Day 10 – Australia Day on Sydney Harbour

Ahoy Shipmates….sadly for the final time this voyage. A warm morning greeted the YC as they arose to prepare for what would prove to be a very busy Australia Day. After breakfast and a quick morning brief we weighed anchor and made our way to Fleet Base East, arriving alongside at 0900. It was then time to give the old girl a quick scrub in preparation for our Community Day Sail guests. At 1115, and with all onboard, we departed and made our way out into a very busy Sydney Harbour, taking in the events, such as an FA18 fly past, ferry race and a majestic low fly over by an A380. As winners of last years Tall Ships Race we were instructed to share the love and let someone else win. We did so courteously, but still managed to set a full press of sails. I caught snippets on the news…we looked pretty good! With race over and our saluting cannon ammunition expended, we made our way back to the Navy base to disembark our guests, before returning to anchor in Double Bay with a view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House…a good spot for the fireworks as well it turns out. Once at anchor engineer Brett completed the last round of rope races and tallied the final scores…1st White Watch 2nd Red Watch 3rd Blue Watch. Their reward would be the positions they take when manning the yards at voyage end tomorrow. All the Youth Crew then proceeded aloft to harbour furl the square sails before filling their bellies with home made Pizza from Chef Zac and helpers, and enjoying twilight on the harbour. End of voyage admin was the next order of business before we all enjoyed the Australia Day fireworks at 0915. Once the oohs and aahs had finished it was time for the final two Command Day tasks…the slide show reflecting on the last 10 days (always a favourite) and poem (very amusing). The staff recited some poems of there own before the Youth Crew settled into anchor watches and their final night onboard. It has been a pleasure having these 20 young Australians (and one visiting pom!) on board for Voyage 2/19. They were quick learners, gelled well, and hopefully had fun…I know the staffies did. Tomorrow the Youth Crew will lay aloft for the final time as we take a cruise around the harbour before berthing at 1000 and farewelling our young shipmates…they are now part of the Young Endeavour family! That’s it from me…wishing you all fair winds and following seas…Captain Kenny…out!
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: S at 10 knots Weather: Warm and overcast Location: At anchor Double Bay
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
