Day 9 – Command Day Concludes

Ahoy there, Youth Captain Dahna here again, after I left you yesterday we continued to navigate and sail our way through the night. We had some issues with the wind (and lack thereof) briskly making our way at 1 knot from Mooloolaba to Moreton Bay. At one point the wind changed direction and we had to do a tack (change direction, so that the wind was hitting the sails properly). All crew on board were woken, some more happily than others, but all were quickly back to bed after the tack was completed. The wind finally picked up and we were estimated to arrive at our destination at 3amï¿½ï¿½_ Seeing as no one was going to be awake then, we decided to go past our destination point and sail back around, meaning that we arrived at about 0830, which was much more reasonable, at which point we briefly handed the navigation back to the staff to navigate the narrow channel to Moreton Bay. On arrival to Moreton Bay we continued on our list of tasks. This included happy hour (cleaning the ship). One of our tasks was to put together the morning brief (which is never really brief), for this Ray wrote a fantastic poem to the tune of Mamma Mia, we sang the Australian National Anthem to the tune of ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Don’t worry be happy’, ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Amazing Grace’, ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Yellow Submarine’, and the youth crews favourite ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½TNT’. Our quote for the day was, ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Don’t tell me the skies the limit, when there are footprints on the moon!’Our last task was to build a giant hammock at midships, and this held the weight of every single member of the youth crew, and even held up as we started to sing and dance. We then handed back the ship to Captain Damien, where I gave back the telescope of truth and the cap of knowledge, somewhat reluctantly; however I will be glad to get some sleep tonight, as will the rest of the youth crew. Today was an amazing day and couldn’t have been done without the fantastic team that we had including all youth crew and staff! It was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity and one that we will all remember forever. With small shoes to fill from previous sail master Kenny, ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Hands to tacking stations, Hands to taking stations.ï¿½ï¿½ At 2200 was the dreaded announcement from Shaun the sail master that was made to all of the youth crew aboard the young endeavour, due to a change in wind directions. Shaun did an amazing job, not only as compaire for the 24 hours but as the sails and tacking expert. Running the daily events Shaun found himself very busy as he presented the morning/afternoon brief, had only 2 hours sleep after completing the first tack and completing his duties. The crew woke to Shauns enthusiastic voice once again, too early for some, but all in all our very own taller Kenny did an outstanding job. At the end of the tiring 24 hours he was quite happy to hand back the reigns, although he thoroughly enjoyed his experience at being a part of the Young Endeavours leadership team. Now for a few little notes from some of the youth crew:Snowflakes ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ The snowflakes woke up at 0430 to start breakfast at 0530. The porridge turned into clag glue, but otherwise breakfast was relative successful (and there were no fire alarms). After breakfast they prepared an extravagant yet healthy lunch of fairy bread! And sausage rolls, wraps and fruit. They then mournfully handed the kitchen back to Snowy, leaving well wishes on the wall, only to be brought back by popular demand on washing up duty. Snowflakes out! As Jack Sparrow would sayï¿½ï¿½_ Now bring me that horizon, Youth Captain Dahna From Captain DamienAs Youth Captain Dahna detailed, the Command day for the Youth Crew was an incredible journey, a day filled with individual and team discovery, challenges, rewards, lessons, friendships and beauty. After the ship was handed back to the Staff Crew at 1300, the afternoon for the Youth Crew was either catching up on missed sleep, relaxing on the upper decks or climbing aloft. During the afternoon a debrief activity was conducted enabling the Youth Crew the opportunity to collectively deconstruct their Command Day experience focussing on the key outcomes.Dinner was then served on the upper decks with a theme Pizza Night prior to conducting a very humorous SODS opera (skit night) discovering many hidden talents among both Youth and Staff members alike. Now that the Youth Crew have settled into overnight anchor watches the intention is to weigh anchor early tomorrow morning and proceed into the Brisbane River were we will berth and embark our half day sail guests who consist of youth who are not able to participate in a full 11 day voyage due to pre-existing mental or physical conditions. We will conduct a three hour hosted cruise of the Brisbane River before returning them back alongside and sailing once more for our last night on the ship to complete the adventure that is Young Endeavour. Until tomorrow evening, take care.Yours ayeCaptain Damien

Latitude/Longitude:

27Â° 17' South / 153Â° 23' East

Conditions:

Clear Skies, Wind E 10 knots , Swell nil, Temperature 21 degrees, Barometer 1022 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 9 – Command Day Concludes

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