Day 2 – Moreton Bay to Sea

Hello Shipmates,After a good nights rest the Youth Crew were woken by Sail Master Adam and one of his reggae classics. Once on deck we participated in a very quick early morning ‘ice-breaker’ activity and then everyone headed below decks for a quick shower and some tasty breakfast treats from Chef Aaron.Adam kicked into the morning brief after the time-honoured Naval Tradition of the ceremony of Colours. The Youth Crew had mustered on the port side of the bridge and they all joined in the National Anthem once the Australian National Flag and White Ensign were fluttering at the top of their respective flagstaffs. Adam explained the routine for morning briefs and then invited other Staffie guest speakers including Sumo the engineer, Aaron the chef, the resident salty man (Brad) and some words of (Hopefully) wisdom from myself. The Youthies then went below to start their first session of their daily Ship cleaning time known as “Happy Hour”. On completion Sandy, our resident safety expert, gave a more in-depth  briefing on the safety aspects of the Ship. The Watch Leaders then took charge of their watches and began the task of teaching their watches how to set and furl the sails. Before long it was lunchtime and the watches filtered below to top-up on their energy levels in time for the afternoon’s activities. After lunch the watches continued with their sail handling drills until their watch leaders felt they were at a satisfactory level to progress to the next step of learning how to deal with the mainsail. After a very comprehensive brief from Sail Master Adam the Youthies soon had the main out in a very quick time. The ship then had a full press of fore and aft sails and was ready for the crew to practice tacking stations. We were fortunate to have a fresh SE breeze which enabled us to conduct a good set of tacks with the sails filled and plenty of weight in the sheets to give the youth crew a real sense of the power of the wind.Passing showers during the Dog Watches meant the Ship’s wet-weather gear got a work-out and also the Blue Watch made preparations during the Last Dog for us to set the Topsail and Course square sails.Overnight the watches will be keeping their first night watch of 4 hours where they will learn how to helm the ship, keep a good look out and other watch on deck activities.We have been closely monitoring the track and intensity of Tropical Cyclone ITA, which has now been down-graded to a Category 1 Cyclone and is forecast to be further down-graded to a tropical depression tomorrow evening. It is now tracking SE at 28 km/hr away from the coast. We expect the winds we experience to strengthen further tomorrow and veer southerly. A gale warning is current for the Capricorn Coast, where we will be tomorrow, however that means the forecast wind strength is up to 40 knots, which is good sailing conditions for Young Endeavour.Until tomorrow, yours aye,CAPT Mike P.S. we have had a few youth crew who have succumbed to the \’mal-de-mer\’ but they are battling-on, which is great to see. I hope to post some photos of the voyage so far tomorrow.     “