Day 10 – Final Night Of The Voyage

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 10 of our voyage. This morning the Youth Crew awoke to a warm and sunny Sydney morning. Following a condensed morning brief and cleaning stations the anchor was weighed and Young Endeavour departed her anchorage at Athol Bay and proceeded alongside Fleet Base East berthing at 0900 where we off loaded 10 days of garbage and cleaned the ship in preparation for our guests. At 01030 we welcomed a Navy Photographic Imagery Crew and Defence Public Relations Officer onboard who had joined us for the day to conduct Crew interviews and to film the day’s events. Next at 1100 we welcomed a number of Youth Crew from Sydney who have been selected to undertake voyages during World Voyage 2015 and a small group of Staff Crew’s family and friends who had also joined us for the half day sail.. At 1115 the lines were cast off and we proceeded out of the Fleet Base where engines were shut down and the ship brought under sail. During the three hours that followed the Youth Crew did a great job of keeping our guests entertained and everyone enjoyed a fantastic sail around the spectacular Sydney Harbour in perfect conditions. This also included a successful ‘sail through’ of Sydney’s Extreme Sailing Event which gave the ship and the Youth Scheme the opportunity to gain some world wide television coverage. At 1400 we returned to our berth and once alongside we farewelled our guests. Once our guests had departed the Youth Crew proceeded aloft and completed harbour furls (really neat sail furls) then on completion went ashore with their Watch Leaders for end of voyage talks.At 1730 with everyone back onboard we again departed our berth and proceeded back across the harbour to our anchorage at Athol Bay. This evening we enjoyed a dinner of Chef Adrian’s world famous pizza dinner which was served on deck with the beautiful Sydney Harbour as our backdrop. Once complete we commenced a photo slide show up on deck capturing various moments and experiences during the voyage. This slide show has become a popular part of the Young Endeavour Program and gives the Youth Crew an opportunity to reflect on the past 10 days and their amazing experiences throughout the voyage.The rest of this evening has been spent with the Youth Crew completing end of voyage questionnaires and “letters to themselves”, which are returned to each Youth Crew member six months after voyage completion. Whilst the Youth Crew were completing these final administration tasks the Staff Crew took the opportunity to conduct the “end of voyage” debriefs. Tomorrow morning following breakfast and morning brief we will depart our anchorage and once we have manned the yards we will do a quick run up under the Harbour Bridge before berthing for the final time for this voyage at Fleet Base 5a at 1000 Once alongside family and friends will be invited onboard for a tour of the ship and to witness my final address and the presentation of Certificates of Achievement to all of the Youth Crew. Following this presentation we will say our final emotional farewell to the Youth Crew of Voyage 15/14 as they depart the ship. On a personal note, I would like to thank all of the Youth Crew of Voyage 15/14 for the effort that you have put in throughout this voyage. You have helped us immensely to prepare the ship for our upcoming World Voyage and it has been a wonderful experience having all of you onboard. Young Endeavour will now have a 7 day break before embarking on our next big adventure which will be the commencement of World Voyage 2015. Until Next Voyage, take care. Yours Aye Captain Gav