Day 51 – Command Period Extended

Hi everyone,Welcome to day 52 of our voyage and the second day of the Crew’s Command Period. At the request of the Crew this period has now been extended to 72hrs so they must be enjoying themselves. Please find attached tonight’s Captains Log which has been well written by Greg from White Watch. Enjoy!Until tomorrow, take care.Yours AyeCaptain GavCaptains log 9th Feb 2015Ahoy family & friends who will may or may not soon be re-welcoming Crew of V01/15 back into life ashore.The first full day of Youthies takeover is drawing to a spectacularly firey close as the sun gets all set to dip once again below the horizon (at 1928 with bearing 253 degrees if my working is accurate), and the ship is still not only in one piece, but we are also enroute to arrive on time. It has been a great first 24 hours of Command period with everybody. The day began at 0700 with the pipe announcing that due to weather, morning brief was postponed until the afternoon, leaving everybody except the oncoming watch free to attempt to sleep in the muggy temperatures that we have unfortunately become re-accustomed to after a balmy 6 weeks in the fresh delights of the Southern Ocean (winter baby for life. #sorrynotsorry).  White watch had the 0800-1200 watch, and this watch saw us making good speed on an ENE course whilst spotting several vessels sailing past us. During this watch we gradually saw the rest of the crew rise and shine, with several taking advantage of the sunny conditions to attack our piles of dirty washing that has become the bane of every crew member on board (yet another reason cold is better that hot – less laundry. #sorrynotsorry).  With another watch over at 1145 we descended on the galley to load up on what will be our last week of classic top-notch YE food. Special mention needs to be made to Fiona, the master of the Youthie masterchefs, who despite feeling a bit under the weather this morning still managed to coordinate fellow masterchefs Rusty & Kieran and pump out enough food to feed this hungry crew of 36. We love and appreciate your efforts Fi!!  “Morning” Brief was postponed to 1330, where Captain Sam, Sailmaster Robyn, Naviguesser Julia and Watch Officer Michelle took over and ensured both Staffies & Youthies were informed of the days happenings. A notable change to the command period was its extension from 48 to 72 hours, giving the watches a chance to swap people around in essential roles.  As a challenge given to us by the staffies each watch was required to find out an interesting fact about 4 of the staffies – Blue watch was the winner of this challenge, with an entertaining anecdote about Taffies pet bird…Following happy hour, I decided to join the trend of deforestation that is occurring among the men on board this fine vessel – that’s right, the glorious red beard has been trimmed. A sad but inevitable day, but the canopy was stifling growth on the forest floor so it was necessary for the long-term health of the ecosystem. Unlike several of the other males, I did not go for the Nintendo-mario moustache or the attempted-handlebars, despite the temptation being at times quite high. I’m still undecided as to if it makes a difference in the cooling department but we’ll find out when we hit Rio!!  Following dinner, a thorough PT session is currently in action down at Midships. While the vessel motion restricts the exercises that can be safely done, it looks like the waves over the bow are cooling them off a bit…Currently it is 1905 and we are maintaining a NNE course up the coast of South America on our way to Rio where we will arrive (hopefully, for the sake of several Youthies flight itineraries) on February 14th. The cloud looks to be obscuring another amazing South Atlantic sunset, but spirits are still high onboard Young Endeavour despite the end to this journey of a lifetime being, quite literally, just over the horizon.Until tomorrow!Yours Aye,Greg (White watch – yeah we move around a bit…)P.S Greg would like to wish his sister Victoria a very happy 22nd birthday! Looking forward to seeing you when I get home!!P.P.S Enjoy the photos from the last few days, taken by Hannah!!