Day 4 – Sun, Sails and Whales!

Ahoy shipmates. Day 4. After a wet and windy night, the skies finally cleared and we have enjoyed some fine sailing…and sun. Still bloody cold though! The day was filled with morning brief, happy hour, setting and furling drills, rope races, rotational tacks, some down time…and lot’s and lot’s of whales. As I write we are just to the north of Port Macquarie en route Coffs Harbour…ETA tomorrow morning. The adventure continues! I’ll hand you over to Will and Sophie now for their take on the day’s proceedings. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Cap K.———-

Last night was our first night of watches at sea. What started out as a calm night quickly turned to rain and wind speeds of 30 knots. Everyone that thought they’d won the battle against sea sickness were again tested when the waves reached the highest points we’d ever experienced and the boat was being tossed and turned. Luckily we had our big red jackets to keep us warm and cosy, but those of us who didn’t realise they were a set with waterproof pants learned how to take the helm half-soaked. Driving a tall ship in the pitch black of night is a lot harder than it looks and takes a lot of concentration, but you’re rewarded with a sense of being one with the ship and the responsibility of keeping everyone on course. Later, we found out that these conditions were only just ‘moderate’ according to the Beaufort wind scale… Which had us both excited and apprehensive for what may come in the next week. Learning to manage the swell and wind, and setting sails in the night downpour kept us alert and made us feel like true sailors.
Weaving our way up the picturesque coast past Port Macquarie, the sun finally came out to greet us. Enjoying the warmth, we spread out on the deck and had our first lesson on navigation. We learnt about nautical charts and how to plot our location and course. Re-energised after a delicious lunch of BBQ ribs and filo pastries, we once again took to our tacking stations. Today was a lot smoother as we all knew where to be and what line to set or furl. To gain a better understanding of what the other watches were doing we rotated through the different roles. This helped us to understand how each job worked together to keep us on course.
With the whales, dolphins and seabirds as our audience, we played the second instalment of Ropies – an exciting competition between the watches to test our sailing knowledge. Red watch finally got off the mark, even winning bonus points during team building games; which is just the beginning of a historic comeback. After our games we kicked back on the bowsprit and aloft the foremast to watch the sun set on another successful day aboard the Young Endeavour.

Sophie and Will