Captain's Log

V16/25, Albany - Adelaide

8 September 2025

Day 02 – V16/25, Albany – Adelaide

Ahoy readers! The cold winds out of the South Pole continued as we remained at anchor overnight last night. Two of our three watches managed to complete their night climbs late into the night but a sleet shower put a stop to that! It was freezing! Not a problem though as we went below, had a hot shower, defrosted and went to bed to rest up for what was to be a huge day today.

Day Two of Voyage 16 saw us awaken and get up onto the upper decks for our Early Morning Activity at 0630. But it wasn’t all sleet, wind and rain as Big Sauce had prepared a delicious gourmet breakfast to warm us up! Just what we needed to energise ourselves for our first full day of ship familiarisation and training.

The goal today was to maximise our deck safety and sail handling training. Everyone did really well as we got stuck right into it. To finish off such a busy day we were rewarded with a hearty pumpkin soup and freshly baked cheesy bread on the side. Perfect. We love you Steve!!

We’re mixing it up a little and tonight we huddled into the Youthie Cafe and watched “Around Cape Horn” for some inspiration on fearless sail handling and to learn about the origins of Sail Training itself. The tone is set for our next week…

We will remain at anchor overnight again tonight as the last of these winds push through. Tomorrow we will be in to the Albany wharf at 0800. Ready for a fuel top up from 0900-1000 and then a huge in-load of stores to provision us for our 1000nm sail across the Southern Ocean. It’s starting to look like we will do this in one large leap which means 5-6 nights at sea before making landfall on the Eastern side of the Great Australian Bite. What an adventure. The weather looks good and the crew are keen – let’s do it!

If you are around Albany come down and take a photo. The wharf is a restricted area but you will be able to see us from the foreshore. Send it through to the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme and share it to our socials!

Tomorrow night we will be under sail, heading East, leaving Western Australia behind us for the last time. It is bitter sweet to be heading East after all these months sailing around our beautiful country. We’re glad to be heading home but already missing all the friends we will leave behind.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s update! This is going to be great!

Captain Leups Out +

Latitude/Longitude:

35 02.604S / 117 55.682E

Conditions:

Weather: Overcast Wind: 20kn S Temp: 8 C

AUTHOR: Peta Binns

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16 October 2025

Day 09 – V18/25, Geelong – Sydney

And to the sound of cannons firing in the mist the Young Endeavour sailed into Sydney Harbour this morning for the first time in nearly 7 months! Can you believe us Youthies sailed ourselves all the way into Sydney Harbour!? It feels like a dream! Day nine arrived with a round of happy birthdays for Youthie watch leader Eli at the midnight watch change where the Bilge Rats handed over to the Sea Cows. Overnight winds dropped as low as 0.5 knots sending on watch Navigator Jarrah into overdrive figuring out how to get us to Sydney by morning. A few gruelling hours later Nav Jarrah and Capt. Danni set a course that would see the Young Endeavor enter Sydney early the next morning. The whole youth crew worked tirelessly and effectively to do what we could with the wind dealt us. A few uneventful hours followed as we burned some dinosaurs to get to Sydney on time. Sailing into Sydney Harbour, we were contacted by the 7 News helicopter who congratulated us on our arrival and conclusion of the circumnavigation. They requested a firing round of canons and each Youthie was willing and able to fire their charge. As we turned through the heads we saw a shroud of fog covering our view of the bay and city, which slowly cleared as the early morning light brightened and burnt it off to reveal the magnificent skyline of the City of Sydney, the Opera House and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Once at anchor we deep cleaned the ship and enjoyed some well deserved rest, before spending the afternoon reflecting on our journey and just how far we had come. Not only through Command Day but as a crew forged by the trials and tribulations of sailing through Bass Strait and living life at sea. The final circumnavigation of Australia by this ship has been finished, but there are still plenty of adventure opportunities ahead. The crew are happy to be home, but some are already looking back out at the horizon wondering what the next adventure will bring. We will leave you with a small poem from Robert E. Howard: I have anchored my ship to a quiet port; A land that is holy and blessed But I look through my bars at the tempest’s sport And I long for the seas unrest.

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Day 08 – V18/25, Geelong – Sydney

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Day 02 – V16/25, Albany – Adelaide

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