Day 7 – Kangaroo Island and Yankalilla Bay

Ahoy shipmates, and greetings from Yankalilla Bay. Well, our southern ocean adventure has come to an end. In the early hours of this morning we passed through Backstairs Passage and anchored of Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, where the youth crew went ashore for a quick three hour visit, welcomed by the locals who appreciated the support after a tough time with recent bushfires. The youth crew took the opportunity ashore for some games, and the obligatory coffee, before returning to the ship in time for lunch. At 1215 we weigh anchor for the short four hour transit to our current anchorage, where we will stay overnight. On the way we ticked off ‘Captain’s setting and furling’, and the Sailmaster’s challenge, the final tasks before Command Day. Saskia and Toni have filled in the details, so I’ll leave it there. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-
Captains Log Day 7
This morning’s watches saw a new challenge for youthies, some in-depth self-reflection. We were told to reflect of things we need to start, stop and continue in our lives back at home to live life to the optimal fullest. This was not an easy challenge for youthies due to needing to open up and show a more vulnerable side of ourselves, but it was incredibly worthwhile.
We were greeted this morning with a beautiful breakfast from our gorgeous chef to fill us right up for our adventure on land to Kangaroo Island. We were absolutely blessed with the weather today which made it a perfect opportunity for a morning climb, the swell was down and we were lucky enough to anchor right next to the island. We spent our time running around, playing modified netball and exploring local shops and cafes. We were back on board at 11am which was impeccable timing for the ship’s famous make-your-own-burger. YUMMY! Each watch was then challenged to set and furl sails for the first time without the supervision of their watch leaders. Our abilities whilst performing these challenges were assessed by Captain Kenny and Horto, both of whom were immensely impressed by the ability of all watches.
Today showed our most important task yet, the sailmaster’s challenge – setting and furling sails as a youth crew without the help of the staffie’s, having only one hour to complete a series of tasks without any outside help. This ended up as a great success, achieving our goal with a whole 10 minutes to spare. Completing this task showed how much each and every young person on the ship has grown and learnt in the last week.
Leading from this brings our next mission – the election of jobs for ‘Command Day’. Tonight, after our beautiful teak-deck barbeque, we will elect the youthies we think most suited for certain jobs for ‘Command Day’. As we are on the topic of our beautiful barbeque we would just like to say how incredibly blessed we are to have smooth waters, the sun beaming and a wonderful atmosphere to share with all the new friends that we have made.
Today’s highlight of the day was our deck games and games on Kangaroo Island. Having games to help bond with people for there is nothing wrong with a bit of friendly competition.
What a jam packed day it has been!
Shout out to our families back in Moorabbin and Tooleybuc, we love you lots and are missing you, hope you are all having as good as time as we are! Love always, Saskia and Toni Mia 