COMMAND DAY CONCLUDES

Day 9 aboard the Young Endeavour started much the same as day 8 finished. Rounding our way points we had a spectacular downwind run at 7 knots. Our navigation and decision making in the conditions were spot on; we passed the final waypoint with 2 minutes to spare! With our part done the staff took over navigation to our next anchorage at Tangalooma, while youth crew kept up watches. Wakey wakey commenced at 0700 and we anchored soon after at 0733.With tasks still to complete we wasted no time planning out the rest of our day. An entertaining and creative morning brief was provided for the enlightenment of both staff and youth crew. It included singing the national anthem to 6 different tunes, Jezza’s aerobics lessons, navigation brief, captain’s quote, special guest ‘Sugar’ and an intense dry Weetbix eating competition. The crew then went to ‘happy hour’ (cleaning stations). We scrubbed the ship and polished all brass. After all were happy that happy hour was complete the youth crew climbed the foremast and sat on the yards.After a spectacular lunch provided by the amazing youth chefs we launched a Beach Assault Team (BAT) to paddle the inflatable to shore and claim the beach in the name of Australia. The team of 8 collected passers by to witness the ceremony and sing the national anthem to the raising of the Australian flag. Other activities were undertaken such as writing a song and creating a slideshow of the crew members.We regretfully handed back control of the ship to the staff at 1306. I’ll admit, being Captain of the youth crew for 24 hours has been one of the hardest experiences in my life, but there is no doubt it has been the most rewarding.Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.Sam MoffattYouth Crew CaptainAs navigator I had quite a stressful night navigating as of the wind was coming from a challenging angle. We started off running about 60� to starboard off the plotted course, and after a necessary wear to avoid a hazard we were the faced with the same problem but off to port. The staff then jumped in to give us a helping hand. After changing our course to save some time I caught up on some sleep, only to be woken about 30 minutes later to be told that our course had been changed due to a wind shift. After passing through our third waypoint we hit a lovely 7 knots and flew through to our second last waypoint, the sails were dropped and we put on the engines and motored through to our last waypoint , navigational command was then handed back to Staff Navigator Matt and I got some well needed sleep. All up this was a very good experience and I am very proud of all of the youth crew.Stay fat, it makes you harder to kidnapCatcha laterHarry Gardner-JuniorYouth Crew NavigatorJames’ rant:Ahh the job of sail master, one for which I now have enormous respect. It is a fantastic position, well away from the armchair loafing, scotch drinking realms of the captain and navigator. However, it is not an easy job, made all the more difficult by the changing moods of said captain and navigator, which I would describe as bipolar at the best of times. A snippet of conversation between captain and navigator early in the voyage follows:I say navigator, I think we’ll head up to Caloundra this eveningYes quite my captain, but I have heard Darwin is lovely at this time of year.Well I’m more of a Paris man given the seasonCertainly, Antarctica it is!And so it went� or maybe I was just tired and re-enacting something from a Monty Python sketch. Jokes aside, command day was a huge yet extremely rewarding challenge. It was a fantastic experience I wouldn’t trade for anything and I consider it a privilege to have worked with a youth crew so energetic they bordered on crazy. Thank you all, your unending smiles and energy kept me going all through the night and into the next morning.With a sprinkle of Old Spice,James CrombieSail almost-master