COMMAND DAY COMMENCES

Ahoy there this is Youth Captain Francis,We (the Youth Crew) have taken over the ship! Currently we are making our way through the seas passing through various way points as part of our command day mission.After a restful night at anchor and another brilliant and entertaining morning brief from the Young Endeavour staff, we were handed over the ship. After yesterday’s elections, the main roles on the ship were filled by the following people:Captain – FrancisNavigator – HarrySails Master – EllaWatch Officers – Freya, Matt and GeraintWatch Leaders – Stephen, Claire and KimChefs – Rory and ChelseaWe began our command day in the best way possible with “happy hour” (cleaning) before getting started on 22 command day tasks over 24.5 hrs. For the first of our 22 tasks we designated eight lucky people to paddle ashore in a BAT (Beach Assault Team) where they were to erect the Australian flag and get our navigation instructions for the day. Meanwhile, on board the rest of the crew was busy creating and assembling a hammock across the middle of the ship that must support all 25 youth crew. As the BAT completed their task and came back to the ship we sat the entire crew on the hammock with complete success and no fatalities.After a delicious lunch cooked up by the hardest workers on board, the entire youth crew climbed aloft on the foremast and yards to achieve the next task. This was the first time we were able to climb by ourselves and with the help of our elected watch officers we were able to fly up and down the foremast meeting safety standards and without distressing the staff, too much.After completing the previous task with such ease, the youth crew and I decided to spend sometime doing something that wasn’t on the task list, but something of equal importance. We got the rope swing out for another swim and jump. I’m not entirely sure wether today’s rope swing was as successful as yesterdays, as heightened confidence lead to an increased amount of failed back flips. By the time we closed the ‘pool’ in order to weigh anchor, there were a lot of red backs, I must admit this wasn’t the confidence booster I needed from the crew before embarking on a night of sailing, if they cant safely hit water falling out of a boat, what hope do we have.In a stressful hour we weighed anchor and, with the assistance of the staff, were guided away from Rattlesnake Island and given full control of the ship. We passed our first way point just after an Italian feast for dinner (kudos to the chefs) and are ready for a big night of sailing and ticking off way points. If all goes to plan and we pass the navigation tasks through the night, we will be at anchor by 0800 tomorrow morning ready to give back the ship to the staff at 0900. I have the upmost confidence in my command team and sailors and so far the command day has met the extremely high standard of teamwork and fun that we have experienced throughout this Young Endeavour voyage.Youth Crew Captain Francis