Day 6 Inner Great Barrier Reef

Ahoy there everyone, Overnight the ship continued to make ground to the south east through the Inner Great Barrier Reef averaging 4 knots under fore and aft sails in freshening conditions. During the night each of the watches conducted a ���Bear Exercise’ by completing an unfamiliar team orientated task without instruction in a limited time, needless to say each of the watches acquitted themselves well and explored various methods of communication, leadership and teamwork. Sunrise saw Young Endeavour abeam the southern tip of Great Palm Island continuing to beat south on a close reach port tack. The morning brief as usual was extremely entertaining and after a quick happy half hour (cleaning stations) to ensure the ship sparkled in the forenoon sun, the Youth Crew were turned to on deck and conducted rotational tacks experiencing each of the ships various tacking stations and associated lines and sails. Tacking is quite physically demanding work and to sustain this workload Chef Adrian created a storm in the galley producing some truly inspirational and healthy options for lunch. 1300 arrived and it was time for Engineer Josh’s ���Rope Races’ to stimulate the senses refocus on deck work. With the morning rotational tacks successfully completed and lunch safely tucked under our belts, the ship conducted demonstrational tacks where each watch in turn stood on the bridge and watched the command and control aspects as the ship was tacked through the wind. These tacks consolidated the sail theory and practical experience gained over the previous five days. On completion of the last tack Young Endeavour conducted a ���man overboard’ exercise to ensure that everyone onboard the ship knew what to do, should they eat too much of the Chef’s food, become disorientated and fall over the ships side. During the remainder of the afternoon the Youth Crew conducted mid voyage talks where each watch discussed individual and collective progression against their initial goals, then reset priorities and revised goals for the remainder of the voyage. After another magnificent meal by Chef Adrian, many of the Youth Crew took the opportunity to lay aloft on the foremast and watch a spectacular crimson sunset over the Inner Great Barrier Reef. It has been another extremely busy day for the Youth Crew and with the weather abating should see a peaceful nights sleep for all either side of a four hour bridge watch. The intention is to continue sailing overnight into Halifax Bay making ground towards tomorrow’s scheduled afternoon anchorage at Rattlesnake Island. Until tomorrow evening, take care.Yours AyeCaptain Damien