Day 7 – A Return to Sydney Harbour, Movie Stars…and Tacks

Ahoy Shipmates. Well we have quite the day. After a rolly transit up from Jervis Bay, we sailed through Sydney Heads and to anchor in Watsons Bay in fine and warm conditions…a very pleasant change from yesterday’s cold weather. We have returned to Sydney to assist with the filming of a Defence Youth Safety video. We take safety very seriously here on Young Endeavour, as you could imagine, so we were only too happy to help out…as were our budding movie stars…the Youth Crew. After we embarked the film crew we completed a series of tacks around the South Head/Watsons Bay area with a drone taking shots of the ship from above, and another group filming on deck. I have to say the Youth Crew are certainly not camera shy. After dropping our guests ashore we departed Sydney at 1900, weaving our way through some twilight sailing races as we once again headed to the open sea…next stop, Broken Bay. That’s it from me…over to Red Watch. Fair winds…Captain Kenny…

The day started with Reddies on watch from 0000-0400, a couple of us felt sick and the rest pushed on with learning new navigation skills, bracing the yards (which caused some sleeping youthies discomfort) and learning Adam’s knot of the day – a figure 8 knot.
Red watch happily shook the White watch team to take over for the 0400-0800 watch as we sailed closer to Sydney.
Breakfast was made in the newly named ‘Hells Kitchen.’ Hells kitchen was alive with youthies from every watch scoffing down pancakes covered in everything but the kitchen sink- it was quite a sight. With plates practical licked clean we left Hells kitchen, threw our harnesses on and everyone was unsurprised as reddies yet again were the last to call in. We were then entertained by ‘Salty’s’ tales of apples and oranges and Jerome’s picturesque retelling of the wildlife we encountered. We then went off singing ‘happy happy happy hour,’ where we paid special attention to our cleaning stations ensuring the ship would look up to scratch for the film crew.
After anchoring in Sydney, the youthies efforts were rewarded with more food – the only currency on board. As we waited patiently for the film crew to join us to record the defence youth safety framework clip we played ‘ninja tag’ and skipped using gaskets.
When the film crew eventually came aboard they hauled Stella off to complete the torture techniques of applying makeup before starting the filming. While Stella was off living the dream, the rest of the youthies set about tacking the ship to Port, then to Starboard, then yet again to Port before she was released.
The youthies gawked as the drone of the film crew flew overhead capturing shots of the ship as we completed yet another tack. A special few were then selected to climb the yards. More tacks were then completed as Stella completed her piece to camera (the only one with a talking role) and the youthies on the yards felt the ratlines cutting into their feet. Despite tired hands and weary bodies the youthies enjoyed their time in the spotlight and happily waved goodbye to the film crew.
The day ended with a brilliantly prepared roast by Zack and a beautiful sunset over the Sydney landscape.
We would like to give a special thanks to the staffies for sharing their knowledge with us and the film crew for the chance to live out our dreams.