DAY 43 – COMMAND PERIOD DAY 1

Hi Everyone,                     Welcome to day 43 of our voyage. At 1000 this morning I officially handed over the Ship to Captain Derry and his crew of World Voyagers and since then they have been doing a fantastic job of running the Ship.One of the many tasks for the World Voyagers during the 48hr Command Period is to complete the Captains Log so please find attached tonights addition proudly written by Derry and his Crew.Until tomorrow, take careGav  Captains Log: 05 June 15Ahoy!Greetings from Derry –Co-Captain for the first Command Day on the 43rd day of our voyage. At 1000 hours this morning, the staff onboard donned life-jackets, assumed the brace position and handed over control of this beautiful vessel to the 24 World Voyagers who have sailed her from Istanbul to her current position in the Bay of Biscay.It’s been a wonderful day of high excitement and high drama on the high seas – an initial lull in the winds provided opportunities for a full crew photo on the yards, some fun and games with staff ropies and some magnificent biscuits (baked by our incredible cheffos – Reina, Atlanta and Tim P). We were also proud to see our man Dan (Lt Dan/Corporal Crawford) conquer the topgallant yard for the first time.Towards the late afternoon, the breeze stiffened and we enjoyed some of the finest sailing of our entire leg so far, including a flawless tack under a full press of sails – certainly a highlight of the voyage for many.It’s been an incredible honour to be nominated Co-Captain from amongst such a nautically proficient and talented crew. The leadership team has worked with all the watches, watch leaders, chefs and engineers like a well oiled machine all day and has made the captain’s job a breeze.Many thanks to all my shipmates who have made it a corker of a day, and to the staff for their gentle guidance when we’ve needed it.We’re all looking forward to another day’s sailing tomorrow, hitting checkpoints and challenges, and to the incoming command of the wonderful Cap’n Ann Carroll.Yours aye,Cap’n Derry DoyleOnce upon a time, on a ship far, far away, there was a handsome young prince. His name was Thomas. He had beautiful flowing hair, and sparkling eyes. He was tall, well respected and an excellent judge of character. Now on the day our story begins, young Prince Tom was in the middle of his quest, sailing the seven seas from far away kingdom, to far away kingdom, in search of high adventure. The STS Young Endeavour was his vessel, and what a beautiful vessel she was; 44 meters long, 35 meters tall, flawless teak decking and royal gold lettering on her port and starboard bow.Our Prince had joined the sailing ship as a lowly crew member, disguising his royal position. But 43 days into the voyage, the Captain, Sailmaster and the rest of the officers all but abandoned their posts, leaving the prince and twenty three other crew mates to fend for themselves, with only the ship, some charts and the stars to guide them to their safe anchorage in the kingdom of France. So realising that his fate, and the fate of the crew, was in their hands, they decided to elect capable people to take the positions of the missing officers. A strapping young lad by the name of Derry Doyle, and the fair maiden Ann Carrol, were chosen by the crew to Captain the ship. A strange man, from a foreign land, who had a strange way of speaking, was called upon to master the sails, and though his papers read ‘Timothy George Harker’, the crew knew him only as ‘Tum’. To assist these worthy men and women in steering the ship to safety, a mysterious wizard was chosen for his incomparable knowledge of the stars, and mystical prowess. It was told that he was once called Lachlan, but all he ever said was “yarrr†and so this became his name. Next came the Officer of the Watch, and after a battle to death, our fair Prince won out and was awarded the position for his skilful knowledge of the workings of the bridge, his natural leadership, and luscious locks that kept the salt out of his eyes. Many other positions of note were awarded and the ship went to bed, in order to be well rested for their first day without the usual crew.When morning broke, Young Endeavour was once again fully staffed, but this time, by the Prince, and his crew mates. Early that day, the new officers discovered a magical telescope and an envelope full of crucial information on where to journey in order to reach the safety of Baie de Douarnenez, and set the wizard to his work, plotting the perilous path out on his chart. The sun was high in the sky, the waves were few, and the sea was calm, settling the uneasy stomachs of a few. Next followed some grand merry making as the new command team put the old sea dogs through their paces, pitting them against one another in a challenge based on their knowledge of the details of the crew members. Hilarity ensued, with spoons, water bombs, eggs, moisturiser and monkey masks all being involved.Those delightful maidens, Atlanta and Reina, who had taken charge of the galley, with the assistance of the Brave Sir Parr, served up a midday feast fit for a king, and the crew ate heartily and well. But what of our young hero? Nearly missing out on the feasting below decks, our fearless Prince had been hard at work, conferring with the good Captain and the wizard, working the ship to move towards her destination. Utilising his artistic skills, he explained the course and the upcoming change of direction to the crew as they feasted. As the course change approached, Sailmaster Tum could be seen up on the bridge, commanding his crew to their tacking stations as the wizard used his magical skills to control the direction of the ship with a wheel.Following a successful change of direction, our fearless young Prince retired to his chambers to prepare for another early morning, and further adventures on the high seas…And that’s the end of the chapter. SHOUT OUTSBonjour Mom – j’ai hate de te voir a PARIS a dix jours. Tu me manques beaucoup. A bientot maman! Gros bisous! (Rough translation: See you in Paris in 10 days!) So looking forward to climbing the Eiffel Tower with you, and retail therapy to fill an empty bag once I’ve thrown this gear out! Hi Dad – been fixing engines, cleaning strainers, doing oil change outs…. Drills, spanners and all. You’d laugh – didn’t need a towel for climbing (squeezing) down machinery hatches or for the oil and dirt, just for handling slippery, slimy shellfish critters in the strainers! Ahoy Shannon & Daniel – amazing photos – great to see that you had the best honeymoon ever! Happy 2.5 months! Please convert for the parentals: .. ._.. ___ …_ . _.__ ___ .._ ._ ._.. ._.. …_ . ._. _.__ __ .._ _._. ….ILAA, Pip xoxo Hi all those who are hanging on to all of my crazy adventures and learning that what I’m doing isn’t some holiday that I snuck off too. This is less of a shoutout but more of a notice that I have gotten over my fear of heights. Previously on the Young Endeavour, I hated doing the initiation climb as some of the staffies who were on that voyage and are now on this would remember. But after 42 days at sea, I have officially climbed to the topgallant mast, which is a good 30m in the air and requires a bit of slightly awkward body positioning (which the soon to be released GoPro footage will show). Strange really, I get over it at sea where it rocks instead of being in the safety of a mooring. Will definitely get a few more climbs in before sail in day at Southampton, which I should be at the topgallant, officially completing my primary mission objective after completing the ANZAC Day mission (which was over practically the day after I arrived waaay back on April 24). I am not going to declare mission accomplished yet, but with current trends I recommend that the Juliet Flag (look it up if you are unfamiliar with maritime flag codes) be flown because I’m on fire. – Dan Crawford. Happy Birthday shout outs to Brodie Doyle, my super sister-in-law. Hope it was a cracker of a day and that the kids made you a gigantic mud cake. Much love, Cap’n Doyle.
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Currently located in the Bay of Biscay and enjoying moderate 14-18kt NW winds with a .5m NW swell. Current speed is 5kts and the temperature is 15 degrees.
You might also be interested in

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 6 of our voyage. The strong northerly’s experienced yesterday moderated overnight and by the early hours of this morning we had entered Great Oyster Bay and were now motor sailing due to the light conditions. Just before sunrise we altered course to the east and transited through Schouten Passage which gave the morning watch an opportunity to view the western side of the Freycinet Peninsular and witness a spectacular sunrise. Once safely through the passage we altered course to the north, handed in sail, then proceeded directly into the famous Wineglass Bay where we came to anchor at 0830. Once at anchor we conducted the normal morning’s activities and have spent the rest of the day enjoying this beautiful part of Tasmania. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Liv and Mei who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav Ahoy there! This morning started off with a “funny” parody of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” featuring a memorable yet un-relatable line: “the vomit never bothered me anyway”, created by Red Watch. Thankfully, White Watch could sleep through this as they were on guts watch from 0000 to 0400, where they worked as a team to set the storm jib in a record time of 40 minutes! Other highlights of the night included learning about navigation, steering the helm by the wind for the first time and our famous midnight café featuring a lot of vegemite. Some very special guest dolphins swam around the ship and looked truly majestic as they glowed with bioluminescence. We anchored and woke up to the stunning view of The Hazards at Wineglass Bay, which we later hiked up and saw a spectacular view of Young Endeavour looking gorgeous in all its glory. But before this, we had mid voyage chats where we evaluated our goals and how we’ve progressed since the beginning of the voyage. We then played the inaugural bin ball championships created by Bucky at Wineglass stadium featuring a sand court. Unsurprisingly, White Watch won with a tight score of 3-2 in the finals. After the hike, which we were told was going to be around 20 minutes but ended up being more than an hour, some Youthies took the chance to have a quick swim before going back to the ship. Tonight’s dinner menu included lamb satay curry and grilled chicken, as well as a special addition of Hoppy’s Sundae Bar, which proved to be very popular. Most of us decided to have dinner on the deck and take advantage of the picturesque view of Wineglass Bay. As always, a big shoutout to our Head Chef Haydo and Masterchef assistants for keeping our bellies happy! After dinner, we had a self-reflection “Stop Start Continue” workshop in our watches where we wrote about certain aspects we want to work on to improve ourselves. Hopefully we will see that we have been able to make progress on our goals when we get to read them again in six months’ time. We believe in you, you got this! Currently, we’re waiting to start the anchor watches (our favourite) and preparing to set sail again tomorrow. Finally a shoutout to Mum, Dad and Ruben miss you guys so much. Remember I’m looking at the same moon and stars as you are, Love you - Liv Shoutout to Dad as I live out his dream of “enjoying good food on a navy ship”. Mei This is Liv and Mei signing off J

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. Overnight and during the early hours of this morning we continued to enjoy a great sail around the southern Tasmanian coast with all of the watches kept busy with setting and furling sails and doing some practical navigation. By sunrise we were located just to the south of Bruny Island now just sailing under fore & aft sail and hoping that the day would get warmer, which sadly it didn’t. But the cold and a little rain hasn’t dampened our spirits and we have still managed to fit in a lot of great activities today and our young mariners continue to impress with their endless energy and motivation. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Riley and Jack who have done a great job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain GavV03/23 – DAY 5
This morning the youth crew of the STS Young Endeavour woke to the frightening sound of red watch singing a parody of Riptide by Vance Joy over the ships intercom. This was then followed by the message that blue watch, the watch that was on guts the night before, could have a well-deserved sleep in. While members from blue watch went back to sleep the rest of the crew made their way down to the galley to enjoy another one of Haydos fantastic meals. After everyone had had breakfast the morning brief was given at 0900 which involved informing the youthies of the day ahead and a very educational story by Matty on the origins of the nautical term “two six heave”. After the morning brief the crew went below decks for Chucky’s favourite part of the day: Happy Hour! (Also known as cleaning the ship hour). In the afternoon the three watches conducted rotational tacking stations. This involved the watches rotating through the positions that the other watches fill when we tack which helped the crew get a better idea on what happens when we tack. Captain Gav came up on deck to give us a crash course about sailing theory and the ships history. This was very interesting and gave the youth crew a helpful insight into why different sails are used depending on different wind conditions. Round 3 of the famous Rope races were then commenced at noon with a twist of the round being worth double points. This highly non-competitive competition ended with Blue and Red watch drawing making it a close race for the rest of the trip The biggest highlight of most people’s day was sailing through the straight between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar in the afternoon. We all gathered at the bow of the ship as we gazed upon the spectacular columnar basalt edged cliffs rose up on either side of the narrow passageway. We had to furl all the sails, which involved sending two youth crew members up the main mast in rough swells and high winds to gasket the sail. Engines where turned on for the first time that day so we could safely pass the straight. The effort was truly worth it as we passed the resident seal colony and schools of dolphins. One of the greatest things about the STS Young Endeavour is even though the ship may sway from side to side and youth crew struggle to walk straight without getting knocked into a wall; the ships Chef continues to work hard and impress us with meals made from a kitchen which is smaller than the size of most people’s laundry room. It continues to amaze me how he keeps this quality in these rocky conditions. Not enough praise can be given to the hard work this man puts in keeping everyone happy. Go Haydo!Hi mum and dad I’m still alive, somehow we are already halfway through. See you in six days. Jack. You probably won’t see this but love you to the moon and back mum and dad. Riley. Until next time… Youthies Jack & Riley
