Day 5 – The Infamous Bass Strait

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. Itâ€™s been one of those challenging days at sea battling the conditions that Bass Strait is famous for but thatâ€™s what makes it such a great stretch of water to sail. As I say if it was easy everyone would be out here. Thatâ€™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 colourâ€™s, spirits were high and we were ready to set off east across the Bass Straight towards Deal Island, and thatâ€™s when the adventure really beganâ€¦â€¦â€¦!
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 thatâ€™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 weâ€™re a real pirate ship!). The weather didnâ€™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 Redâ€™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 â€œit 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 Wilsonâ€™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 Carolineâ€™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.)
Donâ€™t worry mums, dads, friends and family, we are having an extremely great time and are very safe! There hasnâ€™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 Iâ€™ll see you in Melbourne Soon! Joel says happy birthday too!
Josh: Hi Mum, Dad and family! Iâ€™m having a ball, hope you guys are all doing good and Iâ€™ll see you soon. ïŠ

Latitude/Longitude:

39 28.8 S / 145 45.5 E

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.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Day 11 – End of Voyage 18/23

Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Chucky’s final Wakey Wakey song, Paper Planes by MIA, was pumped through the Ship's speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail activities, end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and then straight into their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Trev piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, commencing the ‘victory lap’ past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship's saluting cannons, and back, with the YC still aloft, and then into Woolloomooloo Bay to our berth at the Fleet Base. We berthed at Fleet Base at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. I spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew. Finally I invited Commander Gavin Dawe, RAN OAM, representing the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme, to present the Young Endeavour Award to Poppy Brown for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V18/23 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

Newcastle

09 October 2023

Day 10 – Community Day Sail

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Chucky woke us with another of his soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. While the youth crew had breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and commenced the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. After passing the Opera House and going under the Harbour Bridge, we berthed at the Navy base and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1000 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group of students and Staff from the Crescent School in Goulburn. We also embarked some defence staff from Project Sea 1788, ADF Careers and some Defence Graduates. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Goulburn special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the sails by helping to pull on the sheets. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The youth crew got together with their watchmates and proceeded ashore at Waverton to completed their End-of-voyage reports, facilitated by their watch leaders. On completion they returned onboard, put their climbing harnesses on and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails, to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. We departed HMAS Waterhen at 1615 and proceeded to anchor in Athol Bay, just near Taronga Park Zoo. Next was our traditional voyage, last dinner onboard, homemade pizza night. Everyone had worked-up a healthy appetite from the long and very physical day, so probably ate a slice or two more than they probably needed. The youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The show was skilfully compiled by Taylor Smyth. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time, the aim of which is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0800, undertake a short harbour cruise, before berthing at the Navy Fleet Base at Woolloomooloo on Cowper Wharf Road. Family and friends who will meet the Ship on arrival can enter the Fleet Base at the gate near Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 18/23. Yours aye, Captain Mike

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Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Hello there all armchair sailors! Today brings us in to the end of our 24 hour ‘Command Day’, the period of time where the youth crew are given responsibility for the ship and are to set about completing a number of tasks while keeping the ship in running order – from the galley to the top-gallant yard. A series of anchor watches kept us safe and secure through the night with no alarm needed to be raised. Throughout their watches, youthies worked diligently on some of the more creative tasks that could be completed such as the writing of a song and a midships mural documenting our trip and brilliant staff crew. We awoke to the Final Countdown and quickly headed amidships into the cold to wake us up out of our slumber and get cracking on the final few tasks. A quick breakfast ensued (gotta keep the bellies full), and we had our morning brief on the bridge where tasks were divvied out and the mornings plan set out. With this underway it was time to get started with our biggest happy hour yet. Not only did the youthies keep to their typical routine of cleaning the café area, staff mess, and the berths, but also a big effort was made to clean above deck. Many hands make light work, and with youthies swabbing decks, power washing out the duckboards, polishing the cannons, and battling Sydney’s weather we made short work of the clean and managed to get our harnesses on for our final task; taking a picture of all youth crew strewn over the yards. Having channelled our inner spider monkeys and had the photo taken we descended, and in a quick ceremony handed the ship back over to the equally handsome (and much more capable) staff crew by 10:00. After the ceremony, we had the our final test of rope races; all for one big prize – the winners to adorn the top-gallant mast upon our return through Sydney harbour. The rope races were incredibly close, having tested our ship knowledge to steepest degree. With the final scores in, we were given one final bonus task worth up to 15 extra points… Each watch was given an egg. This egg had to have a story, a name, and by 19:00 be ready to drop from the course yard and survive. We were given a variety of odd objects (rubber gloves, vomit bags, zipties, fruit loops, and a single chamomile teabag among others) and had to use all of them to construct a creation that would help our Eggs - John Smith, Benedict, and Sumegg - survive the fall. John Smith poached it. Benedict got scrambled. But Sumegg? Sumegg survived! Eggcellent! With Sumeggs survival, the placements were now in; Blue Watch in first and to sail in on the top-gallant yard, White Watch in second and on the topsail yard, and Red Watch in third on the course yard. Heading back below we had three life lessons given to us by some wise youthies with topics such as; how to correctly eat a mandarin (one single peel!), how to buy shoes (as fussy as possible), and how to clean polish your bald ships mechanics head (by asking permission… and a little bit of elbow grease). We finished these demonstrations with a song written by the youthies that summed up our time here on the Young Endeavour before beating to quarters and getting some much needed rest. On behalf of all youth crew of voyage 18/23, we have loved every second of taking part of this opportunity and are loathe to see our time here come to a close.

Arkady Walker, Elected youthie Captain.

Thank you again for a great narrative Arkady. The weather has certainly been challenging us again today. At least the wind has stayed low in this sheltered anchorage. We are again remaining here overnight, however we sail early in the morning to HMAS Waterhen, Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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Day 5 – The Infamous Bass Strait

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