Day 4 – Wind, Whales, Dolphins…and Farewell Green Goblin

Ahoy shipmates…Day 4…another very enjoyable day under sail! Now that we are inside the Great Barrier Reef conditions have moderated somewhat…much to the relief of the youth crew. Unfortunately the conditions precluded our planned visits to Lady Musgrave and Heron Islands…on to Great Keppel Island! Today was filled with the usual morning antics…breakfast, morning brief (including a visit from our resident housekeeper, the much beloved Nanna), happy hour and a rules of the road (at sea) brief from Watch Officer Phil. After another delicious lunch rope races round 2 entertained us all, with Blue Watch making a comeback. It was then into rotational tacks (see below) and some more sail handling before the youth crew settled into watches overnight. We should arrive at our anchorage at Great Keppel in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and although the youth crew have now found their sea legs…I’m fairly certain they’re are looking forward to some dry land action! Until tomorrow…fair wind, Captain Kenny.———-
Captains Log
Day 4 – White watch
White watch started the day at 8 o’clock in the morning for our morning watch. Everyone who suffered from sea sickness is now feeling good, no more banana smoothies. I’m pretty sure everybody’s hands are red raw from the amount of lines we were pulling today setting sails and heaving. Today was a good day because nobody in white watch was feeding the fish over the side of the ship. (Zoe)
Breakfast was able to be enjoyed today, which was brilliant, although there now seems to be more washing up and people in the galley, which isn’t a bright note for some. The bananas have been untouched and the decks cleared from the whining of sick youthies. With those challenges down more have come to face us, today’s just happened to be learning each others tacking stations. There are three watch groups and the sails were all changed four times, with all youth hands on decks. We all thought we were free by the third time un till, everyone was told we were going the wrong way. After the fourth change, there were a lot of appreciation for each other and for the fact that we were done. Now, that everyone is ‘ready to face the world, now that they aren’t sick’ the vibe and attitude is great, even when learning the hard way that high fives aren’t great with red sore bruising hands. (Sammy D)
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: SE at 15 knots Weather: Overcast Sea: Mild Course: 309 Speed: 5 knots Location: NE of Gladstone
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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”
