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Captain's Log
V11/25, Darwin to Broome
29 June 2025
Day 03 – V11/25, Darwin to Broome
Voyage 11/25 continues on our third day with a race across the high seas. The forecast South Easterly wind picked up significantly as soon as I hit publish on last night’s Captain’s Log and we were sailing in some rough conditions with gusts to 35kn overnight. As this was our first night at sea a few of our crew felt the effects of the dreaded sea sickness and many a land demon was purged through the early hours of the morning. But seasickness is only temporary and after a morning of rest and recovery we were into Tacking Stations after lunch.
What started out as a bit of a slow evolution rapidly turned into a high energy sail handling bonanza. The 20kn South Easterly was fresh and kept us paying attention. The ship pirouetted her way back and forth across the deep blue as we danced in and out of the wind before settling on a course taking us towards an infamous destination; King Georges River with its spectacular waterfalls. We expect to be there tomorrow where we will settle in overnight for some rest and a land based expedition to the top.
It’s been a busy three days so far and we round out the day feeling a little bit better. We still have 20-25kn forecast for the evening sail which is great as we will make good speed but also a bit of an ordeal as the last of those land demons leave the ship…
Stay tuned, tomorrow promises to be a special day and it will be members of this brave Youth Crew that bring it to you!
Captain Leups Out +
Latitude/Longitude:
13 12.267 S / 128 32.492 E
Conditions:
Weather: Sunny Wind: 25Kn SE Temp: 26C
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V11/25
10 July 2025
Day 13 – V11/25, Darwin to Broome
And so ends Voyage 11/25. Day 13 was an emotional day of farewells but also full of positive reflection on what was an incredible voyage. Each and every one of our Youth Crew thrived during their personal journey of self discovery and development. We sailed over 700NM visiting iconic destinations in the Kimberley like; King Georges River, Bigge Island and Crocodile Creek. We set every sail we have including the rarely used Fishermans and Main Gaff Topsail - these sails truly cut a majestic profile as we glide across the deep blue.
More importantly though, we maximised every moment of our 288 hours together. A journey of Crisis, Transition and Arrival; IYKYK.
The creativity and positive reinforcement that the Youth Crew demonstrated amongst themselves made our job simple as Staffies. Command Day saw a very high strike rate of tasks complete and some of the performances were nothing short of inspiring. This Youth Crew were so fantastic that they actually challenged us, as the custodians and executors of this development program, to think of ways to draw more out of each opportunity.
The debrief and reflection activities teased out some profound insights which I hope our Youth Crew will take with them as they return to their communities throughout Australia. These Young Australians are going to positively influence those around them in the years to come and myself and the crew are proud to have helped to prepare them to do this and encourage them on their way.
Fair winds shipmates! When you see us coming over the horizon be sure to come down and say A'hoy. It was a pleasure sailing with you.
Now for a couple of days at anchor in Broome as we prepare for Voyage 12/25 and the next leg of this incredible Circumnavigation of Australia adventure. I can't wait to welcome our next group of Young Australians onboard and sail the high seas for Exmouth.
Captain Leups Out +
V11/25
08 July 2025
Day 12 – V11/25, Darwin to Broome
Day twelve opened with our morning watches consisting of sail setting and most importantly reflecting on our journey across the past 11 days – in which we all agree that we’ve learnt more about ourselves, others, and our takeaways from the trip.
Coming into morning wake up, a specific someone was more excited than most, for the day ahead (iykyk), as we finally anchored in our long-awaited destination Broome. This voyage has brought many challenges and many fun times (and still more to come).
As any day, we were welcomed by a warm breakfast from the amazing chef Steve. Quickly after we moved into morning brief with a change of scenery which led into the happiest hour of the day followed by our final round of rope races featuring rounds of ‘things around the ship’ and ‘this and that’ in which the Whities dominated thanks to Isabella and her excellent mentoring skills. Congratulations to Blue watch who took home the win by 4 points and very humbly claimed the course sail to ride into the harbour as their victory prize.
Later in the day we ascended the foremast to harbour furl the squares in preparation for our final docking for V11/25 tomorrow. Which was beautifully accompanied by a golden sunset over Broome. Steve welcomed us back down with some absolutely banging pizza for everyone as we sat out on the foc’sle losing our minds to a game of ‘my man on the moon’ while eating the scrump diddly dumptious pizza that caused a riot when ‘round the buoy’ was called.
We were greeted with many extraordinary sights along the way, as well as a few a few visits from some friendly sea creatures. As we approached the end of our sailing journey, many of our hearts grew weary with the thought of the nearby departure from the loving family we have built across this voyage.
With heavy hearts we now sign off, along with the rest of the youthies. Thank you for following along for this awesome voyage we were fortunate to experience.
Up the Whities, yours truly Matilda, Oliver, and Hayden (Lil sauce).
Ps… Love you Steve
V11/25
07 July 2025
Day 11 – V11/25, Darwin to Broome
“SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS GONNA ROLL ME!-”
‘All Star’ was blasted through the ship’s speakers for wakey wakey this morning. After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and hashbrowns (cooked by our master chefs Hayden, Keira and Tilly) the command team of youthies (Toby, Lil, Harvey, Jocelyn) ran the morning brief. Harvey did an excellent job taking over as Salty coming up with his own poem and also coming up with a great addition to our Young Endeavour greeting, “Carpe Diem, ‘seas’ the day”. Then we went straight into tacking the ship (great calling from Lil – our Sailmaster). After the ship was tacked we headed off into the happiest of hours, cleaning the ship “YaAaAAay HaPpY HoUr”.
The master chefs made a delicious stir fry for lunch of yellow noodles and a mix of beef with vegetables. Straight after lunch, the next thing on our agenda was “STAFFIE ROPE RACES!” ran by Adrian. “ADRIAN’S THE MAN!”. It was the most hilarious activity we’ve done with the staffies by far during our voyage. Everyone had a great laugh and the games included the chicken game, the longest plank (Felix won but there was attempted sabotage by other staffies tickling him) and the legendary “MOOOOO” offs.
Everyone then dispersed to work on different side quests such as making fun wanted posters of the staffies, coming up with a sea shanty and writing a letter to future youthies. At 1300 command day was over! We had made it to our destination in view of the Cape Leveque lighthouse! After a much-needed rest we all gathered again at midships to debrief and reflect on an incredible 24 hours. Well done everyone!
Tomorrow we will anchor in Broome harbour and the day after tomorrow we will disembark. We’ve all got mixed feelings about this voyage coming to an end. We’ll be sad to leave our newly made friends, but it’ll be good to see our families again and to come home to a non-rocking bed.
See you on dry land soon, Harry and Michaela. (UP THE REDDYS!!!!!)
