Day 7

Ahoy. So overnight it was quite a struggle to make ground to the north and I didn’t think we were going to make it, but by sunrise things were looking ok. However, instead of Broken Bay, we now be headed for Botany Bay. Which is Hunky-Dory, cos us sailors always remain flexible, but not limp! We continued to beat up the coast. On the way we had our daily Morning Brief (Paul told us the plan. Salty told us about the origin of the word ‘Heads’ (look it up). And I dropped another gold nugget *see below). We gave her a good old sweep fore and aft during Happy Hour and then each watch had to demonstrate their skills during the ‘Captain’s Setting and Furling Challenge’. A pre-requisite to Command Day (tomorrow), Youth Crew are required to set and furl various sails without their Watch Leader present. That is, they have to prove to me that they are safe, competent and independent. They proved correctly. Man, this Youth Crew knows their ropes! Around lunch time we could see a Stonehenge-like (Sam’s words) construction on the horizon… SYDNEY HO! This gave us renewed hope, we no longer thought we would see out our days on the high seas. And indeed we did not, as we entered Botany Bay around 1600 and came to anchor in Congwong Bay (adjacent La Perouse). Chris, Sam and Olly cooked up a ripper barbie and there was much relaxing on deck. Lovely spot this, with Bare Island on our Port side and lovely beaches ahead and to STBD. Anyway, with the dishes done, the Youth Crew was ready for the Command Day Brief. On completion they conducted Command Day Elections. Elected positions for Command Day are as follows: Captain – Olie Sail Master – Blake Navigator – Celina Watch Officers – Courtney, Conrad and Henry Watch Leaders – Chris, Sophie and Daniel Chefs – Sam, Jacqui and Wes. Command Day commences at 1300 tomorrow (Wed). Stay tuned. Captain Adam out+ *Gold nugget: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel†– Maya Angelou Youthie Blog: Love and miss you Rebecca and Brown Family!! Happy 21st Maddie ïŠ Happy anniversary for the 22nd Tahnee! Don’t miss me too much. – Henry Your salty sea blossom (Sophie-loo) is sailing like a pro! Love to you all, special shout out to my new nephew Jed! Special shout out from Celina to the best mum! Happy birthday, whilst I’m sailing a tall ship on the oceans! Xxx Hey fam bam having a fab time! Missing you. Nana Shout to the fam from Lucy, having a great time miss you xxxx Hi Ma, Pa, Loz and Maxie! Haven’t washed my hair in six days, woo! Love Sammy xx Hey Mum, Dad and Belle! Having an absolute ball. Miss you, love you, see you soon xxx – Courtney I hope you’ve all been looking after my gerbera! Love from Jazzie xxx Shout out to DonZ, the sisters and the rest of the family and of course Taytay. See you all soon! Love ya’s! Sup guys its blake, I want to give a quick shout out to my family and to Priya, love you and missing you heaps!!!
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: 020 @ 15 knots. Swell: Nil. Temp: 20
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Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 9 of our voyage. Following a busy night of sail plan changes and early morning tacks the Youth Crew made their final waypoint at 0945 this morning which was a major achievement having safely sailed the ship all the way from Prosser Bay to the entry to Port Arthur. On achieving their final waypoint the Staff Crew took over and conducted a pilotage into Port Arthur coming safely to anchor at 1045. Once at anchor the Youth Crew set about completing the rest of their outstanding tasks prior to handing the ship back to the Staff Crew at 1300. With Command Day successfully completed the Youth Crew were ferried ashore early this afternoon where they completed the Command Day Debrief with all agreeing that it had been a challenging and rewarding experience. To finish the afternoon’s activities the Youth Crew were given a guided tour of the Historical Port Arthur Settlement before returning to the ship for another one of Chef Haydon’s fantastic dinners. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Jade, Lochie and Sophie who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav The last 13 hours of Command Day proved to be very chaotic. We started the day at sea with unideal sailing weather – cold and dark with minimal winds. From 0001, we continued our course from Orford to our final way point of Port Arthur whilst keeping our usual overnight watches. On the guts, Red Watch successfully tacked the ship without needing to wake up anyone else – a mighty fine feat! The Whiteys (On ya Whitey’s!!) and the Blueys also had hectic watches setting and furling many, many sails. Then began the 0530 tacks… All youthies were up before the sun to the call of “Attention all Youthies - all hands to tacking stations. Standby to tack the ship!” over the pipes. Within 6 minutes, all youthies were harnessed and up on deck ready to execute our first tack to attempt passing the notoriously difficult to sail, Tasman Island. After a successful tack, and after a big few hours, brekky was an essential! Master Chefs Aria, Anna and Tiff cooked up a storm worth stowing (in our bellies!) of pancakes, waffles and a feast of fruits which fuelled us for the rest of Command Day and the rest of the Command Day tasks that lay ahead. At 0605, we caught the first light of day touching the tops of the Tasman Island cliffs off our starboard side – ahhh what a sight to see! After another two tacks to set us on our final bearing to Port Arthur, the Youthie Command Crew held an awesome, but a little sleep deprived, morning brief featuring some naughty nautical yarns, nefarious nav brief - “sunscreen or die, hydrate or die”, and the one and only woman who makes the sea seasick, Captain Paige, with the inspiring quote “If you believe in yourself, then you’ve already done half the work”. By 1015 we had successfully made it to our final way point at Port Arthur! We weighed anchor and ate a delicious Aussie-themed barbeque lunch cooked by our awesome master chefs before jumping into Chucky’s favourite hour of the day – Happy Hour! This was then followed by the Captain’s Hand-over Ceremony where the ship was returned to the staffies in a somewhat pristine condition. Keen to get ashore, the youthies jumping in the sea boats to speed ashore for a guided tour of Port Arthur where we learned lots about the historic values of the area and the tragedies that were experienced during the 1800s. Back on the boat, the Staffies held a Command Day debrief where we achieved almost 2 handed thumbs-up for all our completed tasks. A fantastic achievement for the Youthie Crew of V03/23!! With the fantastic Haydo back in the kitchen, we were in for an infamous meal of chicken Penang curry, baked salmon, steak and roasted vegetables followed by golden syrup dumplings with butterscotch syrup sauce and ice cream. Jeez he spoils us! Also a shoutout to my not-so-little, little brother, Hugh. You’re going to love V04/23 mate! Good luck squeezing into your bunk ;) xoxo Lochie. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store! This is Jade, Lochie, and Sophie signing off!!

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 8 of our voyage and Command Day. Thankfully the weather improved overnight and a well rested Youth Crew awoke to a beautiful Tasmanian morning with clear skies. Following Morning Brief I conducted Captain Setting and Furling Drills which is our final activity leading up to the Youth Crew taking command of the ship and I am pleased to announce that all watches passed with flying colours. Once completed, the Youth Crew Command Team were given 30 minutes with the Staff Crew so that they could ask questions that may assist them in their elected positions throughout their Command period. Once finished we rigged the rope swing and gave everyone a chance to have a swim in the cool (some would say cold) clear water of Prosser Bay. At 1300 this afternoon we all gather at midships and I handed over the Command Day instructions and the ‘telescope of challenge’ to Youth Crew Captain Paige which officially commenced the exciting 24hr Command Day period. One of the many tasks for Command Day is the writing of the Captains Log so here is tonight’s edition written by Captain Paige. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain GavHello all, Today’s events were very exciting for all youth crew, as today is the day the staff hand over the ship and let the youthies take control. The day for us youthies started by the staff woke us all up to Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marring Aye and Timmi Terrell through the main broad cast. We then had a scrumptious breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, cereal, yogurt and toast. Which was provided to us by the amazing Haydo and the master chef’s Tiff, Jasper and Jack. Breakfast was followed by morning brief where we are informed of the weather conditions, the Captain always provides us with an inspirational daily quote, and what the daily plan is going to look like. Once morning brief was wrapped up red and white watch performed happy hour while blue watch performed the Captains setting and furling. This allows the staff crew to insure all the youthies are safe and capable to take command of the ship. Once all the watches rotated though performing the Captains setting and furling the elected youth crew sat down and conducted opposites which is where the staff command team discus with the youth crew the best way to go about performing the roles they are taking over for the 24 hour period. Since it was such a nice day the staff decided we do Swimex which is where staff and youth crew that are brave enough to conure the cold water temperatures of Tassie are allowed a short period of time to have some water fun this includes jumping off the rope swing, using the Lilly pad which is a large foam mat jumping off the side of the boat and the bow sprit. When the Swimex came of a close it was time for lunch which was pasta bake, Bolognese, lamb and Pork chops, cheese and garlic breads which were freshly made that morning by Haydo. Hand over to youth crew was conducted at 1300. During the 24hrs that the youth crew have control of the ship the staff go on holiday down stairs where they have access to a bowling alley, cinema, and Maddie opens the heated swimming pool along with other amazing facilities. Part of hand over the Captain, what given a sheet of 30 tasks that we need to perform as many as we can throughout the period of time we are given. The first task was to assemble a row boat team to row to shore to acquire the navigation instructions, other tasks includes creating a rope hammock that will support all the youth crew at once, Theresa’s knot tying challenge and many more exciting and challenging things. Once the navigator marked out waypoints we weighed anchor and set sail though Mercury Passage. We are now carrying out night watches and on our way to the next anchoring spot which is unknown as of the moment. Until the next log update Yours truly Captain Paige

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