Day 6 – At sea off the Capricorn Is Group

Ahoy there Shipmates,The ship remained at sea overnight making slight way in the very light conditions. The Youth crew were kept busy throughout the night setting and furling sails, trimmed for the light conditions, to maximise the achievable speed. They also undertook the leadership activity known as the ‘Bearex’. This is conducted by watches and controlled by the watch leaders, who set their watch a task which they have not completed or seen completed before. It is an initiative and leadership activity designed to provide the natural leaders an opportunity to step-up and take charge of the situation. They are given a set of detailed instructions for the task.At 0900 a quick morning brief took place on the port side of the bridge. After the brief (Which was actually surprisingly brief for once) the Youth Crew wend below to clean the ship while the Staff Crew made preparations for a swim. Once Sail Master Adam was happy with the cleanliness of the Ship he opened the ‘big pool’ and most youthies took the opportunity for a swim.After a delicious lunch we launched into today’s edition of ‘Ropies’. This was followed by my presentation of Part 2 of Sail Theory. The crew then set a full press of sail in order to conduct Demonstrational Tacks during which the youthies rotate through the bridge while the Ship conducts a series of tacks in order that they can observe who does what at tacking stations. Unfortunately there was insufficient wind to either tack or wear the Ship so it was decided to give the youthies a Captain’s Challenge to clew-up, furl and brail all of the sails within 45 minutes. This is the first time the youthies work together as one group and it provides them the opportunity to see who the natural and effective leaders are. They achieved the task in well-under the 45 minutes.We then gave everyone another opportunity for a swim for 30 minutes. This provided a much – needed break from the afternoon heat and very light winds. We closed the ‘pool’ at 1630 and once everything was packed away and those on watch had showered and closed-up we set some sails to try and do some more sailing.We plan to remain at sea overnight and allow the watches the last chance to consolidate their knowledge in running the ship before we go to anchor tomorrow at Heron Island in preparation for command day the following day. Until tomorrow, yours aye,CAPT Mike From Jasper to Tannaya: Happy 2 months, I wish I could be there with you now but I can\’t so I\’m sorry. I\’ll be there for the next one. I love you so much and I miss you like crazy and can\’t wait to see you. I love you xoxo       “