Day 3 – All hands on deck

After our first night of alternating watches, we kicked off the day with a 0700 start, made much easier with a huge, scrumptious brekkie courtesy of Keely. Red watch handed over to White at 0745 and prepped for the day before our morning meeting at 0900, in which the fabulous Captain Salty gave us some fun nautical facts with the help of his Oscar-winning staffies. We were given a quick brief of the day’s itinerary, which would include much hard yakka, and were sent to party below deck during “happy hour†(which involves a lot more sponges and mops than your local pub’s “happy hourâ€). This was followed by a lesson on navigation, measuring latitude & longitude and distance-speed conversions from the energetic Keith. Emma then introduced us to the ins and outs of Square Sailing, and challenged each watch crew to prove their sailing superiority in a competitive ‘ropeys’ competition testing our knowledge of nautical lingo. After a big morning of go-go-go, a handful of energetic sea puppies still opted to take another climb aloft the main sail and forestay to release the gasket lines and open the square sails. Back down in the galley, Keely then treated us to pulled pork sandwiches on Turkish loaf with plenty of salad sides and honey soy chicken wings to stuff us all into a soporific daze. Many fell into a midday slumber in the sun, while Blue Watch took the helm at 1200 and enjoyed surveying the sunny weather and dolphins occasionally dancing alongside the ship. This watch was interrupted when our Captain called for all hands on deck to tack, and every single crew member assumed a unique routine that they must master in order for the whole ship to change direction efficiently. After a great deal of teamwork, yelling, and heaving, it was mission success! After a great effort, each watch took turns on the bow spit, taking in the sea spray and dangling feet of the edge. Tori cranked the tunes, prompting an impromptu dance party on the bow as the sun began to set. This was followed by our routine dinner, shower and watch swap leading up to 1930, in which our Captain threw an unexpected spanner in the works, calling for all hands on deck to tack. This forced a few groggy mid-nap teenagers out in an array of pyjamas and bed hair, but the job certainly got done! It’s safe to say that this ship’s starting to feel a lot less like a seasickness hell and a lot more like home already. Xoxo Blueys Log.
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: NE @ 16. Temp: 19. Swell: 020 @ 1m. Weather: Fine.
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
