Day 27 – A Good Days Sailing

Hi Everyone, Welcome to day 27 of our voyage. Since last nights Log we have continued to make good speed under sail and are now very optimistic about reaching Gibraltar one day earlier than scheduled which will now have us arriving on Friday 22nd May giving us five days alongside instead of four with more time to explore Gibraltar and the surrounding area.  Today has been full of sail work with setting and furling of sails to take full advantage of the changing conditions and a set of demonstrational tacks which gave everyone the opportunity to come to the bridge and observe the command team tacking/wearing the ship. Again this is another important activity as we get closer to Command Day.  Tonight we are back to Cream Watch writing the Log so please enjoy reading about today’s activities written by Nikki, Dan & Tom. Enjoy  Until tomorrow, take care.Yours AyeCaptain GavCaptains Log: 20 May 15Evening all and what an evening it is, with the winds and swell having eased somewhat from what has been the norm for most of the day. But we’re getting ahead ourselves, so let’s start back at the beginning – of the day that was.  Throughout the night, all three watches were set challenges of leadership, communication and teamwork. The task set to the Cream Team was to simulate an emergency steering situation, which involved using the tiller to steer instead of the helm. However, Mr Squiggles graced the scene, as the Cream Team inadvertently decided that we wanted to do some radical manoeuvres in the Med, which unfortunately brought the lesson to an abrupt end.During the night, the Young Endeavour passed the Greenwich Meridian, and those awake were greeted by the sight of … open sea, instead of the buoys the staffies had led us World Voyagers to expect. Pink watch took great delight in telling all of us who had been asleep at the time of the crossing, that we had just missed them and if we looked hard enough, we could see them in the distance behind us.No sooner than the Cream team had finished breakfast (served up the Pinkies as their leadership task), and come up on deck, than the order was given and we assisted the Pinkies in tacking the ship as Mr Squiggles had arrived for an early morning surprise. Following morning brief, which unfortunately did not include one of Salty’s hilarious stories of the bygone age of sail, Pink and Aqua watch set out making the inside of the Young Endeavour sparkle. Cream Team escaped – or were given the even worse job, depending on who you talked to – of sea furling the Topgallant and Course. Both proved uniquely challenging with some members still coming to terms with the heights of the topgallant sail, while others discovered the unforgiving nature of short foot ropes, with many returning to deck with very sore legs.By now it was time for lunch, a siesta, and the “non-competitive, competitive” rope races. This time, due to the rolling swell, the rule of no running, which had somehow disappeared over the past couple of weeks, was re-introduced. It made for some entertaining viewing before the bonus round of guessing the correct age of a man who has travelled the world on many an occasion and is currently working his way along Route 66 in America in the drivers seat of a Mustang convertible, solo – this man is 92 (congratulations Mon for getting it right).The rest of the afternoon was devoted to rotational and demonstrational tacking, where two World Voyagers from each of the watches witnessed the process of tacking and wearing from the Captain’s perspective. The swells did not make it easy and half-way through you could hear Jenko’s cries of dismay, burnt smells from the galley as a particularly large wave pushed the ship over and played havoc with everything and everyone above and below-decks. Thankfully Jenko, the masterchef that he is, with his able-bodied assistants, were able to put things to rights and serve up amazing food as always.And that’s it for today, as we continue slowly and steadily (but we will get there in the end) towards Gibraltar.Until next time, this is Nikki, Dan and Tom signing off for another night.Nikki – hey mum, dad, and all the rest of my family and friends following this voyage. Enjoying every minute of it, with some fantastic people. This has been, and is still an unreal experience. Hope you are all well and Sydney hasn’t had any more of the wild weather that graced us around my departure from Australia.Tom here, last night I ate some incredibly scrumptious, freshly caught Tuna. Mum, wish you were here to share it, you would have loved it. Starting to feel like a real sailor now after all the tacking we did today which is really exciting. Hope all are well back home xoxoHi Mum, Dad, Jack, Will and others back in NZ. Had an eventful few days on the ship. As you have probably heard, fresh Tuna was on the menu yesterday afternoon. Before the Tuna was fully filleted, we had fresh sashimi for afternoon tea, I know you all would have loved to try some! Till next time… Tim H Hey everyone back at home. I can’t wait to tell you all my stories from the high seas, I’m loving every moment (apart from the occasional seasickness… but still love it all the same). Hope everyone is staying groovy. Love Mon xxx”