Day 4 – Christmas at Sea

Hi Everyone,Â Welcome to day 4 of our voyage and Merry Christmas to you all!!. Again overnight in good conditions we have continued to make good speed.This morning we awoke to White Watches nautical rendition of â€˜We Wish You a Merry Christmasâ€™ followed by Kenny and his White Watch backup singers with â€˜Rudolf the Red Nose Rain Deerâ€™.Following our normal big breakfast (eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal and blueberry pancakes ect) we conducted a Christmas inspired morning brief which was followed by cleaning stations and yes we even clean ship on Christmas morning.Christmas lunch followed with Chef Aaron again excelling with his culinary skills. Lunch today consisted of Baked Ham, Garlic Prawns, Lamb Korma, Rice, Stroganoff Vol u vantâ€™s and a variety of cold meats and salads, what a feast!!After all of this wonderful food we naturally had to let everyone go and have an afternoon siesta and given that it is Christmas we decided to give everyone the afternoon off so that they could enjoy each others company and reflect on how special it is to be spending Christmas half way across the Tasman Sea on this amazing ship.As always being at sea we have to keep the ship running so with Christmas celebrations complete we have now settled into our watches for the night ensuring that the ship is kept safe and we continue to make good speed to Wellington.The time is now 2000 and since departing Sydney we have now sailed 505nm.From all of the Crew of STS Young Endeavour have a safe and enjoyable Christmas!!Please find attached Christmas wishes from some of the Crew.Merry ChristmasCaptain GavÂ HO HO HOÂ Â Â Thanks for the pressie Mum & Dad â€“ chocolate for breakfast makes the heart grow fonder. Love you xxx GraceDear All, thanks for all the support. Have a wonderful Christmas. I love you all xox ConnieHey Mum, Dad, Ange, Max and Bec just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas we are making great progress and having epic fun. Ho ho ho Sam.Thanks for the pressies Mum, hi to Dad, Gramps and the rest of the fam. Merry Christmas, love you all. XOX CaitlinHi Mum, Dad, Will, Lil, Anne, and Kristy. Merry Christmas from the Tasman Sea! Hope you are having a great day. Love Julia xxHi everyone, Merry Christmas from sea! Hope you all eat and drink too much today. Shannon. :DHey its Reece, Merry Christmas Mum, nan and grandad Hayley and most of all Ashlea xoxoxo. I love you all and il be back soon. Hope your all having a swell time.Merry Christmas Mum, Dad, Laura, Grandpa, the rest of the family, and Matthew I miss you all so much and its only day 4 haha. Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas full of joy, lots of food and relaxation. Love you lots. Olivia ïŠHello Family! Merry Christmas and all that jazz! Currently 3ish days out of Wellington, good sailing weather so far. I made the mistake of getting sunburnt first day out unfortunately. At least I havenâ€™t been seasick like a lot of the rest. Bit of a trial by fire for some. Love you all, stay safe, Karri.Hi everyone! I hope you have all enjoyed your Christmas this year. Even out in the middle of the Tasman Sea we have had Christmas dinner with bonbons and Christmas hats, although no champagne breakfast. We brought in the morning watch and woke everyone with a Christmas song, which was fun. Love to you all, Rose.Dad, Mum, Mel, JJ, Jess and extended family. Merry Xmas Fam Bam!!! I missed the pork crackling, juicy turkey and your Christmas cuddles today BUT we still had an epic leg of ham that I managed to keep down haha Santa even visited! Love you all loads â€“ Lauren xxxxxHi Mum, Dad, Bob, Gabe and Nic! Merry Christmas! In case youâ€™re wondering, I still had a big Christmas lunch, even in the middle of the sea. Love you all â€“ KieranMerry Christmas to all my family around Australia, Ivanah in the Antarctic and my housemates. Love Rusty.Merry Christmas Caley, Mum, Dad, Alice (and Loki and Atlas). Missing all of you and hope youâ€™re all taking care and enjoying a great feast. Lots of love, HannahMerry Christmas to Ellie, Liz, Mum, Dad and Vic as well as other friends and family!! Hope everyone had a great day. Weâ€™re having a great time out here, challenging at times but that makes it even better. Spent first four hours of Christmas day hauling sails up and down, got another 4 hours of it tonight to round out the day!! Love you and miss you all, Greg.Merry Christmas to all my lovelies at home! Hope youâ€™ve had an amazing day and Mumâ€™s ham was as good as ours. Been sick as a dog of course since I was boasting Iâ€™d be fine but on the mend and soldiering on! Happy Birthday Lizz! Donâ€™t miss me too much.Love, Stephanie.Hey guys, hope youâ€™re still managing to have fun without me, I know it will be hard, but hey, stick in there. Iâ€™ve thought about you once or twice so far, so I havenâ€™t completely forgotten about you. You can tell me all about the spelling mistakes in this post when I get back mum ;)Love you all, HenryHi Everyone, Merry Christmas from sea to you all. Hope Santa found you X, E, River and Charlie.Love to you all, Robyn.Have a wonderful day! I am currently in wet weather gear pondering to put some thermals on. Missing the tropics already. Hope you enjoyed the wrapping Stuart and Robyn. Have fun in the Wet Season Races, Love Krystin”Â

Latitude/Longitude:

37Â° 33' South / 160Â° 36' East

Conditions:

Currently located 505nm from sydney and experiencing moderate - strong NNE winds with a 2m northerly swell. Current temperature is 16 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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Day 4 – Christmas at Sea

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