Day 6 – Bass Strait, the Rip, Rye…and Plenty of Wind and Rain!

Ahoy shipmates…Bass Strait…Tick! We appear to have timed our run across Bass Strait pretty well, avoiding the worst of the conditions. At 0700 we passed through ‘the Rip’ (the entrance to Port Phillip Bay) and anchored off Rye. It’s been a wet and windy day, but we have kept the youth crew busy. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will make an appearance, and the youth crew will get ashore…fingers crossed. Until then, fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-
What a day it has been, starting from the treacherous Bass Strait where we battled a storm front and the much anticipated bear exercise, now we are anchored in the beautiful Port Phillip Bay. It was a long night with Blue and White watch completing the bear exercise by successfully setting the storm jib, with no help from the staffie’s (go blue watch!). We were faced with sloping decks and spray pummeling those of us on the bow of the ship. It sure was a challenge but we worked well as a team to complete it. Those below decks didn’t get out of the storm either, with Shnitty (Kohdi) getting air born from his rack and been forced to sleep in the café. With an eventful morning we were very happy to hear that Jerome allowed us to rest for an additional hour. Once again we had quite the moral boosting brief with lots of special guests (Nanna), new sea shanties to learn in our spare time and fun, free facts. We then went into the ‘Happiest Hour’ of the day and cleaned the fore to aft. There was lots of dancing and singing but most of all quality cleaning taking place by all those in the Café (and 12 berth, especially Andy and Connor). Unfortunately the weather did not permit for any voyage to shore and the rope races had to be postponed due to the rain and high winds. None the less the youthies took this time to catch up on some much needed sleep, play trivia games and then partook in our mid voyage reflections. As the weather cleared up we took to mid-ships for our third set of rope races. It started off like any other race, Blue and Red head to head and White nowhere to be seen. It took a turn at the bonus round as the eating challenge fell to the youthies after much debate. It was a Zooper Dooper way to finish the race with Blue watch finishing far ahead with a strong team effort (Go Blue Watch). We had a great feed once again from Adam, with pork ribs and beautiful fruit salad. Lots of musical talent shining today bellow deck from the likes of Shaun, Lilly and Taish. It was another great upon the Young Endeavour!! Shout out to Blue Watch friends and family from Connor and Andy!
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: W at 20 knots Weather: Overcast, clearing showers Sea: Choppy Location: At anchor off Rye.
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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”


After a rather nonchalant guts watch with the Bluies, Reddies came in guns a blazing, setting our beautiful square sails preparing us for a speedy and eventful day at sea. Scaling (laying aloft) the Foremast, whilst the ship swayed kept the Reddies on their toes, holding on for dear life as they let out the gaskets for the Topgallant and Topsail Yards. A challenging activity to start off our day rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over Starboard.
During the day we participated in a Meteorology Brief led by our resident Nav guru TOMO, learning everything there is about fluffy, rainy and stormy clouds. This was followed by Lunch and a needed Siesta.
Whilst some slumbered, Bluies kept watch. They had brave volunteers to climb both main mast and to the topgallant yard to sea furl the sails.
In the afternoon, our Watches came together to have Mid Voyage Chats, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our voyage goals, experiences and discuss our hopes for Command Day. There were some very heartfelt talks, from overcoming fears, to gaining confidence in working as a team, and we set our eyes upon what we want to achieve in the rest of the voyage.
The first dog (Reddies) (from 1545 to 1745) was full of excitement, with over 50kn winds and up to 50 degrees on the OOOH AAAH meter (heel). Watching the waves break higher than the rails was an exhilarating experience and kept us holding on tight. Sites of sharks and a Cargo ship kept our lookouts entertained, while Callum lead an engaging activity on Charts. At the end of the first dog watch, Nick and Phil braved these treacherous conditions to lay aloft on the mainmast to wrangle the mainsail!
Rockin and rolling, Youthies (the newest salty sea dogs) Hugh, Bridget, and Nick!!