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+
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Fine. Wind: SW 15kts. Swell: Nil. Temp: 14.
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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”
