it was time to see what the crewies were made of. Our challenge, if we chose to accept, was to set as many sails as possible and reach waypoint Geronimo approx 5 nautical miles from our current location in less than 90 minutes. Firstly we needed to get a fix on our current location, assign someone to helm and set a course for waypoint Geronimo. The crewies took to it like ducks to water and in no time had set some sails and were headed in the right direction. This is where the weather gods let us a down and the wind dropped, reducing our speed considerably as we weren\’t able to use engines. 10 out of 10 effort from everyone on board saw us narrowly miss our waypoint by 250 metres even with eight of the ten sails set. We took some important lessons about communication, team work, navigation and the importance of knowing rules of the road (sea). This will all help us come Command day later on in the voyage.Â Â Jenko, Marcos and the Masterchefs created an impressive masterpiece for dessert to celebrate Ailesh\’s Birthday; it was thoroughly enjoyed and devoured by everyone. Marcos then treated us to an interesting array of trival questions (cough, cough). We split into our original watches and with the help from some staffies, battled through the somewhat obscure questions. It was no surprise that again the Blue-ies snatched the win!! Some key lessons were learned during trivia, 1: do not stick chewing gum on your nose if you wish to visit Somalia, 2: if planning to plough cotton fields in North Carolina cross elephants off your list of animals to use to pull the plough.Â Â Tomorrow we\’re due to arrive in Gilbraltar. Everyone on board is quite excited to see the famous Rock of Gilbraltar, venture into Southern Spain and eat some delicious tapas. Thanks to the Mediterranean Sea for putting on such lovely weather, we\’ll all be back at some stage. We\’re are looking forward to the possible challenges that the North Atlantic Ocean may throw at us and practicing our whale speak.Â Â Over and out for now,Â Ali and AnnÂ Â Good Morning! I think I found my sea legs. Yay! Hope all is well. Ciao AnnÂ Â Jusie Bugs we saw some turtles today!! Missing you all heaps! Love AlÂ Â Hopefully going to chase a wave in Spain or Portugal. I\’ll think of you. Jacob xÂ Â Hi all, all going well! Am excited to venture into the South of Spain- a pretty sweet surprise! Working up my tan in the Med.Â Hope all in 2/3 Crowden is still happy and going well! Has Miss Crowden told you the surprise for June yet? I\’m a bit jealous I won\’t be there! Also Adventure Ted has had some pretty fun adventures, helming, taking a fix (finding where we are)!Â Have fun love Miss Murfet xxÂ Â Â “Â

Latitude/Longitude:

36Â° 16' North / 4Â° 5' West

Conditions:

Currently located 60nm to the NE of Gibraltar and enjoying light ESE winds with a .5m ESE swell. Current speed is 7kts and temperature is 19 degrees.Â

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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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

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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 28 – Next Stop Gibraltar

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