Day 10 – Command Day Completed

Good evening everyone, Welcome to day 10 of our sailing adventure, overnight the youth crew and its command team continued on their course toward Sydney Harbour. All crew worked as hard as they battled the winds, heading for the entrance to Sydney with a deadline of arriving no later than 0700. Despite the lack of sleep for all youth on board they worked extremely hard, managing to keep clear of the rocky walls at the entrance to the harbour and safely anchor at Athol Bay ahead of schedule. Once safely anchored all crew had a chance to eat before returning to the decks for the morning brief, today presented by the youth crew. The brief saw several of our favourite staff members adapted and presented in a different way, leaving nobody disappointed. Following this, all crew members began happy hour, finishing up just in time to hand the ship back to Captain Damien and his staff at 0900.After the ship had been returned, all youth crew members were given some well deserved time to rest after the exhausting events of Command Day. Then a short debrief was undertaken to ensure all crew were able to identify the good points and the not so good points of the day, an activity that proved itself to be highly useful to all crew. The afternoon included the final round of rope races, leaving White watch victorious after a ferocious hula hoop battle between staff watch leaders. The final activity for the day required all youth crew to harbour furl out square sails, ready for berth tomorrow.The final stage of our journey now complete, all youth crew are feeling the success of sailing the Young Endeavour unassisted during the past day. A major achievement made possible only by the entire youth crew taking charge, showing the staff what we have learnt from them.Overnight we shall remain in the stunning Athol Bay, before weighing anchor and completing our journey across the harbour into Garden Island.Over and outYouth Captain TomFrom Captain DamienAs Youth Captain Tom detailed, the Command day for the Youth Crew was an incredible journey, a day filled with individual and team discovery, challenges, rewards, lessons, friendships and beauty. Now that the Youth Crew have settled into overnight anchor watches the intention is to weigh anchor early tomorrow morning and proceed alongside Fleet Base East, Woolloomooloo at 1000 with the ships yards manned. The ship will remain in Sydney until 26th December 2010 when she will embark a returnee Youth Crew for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Until then it has been an honour and privilege to sail with the Youth and Staff Crew of Voyage 21/10. I wish them all a safe Christmas and a happy new year. I leave you a poem penned by one of the embarked Youth Crew members.Carpe DiemSNAP SHOT OF YOUNG ENDEAVOURBy Caelli Greenbank (Watch Officer Firefly)I tried to write it serious,I tried to write it fun.But when I sat down with paper and penI couldn’t do either one.Because we had both of these, you see,In our trip along the coast:Tears and laughter, frustration and hugs ��� Here’s what I remember the most.Seasickness sailing Bass StraitWasn’t exactly a lark,Though the ship had an escort of dolphins, and(If you believe Rhino) a shark.Sunset climbing up the rigging,Snowy’s awesome food;The weather was always touch-and-go(It changed with big Joel’s mood).Setting and furling drove us madIn seas both calm and rough,But by the end of the first seven daysWe were legends at the stuff.Late-night watches, sleepy as hell(Milo kept me awake);Card games in the cafe,A thousand lines to fake.Tanning bodies in the sun,Landfall was a hit;The rope swing was great, though the water was cold,And Jordo ��� what’s the meaning of ���Store High In Transit’?Joel was always a minute behind,Kenny’s low-bar jokes,Taffy had answers for everything,And the frequent bowsprit soaks.We’ve had adventures, both good and bad,And shared them as a crew.When you’ve worked side-by-side, as we have done,Well ��� there’s a bond between me and you.So as we leave this ship tomorrowAnd go our separate ways,Hold onto the friends you’ve made for lifeAnd keep the memories always.
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
2330 at anchor - Weather scattered cloud. Wind S 3 knots, Swell nil, Temperature 22 degrees, Barometer 1013 hpa
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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”
