Day 7 – Captain’s Setting and Furling…and Middle Percy Island.

Ahoy shipmates…Day 7…the penultimate day before Command Day! Noting the efforts of our scribes below, I’ll be brief. Suffice to say…another awesome night/morning under sail. Overnight the Youth Crew completed a self reflection activity called Stop, Start, Continue. From all reports everyone found it beneficial. An early start to the day saw us complete Captains’ Setting and Furling as described below, and we then came to anchor in a lovely sheltered anchorage on the north western side of Middle Percy Island…and the rest, as they say, is history (again…see below). Late this afternoon I gave the Command Day brief, explaining the various roles and responsibilities, and as I write the Command Day elections are taking place…the big day looms! Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-
Day 7
Captain Log
Our Captains log for today starts with Captains Setting and Furling tests. These tests were run with Captain Kenny and Engineer Reggie evaluating and ensuring each watch completed the tasks with safety being number one. Every Watch performed with the tasks by the book getting a big tick of approval from Engineer Reggie and Captain Kenny, allowing us to move on to Stage 2 of our Voyage.
Waking to the sunrise across the horizon, the water lay calm as the boat travelled further into the Percy islands until we anchored at the Middle Percy Island. Surrounding us, a warm, turquoise ocean hugged the boat and patterns of colourful floral shirts put on a show. Excitement, and awe spread throughout the members of Young Endeavour like wildfire as we were about to explore an island which has hardly ever been touched.
While some let their inner photographer side shine, sixteen lay aloft to sea furl the topsail, topgallant and main sail. Teamwork, strength, muscle that we didn’t know we had, and of course happiness are just some elements that pieced together the experience we know and now love as climbing. But this was just the beginning.
It was time; time to jump into the boat to take us to the shore of the island. The island reeked of desert island vibes, with an abundance of flora, coconut trees, and goats, a tree house and a lagoon; we just couldn’t help feeling like we were visiting the ‘Blue Lagoon’ island.
On the island we cracked open coconuts and feasted on them, we enjoyed a vigorous game of water polo, went snorkelling and collected sea shells, swung on a rustic rope swing attached to a tree, went for a walk on a track and saw lots of beautifully coloured butterflies, played a combined sports game of baseball and soccer, explored the shack and most of all had fun and bonded together as a crew.
Splashing in the water with such clarity, the view and the joy from the day made this journey one to remember, making a mark of Young Endeavour 07/19 in the very hut dedicated to visitors leaving their items behind in an interactive museum. Nearing close to the end of the marvellous journey we made our way back the ship for a night of mischievous, movies, madness and one hell of a BBQ.
–Brad Pitt, Tyler Russel, Lexus Gold
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: SE at 10 knots Weather: Passing showers Location: At anchor Middle Percy Island
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

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”
