Day 3 – A Bumpy Bass Strait!

Ahoy shipmates, and greetings from Bass Strait. As I write we are on a southerly course with about 30 knots of breeze from the south west, and a 3-4 metres south westerly swell…conditions Young Endeavour thrives in…not so much the youth crew. Despite the dreaded ‘green goblin’ rearing it’s ugly head (sea sickness) spirits are high. Since leaving Port Philllip this morning the theme for the day has been to enjoy some rough weather sailing (and it’s not that rough!), and simply hang on. For training purposes we have struck the main sail and set the storm tri sail, and are currently motor sailing…the aim being to make sure we make our anchorage at King Island in time to meet the bus we have organised for tours…did someone say cheese? Some time ashore will allow our young adventurers the opportunity to recover their stomachs before we start making our way west towards Adelaide. I’ll handover to Kate and Julian for some further detail…until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-
Captains Log Day 3

The word of the day is seasick. After being prompted out of bed by The Choirboysâ€™ Run to Paradiseâ€™, we weighed anchor and headed for the rip at the opening of Port Phillip Bay. A group of the youthies got their first splash of seawater sitting out on the bowsprit for the crossover into Bass Strait.
Soon after the first rollers hit, the sick bags were out in force, with a relay of youthies heading for the leeward rail to have a chunder. Fun fact: the word chunder originates from sailors up in the yards heaving their guts up and yelling â€œwatch under!â€ Once we were out in the Strait, we set some sails, wound back the engines, and set course for King Island. Some solid teamwork was required to set the jib, with roughly 25 knots of wind fighting the crew for control.
Once the wind picked up, we furled the jib and mainsail, and Ella and Emilia climbed the mainmast to gasket the mainsail. Hats off to them- it was no mean feat!
Weâ€™re expecting windspeeds between 30 to 50 knots and around 2.5 metre swell tonight, as we complete our first round of night watches. Despite the conditions, spirits are high and we look forward to dropping anchor early tomorrow morning, and making landfall tomorrow to sample some of King Islandâ€™s famous cheese.
As I write, Julian has disappeared for a chunder, and Iâ€™m about to follow suit! Huge shout out to the amazing staffies, and a big hello to all the family and friends back home! Thank god for Kwell!
Kate and Julian

Latitude/Longitude:

39 36s / 144 18e

Conditions:

Wind: SW at 25 knots Weather: Cold, sunny, passing showers Sea: Rough (3-4m) Course: 200 Speed: 6 knots

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Sydney to Newcastle

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Day 7 – You won’t believe what happened to us in Fingal Bay!

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Day 3 – A Bumpy Bass Strait!

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