Day 5 – The Infamous Bass Strait

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. It’s been one of those challenging days at sea battling the conditions that Bass Strait is famous for but that’s what makes it such a great stretch of water to sail. As I say if it was easy everyone would be out here. That’s enough from me I will now handover to the Youthies to tell you all about our day. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav
Friday the 13th definitely lived up to its reputation!
We started the day calmly anchored off the Coast of King Island, with a morning stroll around the upper deck and followed by a game of Ubantu. We then had pancakes for breakfast loaded with boysenberry ice cream, berries, chocolate and basically anything we could dream of (thanks Adam!) while the sun rose and lit the sky in a range of pink and orange colour’s, spirits were high and we were ready to set off east across the Bass Straight towards Deal Island, and that’s when the adventure really began………!
It started smoothly, with some decent winds and light swells, we practiced our tacking stations and moved between the three watch stations, in preparation for Command Day. As we headed further into Bassy and away from King Island, Friday the 13th decided it wanted to play; luckily we were all well prepared as we finally have our sea legs!!!! The swells started to reach 3-4 metres high and the winds were record breaking 30-35 knots; well at least that’s how it felt. Really we were just witnessing the lovely Bassy Weather. Wet weather gear was essential for all those who wished not to get hypothermia and as the rain set in and the winds blew up we were ready to tackle whatever it had to throw at us. Young Endeavour really showed her strengths as we tilted a not so pleasant 20-25 degrees, with water rushing over the deck we went into place to finally set the square sails (now we’re a real pirate ship!). The weather didn’t let up and the winds were pushing us up to over 10 knots, while our average is 4 knots.
We were enjoying the rough seas, and relaxing in our racks when upon Red’s watch the weather turned again and we were hastily called upon deck to furl in the main sail, along with the jib. While furling the jib the winds increased, and the sea swelled angrily and Friday the 13th decided to land us with the necessary bad luck! The jib sheet literally got its nickers in a knot and we were unable to untangle it (something the staffies had never experienced before!). As Holly stated “it needed a good detangling brushâ€. Unfortunately for us this put the jib out of action, meaning we would need to make a pit stop in order to free it, so Deal Island was taken off our course and replaced with Wilson’s Promontory.
Dinner was then an experience and a half as our beautiful ship continued to rock. Youthies found that they wished that they had Elly and Caroline’s skills in ice skating, as the decks become as slippery as ice, and the staffies put up safety lines. The Galley had trays flying off the shelves, and many a tea was sacrificed to the deck. As I write this, Josh is putting in his best efforts to stop my chair from sliding across the deck (sometimes in vain.)
Don’t worry mums, dads, friends and family, we are having an extremely great time and are very safe! There hasn’t been a single youthie without a smile on their face! 😀
Elly: Hi mum, dad, Ash, Daniel and Ebbie! I am having an amazing time and am really in my element! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope you had an amazing day and I’ll see you in Melbourne Soon! Joel says happy birthday too!
Josh: Hi Mum, Dad and family! I’m having a ball, hope you guys are all doing good and I’ll see you soon. ïŠ
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Currently located 40nm to the SW of Wilson's Promontory sailing under a reduced sail plan and experiencing very strong 25-30kt SSW winds with a 3-4m SW swell. Our current speed is 8-9kts and the temperature is 14 degrees but feels colder.
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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”
