Day 7 – Jervis Bay to Batemans Bay…and Command Day Elections!

Ahoy ship mates, and greetings from Chain Bay (Batemans Bay). Judgig by the efforts of Jess and Aisha…not much for me to add…Command Day looms. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Cap K.———-
Ahoy there mates! Jess and Aisha here and after one week at sea, we sure are salty!
We started the day with a solid game of ‘evolution’, – this is where we evolved from eggs to chickens to dinosaurs to Power Rangers and finally Katy Perry…. It’s a bit like Rock, paper, Scissors but way more fun! We were also listening to Katy Perry music – when you got to the end of the evolutionary tree, you got to stand on stage and sing and dance like Katy Perry too. Enough of that anyway!! After our brains were kicked into gear, we weighed anchor and commenced the 50 nautical mile passage from the lovely Jervis Bay to Batemans Bay under a nice press of sails. We then had morning brief, with the usual players (SM Harry, Nav Jerome, WO Tracey and CAPT Kenny) and the plan for the rest of the day with a rather entertaining story from the saltiest seadog of them all… (that was Tracey with the story of the Hijack Squad using Check Jack and “Tour Guide†Blake).
After Morning Brief we went into Demonstrational Tacks – Captain Kenny let Harry brief all the youthies noting this is his second last voyage – us youthies are now much more confident in our sailing/tacking abilities after he explained the bridge-watch officer perspective during tacking.
We then got stuck into the Happiest Hour of the Day… Snappy Happy Hour! Snappy Happy Hour was our quickest ship clean yet and obviously to an excellent standard. After this, Sail Master Harry let us have an hour to practice Setting and Furling with our Watch Leaders – we ended up not needing too much training as we ended up being pretty good tall ship sailors.
We built up an appetite after all this work… todays lunch was Wrap Day! Yummo! Thanks Marcus, we owe you some good food when you unleash us youthies in the Galley. The three watches then competed in another round of ‘ropies’ (round 3, square sails) It was a competitive round, with white watch coming out on top. Still though there’s not much in it, any watch could take the lead at this stage.
The three watches (red, white and blue) then went through some Captain’s Setting and Furling Test so Captain Kenny could determine that we were able to commence ‘Command Day’ safely (all watches smashed it and each earned a pack of TimTams – thanks Kenny and Reggie). Harry then threw the “Sail Masters Challenge†at us a few miles out from the anchorage. We had to hand in all sails, brace the yards square and navigate the ship. It was pandemonium but controlled nonetheless.
We arrived at Batemans Bay approximately 1630, well ahead of schedule. We dropped anchor and are in for a good nights sleep with no waves knocking us about tonight. We should all be bright eyed and bushytailed tonight. Captain Kenny then gave his Command Day Brief, where we went over the basic fundamentals of Command Day and the roles included. Chomping at the bit, we then had a delicious Beef Wellington dinner alongside some lovely vego options… we then pigged out chocolate icecream.
At 1900 we commenced voting for command day. All candidates were deserving and the results won’t disappoint…
CAPTAIN – Will
SAILMASTER – Flynn
NAVIGATOR – Louisa
WATCH OFFICER – Zoe
WATCH LEADERS – Maddi (White), Coops (Blue) and CJ (Red)
CHEFS – Thalia, Arie and Baz
That’s all folks, stay tuned for our Command day log.
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: S at 9 knots Weather: Cloudy Sea: Calm Location: At anchor off Chain Bay (Batemans Bay)
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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”


After a rather nonchalant guts watch with the Bluies, Reddies came in guns a blazing, setting our beautiful square sails preparing us for a speedy and eventful day at sea. Scaling (laying aloft) the Foremast, whilst the ship swayed kept the Reddies on their toes, holding on for dear life as they let out the gaskets for the Topgallant and Topsail Yards. A challenging activity to start off our day rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over Starboard.
During the day we participated in a Meteorology Brief led by our resident Nav guru TOMO, learning everything there is about fluffy, rainy and stormy clouds. This was followed by Lunch and a needed Siesta.
Whilst some slumbered, Bluies kept watch. They had brave volunteers to climb both main mast and to the topgallant yard to sea furl the sails.
In the afternoon, our Watches came together to have Mid Voyage Chats, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our voyage goals, experiences and discuss our hopes for Command Day. There were some very heartfelt talks, from overcoming fears, to gaining confidence in working as a team, and we set our eyes upon what we want to achieve in the rest of the voyage.
The first dog (Reddies) (from 1545 to 1745) was full of excitement, with over 50kn winds and up to 50 degrees on the OOOH AAAH meter (heel). Watching the waves break higher than the rails was an exhilarating experience and kept us holding on tight. Sites of sharks and a Cargo ship kept our lookouts entertained, while Callum lead an engaging activity on Charts. At the end of the first dog watch, Nick and Phil braved these treacherous conditions to lay aloft on the mainmast to wrangle the mainsail!
Rockin and rolling, Youthies (the newest salty sea dogs) Hugh, Bridget, and Nick!!