Day 4 – Passage Robe to Apollo Bay

Ahoy there Shipmates,After a night of rolling under the influence of a 1.0 metre southerly swell as we motor-sailed in a south-easterly direction we were woken at 0700 by the Red Watch singing the attached song.The Blue and White watches reluctantly dragged themselves out of bed for a shower and breakfast before the Morning Brief extravaganza, which featured the plan for the day from Sail Master Paul, a navigation up-date from Rico, an explanation of the origin of the term ‘Hi-Jacked’ by Salty the Sea Mistress and I delivered an inspirational quote from Theodore Roosevelt. Nana then payed us a visit and spoke to us about the need for onboard cleanliness and hygiene after she had done a set of rounds through the Ship picking up the clothes and other belongings that the youthies had left lying around. She then held the ‘parade of shame’ where she brought out all the belongings from her ‘scran bag’ and the owners had to admit which clothes were theirs and thank Nana for tidying them up. As a payback she then mustered the crew at midships and taught them two songs, ‘Crabs and Seashells’ and ‘Rolly-Poly’.Next the youthies conducted their first real set of cleaning stations of the voyage, prior to me giving Part 1 of my Sail Theory presentations aimed at giving the youthies the knowledge they need to be able to undertake one of the leadership roles, such as Watch Leader, Sail Master, or Watch Officer on Command Day. On completion we enjoyed another of Haydo’s spectacular lunches.At 1230 volunteers laid aloft to un-gasket the Topsail and the Top Gallant sails to enable them to be set later in the day. The first set of ‘Rope Races’, a non-competitive, competitive test of the youthies’ retention of Ship knowledge, were conducted at 1300. This is conducted by watches and is great for engendering team spirit in the watches. Rico’s Navigation Brief followed at 1330 for 30 minutes.After a short break we launched into Rotational Tacks in which the watches rotate between the 3 watch tacking positions to gain an understanding of what the other watches do when the Ship Tacks or Wears. This is important because on Command Day the watches will be completely reorganised.On completion of ‘rotationals’ the watches furled the Jib, Fore Staysail, Main Staysail and brailed the Mainsail. Engines were then started and we resumed motor-sailing towards our next planned anchorage of Apollo Bay where we will anchor for New Year’s Eve. At 1700 we crossed the border from SA to VIC.It is forecast for the wind to abate tonight during the middle watch, when incidentally we will advance clocks by 30 minutes to Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time (AEDST). It is intended to anchor at Apollo during the morning watch tomorrow.Yours, ayeCaptain Mike     “Â
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Fine and sunny, Wind: 260/12 knots, Swell: Southerly 1.0 metres, Temp: 17 deg. C
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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”
