Day 8 – Command Day Part 1

Ahoy there Shipmates,After a restful night at anchor in Port Stephens, the crew were awoken by Sail Master Adam at 0630 for a quick game of ‘Evolution’ to get the body and mind moving. We then dined on one of Haydo’s delicious upper-deck BBQ breakfasts prior to the Morning Brief, which included a dramatisation of the origin of the expression ‘figurehead’ followed by why toilets in Ships are called ‘heads’, followed by a visit from ‘Goth’ Nana. This led into, as usual, the ‘happiest hour of the day’.At 0930 we held ‘opposites’ where youthies elected into leadership positions for Command Day got to talk to their opposite number staffie to find out what their job is all about.Lunch followed and then my Staff Crew and I got dressed-up in our best holiday outfits and conducted the handover ceremony at which I handed Young Endeavour over to Captain Vanessa and her able-bodied crew to use for Command Day to achieve their tasks and most importantly to have fun!Until tomorrow at 1300 when the adventure of Command Day draws to a close!Yours AyeCaptain Mike————————————————————Ahoy there shipmates,For the past eight days, we have been working tirelessly to learn how to sail the ship, in preparation for Command Day. Today, we embarked on the greatest adventure of all as the Young Endeavour was handed over to us at 1300.We received a mysterious yellow envelope, which contained 22 tasks. We were instructed that each of the tasks were to be completed by 1300 Tuesday 25th of March 2014. Most importantly, we were told we would be required to plot a course and arrive at our final waypoint station between the appointed times tomorrow.The first task which we successfully completed was the Youth Crew Beach Assault. A six person team (dressed in very amusing costumes) paddled ashore in the GPIB (little boat). They brought small gifts with them, in order to show the locals that they had come in peace. Once they arrived ashore, they raised the Australian National Flag and sang the Australian National Anthem as loud as they possibly could.We then successfully created a hammock at mid ships which was strong enough to support the entire crew and took a photo of the entire crew aloft at the same time. After the photo, we had an amazing dinner (thanks to Hailey, Kayla and Joey- our extremely talented master chefs). We then prepared for the engine to be switched off.At 1918, the engines were switched off and we obtained complete control of the ship. We immediately started setting various sails on the ship. Things seemed to be going smoothly until we realised that we were no longer heading in the right direction. As a result, we had to quickly set some extra sails such as the jib and some of the square sails.At 2200, we were still setting additional sails and changing direction as we had drifted off track again. The wind was quite strong and we were struggling to maintain control. Looks like it could be a late night tonight!!!Yours Aye,Youth Captain Vanessa “