Day 5 – Gladstone to Heron Island
Ahoy there Shipmates,The Ship remained at anchor overnight with the Youth Crew keeping their first anchor watches. That meant that only one member of each watch was up on deck for an hour, letting the other members of the watch catch up on some much needed sleep as the Ship gently rolled in our sheltered anchorage in Gladstone Harbour.The crew were awoken at 0630 by Sail Master Adam for a quick heart-starting game of \’Knights, Mounts and Cavaliers\’. The youthies then proceeded below decks for showers and breakfast while the staffies weighed anchor and got the Ship underway at 0700. As we set off Adam mustered the crew on the port side of the bridge for the entertaining morning brief. With salty continuing to enlighten us all with his tales from yesteryear.After a good clean up down below decks the budding sailors mustered on deck for a navigation theory brief from Matt. After lunch Sumo held the next edition of ‘Ropies’ which consisted of questions on the fore-and-aft sails. This was followed by Rotational Tacks, which is an activity where the youth crew rotate through the other watches’ tacking positions so they get to experience what the other watches do when we wear or tack the Ship. I then gave part 1 of my Sail Theory Brief, during which I explained how sails produce drive, how the Ship converts that drive into forward motion, the difference between true wind and apparent wind and the ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ zones for the different types of sails.We anchored off Heron Island at 1530 and the Ship then went to for a swim. We put the boat and the ‘Lilly Pad’ (a large foam mat tethered to the side of the Ship which swimmers can sit or lie on). We closed the pool at 1630 and the crew had some down time to relax and enjoy the evening serenity. We have arranged with the Ranger Station to visit Heron Is on Friday when we anchor there prior to Command Day.We weighed anchor just after sunset and proceeded to sea overnight to continue the program, which includes the leadership activity known as the ‘Bearex’, as well as some practical navigation.Until tomorrow night, Yours aye,CAPT Mike     “Â
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: fine, Wind: 045/7 kts, Swell: nil, Temp: 22 deg. C
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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