Day 5 – Beach Adventure, Rotational Tacks…and a Sunset Storm!

Ahoy shipmates…Day 5. Well it has been another busy one, blessed by magnificent weather and a bit of breeze for sailing. Today’s activities have been described below by Georgia and Arthur, but in summary: EMA, breakfast, morning brief, shore excursion, lunch, happy hour, rope races, rope swing, sail theory brief, weigh anchor, demonstrational tacks, set and clew square sails, anchor, dinner, climb for sea furls…and to top it off…a sunset storm! Not sure we are giving the youth crew enough to do;). We will remain at anchor in Jervis Bay one more night, with the youth crew keeping sea watches at anchor…the ‘bearex’ and a navigational challenge will keep them occupied. We are waiting for a southerly change due in the early hours of the morning, which we will take full advantage off tomorrow to head north. 30+ knots and 3-5m seas…yeeha and hang on! That’s it from me for now. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Cap K———– After a calming and restful night we continued our stay in Jervis Bay, starting bright and early at 6:30am with bacon and egg rolls on the deck. Following our feast, we learned – much to our excitement – that we would be allowed to go ashore to the beach! There was a great flurry to gather our cossies and towels, making sure to thoroughly lather ourselves in sunscreen, before we took turns piling into the dinghy and making our way to shore. Once there, we were greeted with a splash by the crystal-blue water as we hopped into the shallows. We spent 2 hours playing tug of war (which blue team won, as usual – Arthur), swimming, walking on the beach and admiring our vessel in the bay. Once our time in the sun was up, we clambered back into the dinghy and sped back to the ship, where we were promptly met by Keely’s incredible pork roast lunch (“her crackling could give my mum a run for her money” -A). After Lunch, we had another round of ropies which Blue Watch surprisingly won (“heh” -A), yet are still in last place behind White Watch and Red Watch (Yeaaah Reddies -G), respectively. The day was intermittently broken up by sightseers coming past to wave and take photos – Even a gyro copter buzzed past the bow during an interesting presentation by Captain Kenny on sails and tacking positions. We then weighed anchor and headed out into the bay to practice our tacking for the high seas. We are all becoming practiced at our respective tacking positions and commands. During our tacking exercises, we were taken up to the bridge to be briefed on how to properly steer and captain the ship for command day, the subject on everyone’s lips since yesterday. As of writing, we are anchored on the south side of the bay, where the water is choppier to prepare us for rough seas tomorrow. Our dinner was a tough choice between honey-glazed ham, or a fantastic chicken satay, prepared by our fantastic “volunteers.” A rainstorm has just begun, and although we expect tomorrow to be heavy seas, a song of confidence is in our hearts and we are ready to set sail once more. Georgia: Hi Family! You said you would be following the Captains Log – so this is a message for you! Having a good time and have successfully climbed to the top of the mask on Day 2. Please have a large coffee with you when you meet me in 6 days time! xx Arthur: Hi Mum and Dad (who may be reading this), day 3 was a seasick slog, but I think i’ve found my legs at last. I look forward to seeing you again soon, and showing you all the fantastic photos i’ve taken!! To my fantastic boyfriend Connor (who is definitely not reading this) I miss you, give mac a smooch for me , shorty x