Day 7 – Command day eve

Another lovely sunrise at sea, ladies and gents, boys and girls. Great to have you with us again. Yes, sunrise at sea! It doesn’t get any better in my opinion. Pity I missed it, slept in! Oh well. The morning watch definately didn’t miss it though, as they lay on the deck in foetal positions enjoying the amazing spectacle between each vomit. Joy. Sigh.
Well, today has crept up on us all, like Hamburgler trying to steal our French fries… Strewth! Day 7 already? We haven’t even done the Captain’s Setting and Furling activity or Demonstrational Tacks yet… I guess we had better do them today… and so we did. No biggie. We even did the Command Day brief followed by elections for tomorrow. Isn’t it great how tenses work? Rhetorical!
Seems my faculties need some recalibration after several days at sea… I’ll turn down the kooky… Captain’s Setting and Furling is a confidence check if you will, to ensure each watch is safe and competent at setting and furling sails. I knew our sea puppies were, just needed to formalise that with an ‘approved’ stamp in the big book of important stuff. You see, during Command day, staff will be taking a step back, placing responsibilities for sail handling, safety, etc. on our beloved youth crew. Of course we will be watching closely to ensure they are all kept safe, but keeping a low profile. Dig? After I stamped the book three times, I needed a wee lay down, as I was plum tuckered out from all the stamping. But in finest tradition of the Young Endeavour spirit, I pushed on and had lunch instead… After lunch we got rid of the storm tri-sail and having received the go ahead from the shore based subject matter experts – in endorsing our mainsail workaround – we set the main sail. It worked a treat BTW. Then we set the Jib. Yay, more speed! With a lovely sail plan set, I invited 3 members of each watch to the bridge and talked them through the tacking process, as they will be doing this by themselves come tomorrow. We then invited the next three and did another tack and the next three and another tack. Having demonstrated how to tack to all members of each watch, we then shaped a course for Double Island Point and proceeded at best speed. On the way I gave Youthies the standard Command Day brief and handed over to them for their elections. Then I proceeded at best speed to the taco bar aka Marcos’ Taqueria. They were lovely by the way (both soft and hard shells, thanks for asking!). BTW, elected Youth Crew positions for V11/19 Command day are: Captain – Taylor. Sailmaster – Jack. Navigator – Huon. Watch Officers – Angus, Angus and Liz. Watch Leaders – Percy, Jess and Nick. Chefs – Laura, Bundy and Liam O. The remainder were split into three watches based on various skills, to execute the mission and provide support for the above positions (as they know just as much TBH). With excitement in the air and a full taco belly, we came to anchor, watched a movie and went to bed. Well, I did. Not sure what the Youthies did… I’m joking, they watched a movie too and now they are keeping us safe in anchor watches. You’d be so proud of your little sea puppies, they’ve come such a long way… I certainly am a proud Captain. Well good night then. Out+