Day 10 – half day sail

Hi All,
This morning we weighed anchor from fantastic Woody Island and proceeded to Esperance Harbour berthing at 9:00am. We embarked 31 guests from two local disability services groups and sailed again at 10:45 am. On clearing the Harbour we set some small sail to demonstrate to our guests. Despite the squally conditions our guests were loving it. We then got a bullet of wind that convinced us of the need to hand in the sails and head back to port. We arrive back in Harbour and enjoyed a fantastic lunch thanks to our Chef Jenko. After that we got down to some (not so) serious games and sing-a-longs with the guests. My personal favourite is the ‘peel bananas’ song. After our guests departed the Youth Crew proceeded ashore (sugar hit) to do their end of Voyage talks in the comfort of a cafe. On returning to the Ship the we made things ship shape so to speak. This involved harbour furling the square sails (they now look very nicely tucked away on their yards) and a general clean of the ship. It was a long but very rewarding day, particularly being able to work with the community and feel as though we are giving something back. We then enjoyed pizzas and a slide show with great music, a few poems and stories – a great night. Tomorrow is our last day and I will write a few concluding remarks in a moment. For now, Jacqueline of the Youth Crew penned us some thoughts on our Voyage:
“Ten days ago a fresh crew set out from Fremantle, eager, nervous and excited to embark on a voyage so unlike anything they had experienced before. As the ship sailed away from the harbour, it dawned on them that their comfort zones were abandoned ashore and it was time to be thrown in the deep end and face the challenges ahead. One of the first obstacles they faced was sea sickness and to give up when those first few days were relentless. They pushed through every activity, whether it was the guts watch, climbing the foremast, setting, tacking, furling, cooking, cleaning and navigation. This was a test to their resilience as they grew mentally and physically stronger, more determined to achieve their goals for themselves and their teams. As the days went by, the crews’ confidence grew to new heights, watch teams moulded cohesively as a unit and successfully sailed the tall ship to Esperance. As the voyage comes to a close, our hearts are full with adventure and possibility for future endeavours. Now is our chance to take on the world as leaders that will keep on inspiring others to be brave, believe in your capabilities and remember that you always have something to offer no matter how small” – thanks Jacqueline.
This Voyage has been a fantastic one that has only been made possible by great people – a brilliant Staff Crew who have been so strong and supportive and a Youth Crew that is one the finest body of young Australians I have had the pleasure to meet. Their approach, bearing, conduct and performance has been exemplary. I have been proud to be their Captain and I would thoroughly enjoy any opportunity to sail with them again, both figuratively and literally. Thanks ship mates for a great Voyage and for you land lubbers for your wonderful support and allowing us to share our Voyage with you.
All the best and kind regards,
Dave J (Yak)
Voyage Captain
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wx is partly cloudy with a light wind from the south west.
You might also be interested in

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 6 of our voyage. The strong northerly’s experienced yesterday moderated overnight and by the early hours of this morning we had entered Great Oyster Bay and were now motor sailing due to the light conditions. Just before sunrise we altered course to the east and transited through Schouten Passage which gave the morning watch an opportunity to view the western side of the Freycinet Peninsular and witness a spectacular sunrise. Once safely through the passage we altered course to the north, handed in sail, then proceeded directly into the famous Wineglass Bay where we came to anchor at 0830. Once at anchor we conducted the normal morning’s activities and have spent the rest of the day enjoying this beautiful part of Tasmania. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Liv and Mei who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav Ahoy there! This morning started off with a “funny” parody of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” featuring a memorable yet un-relatable line: “the vomit never bothered me anyway”, created by Red Watch. Thankfully, White Watch could sleep through this as they were on guts watch from 0000 to 0400, where they worked as a team to set the storm jib in a record time of 40 minutes! Other highlights of the night included learning about navigation, steering the helm by the wind for the first time and our famous midnight café featuring a lot of vegemite. Some very special guest dolphins swam around the ship and looked truly majestic as they glowed with bioluminescence. We anchored and woke up to the stunning view of The Hazards at Wineglass Bay, which we later hiked up and saw a spectacular view of Young Endeavour looking gorgeous in all its glory. But before this, we had mid voyage chats where we evaluated our goals and how we’ve progressed since the beginning of the voyage. We then played the inaugural bin ball championships created by Bucky at Wineglass stadium featuring a sand court. Unsurprisingly, White Watch won with a tight score of 3-2 in the finals. After the hike, which we were told was going to be around 20 minutes but ended up being more than an hour, some Youthies took the chance to have a quick swim before going back to the ship. Tonight’s dinner menu included lamb satay curry and grilled chicken, as well as a special addition of Hoppy’s Sundae Bar, which proved to be very popular. Most of us decided to have dinner on the deck and take advantage of the picturesque view of Wineglass Bay. As always, a big shoutout to our Head Chef Haydo and Masterchef assistants for keeping our bellies happy! After dinner, we had a self-reflection “Stop Start Continue” workshop in our watches where we wrote about certain aspects we want to work on to improve ourselves. Hopefully we will see that we have been able to make progress on our goals when we get to read them again in six months’ time. We believe in you, you got this! Currently, we’re waiting to start the anchor watches (our favourite) and preparing to set sail again tomorrow. Finally a shoutout to Mum, Dad and Ruben miss you guys so much. Remember I’m looking at the same moon and stars as you are, Love you - Liv Shoutout to Dad as I live out his dream of “enjoying good food on a navy ship”. Mei This is Liv and Mei signing off J

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. Overnight and during the early hours of this morning we continued to enjoy a great sail around the southern Tasmanian coast with all of the watches kept busy with setting and furling sails and doing some practical navigation. By sunrise we were located just to the south of Bruny Island now just sailing under fore & aft sail and hoping that the day would get warmer, which sadly it didn’t. But the cold and a little rain hasn’t dampened our spirits and we have still managed to fit in a lot of great activities today and our young mariners continue to impress with their endless energy and motivation. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Riley and Jack who have done a great job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain GavV03/23 – DAY 5
This morning the youth crew of the STS Young Endeavour woke to the frightening sound of red watch singing a parody of Riptide by Vance Joy over the ships intercom. This was then followed by the message that blue watch, the watch that was on guts the night before, could have a well-deserved sleep in. While members from blue watch went back to sleep the rest of the crew made their way down to the galley to enjoy another one of Haydos fantastic meals. After everyone had had breakfast the morning brief was given at 0900 which involved informing the youthies of the day ahead and a very educational story by Matty on the origins of the nautical term “two six heave”. After the morning brief the crew went below decks for Chucky’s favourite part of the day: Happy Hour! (Also known as cleaning the ship hour). In the afternoon the three watches conducted rotational tacking stations. This involved the watches rotating through the positions that the other watches fill when we tack which helped the crew get a better idea on what happens when we tack. Captain Gav came up on deck to give us a crash course about sailing theory and the ships history. This was very interesting and gave the youth crew a helpful insight into why different sails are used depending on different wind conditions. Round 3 of the famous Rope races were then commenced at noon with a twist of the round being worth double points. This highly non-competitive competition ended with Blue and Red watch drawing making it a close race for the rest of the trip The biggest highlight of most people’s day was sailing through the straight between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar in the afternoon. We all gathered at the bow of the ship as we gazed upon the spectacular columnar basalt edged cliffs rose up on either side of the narrow passageway. We had to furl all the sails, which involved sending two youth crew members up the main mast in rough swells and high winds to gasket the sail. Engines where turned on for the first time that day so we could safely pass the straight. The effort was truly worth it as we passed the resident seal colony and schools of dolphins. One of the greatest things about the STS Young Endeavour is even though the ship may sway from side to side and youth crew struggle to walk straight without getting knocked into a wall; the ships Chef continues to work hard and impress us with meals made from a kitchen which is smaller than the size of most people’s laundry room. It continues to amaze me how he keeps this quality in these rocky conditions. Not enough praise can be given to the hard work this man puts in keeping everyone happy. Go Haydo!Hi mum and dad I’m still alive, somehow we are already halfway through. See you in six days. Jack. You probably won’t see this but love you to the moon and back mum and dad. Riley. Until next time… Youthies Jack & Riley
