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Day 7 – Sea to Heron Island anchorage
Ahoy there Shipmates,What a fantastic night at sea. We had enough wind to set most of the sails, including the Topsail and Top Gallant squares. The Watches were kept busy through the night finishing off the Bearex / ‘Apples and Onions’ activities as well as managing the sail plan to suit the wind and practising for their assessment in the morning.During the morning watch Adam and Tilly prepared the deck for Captains setting and furling assessments, which Sumo and I kicked-off with Blue Watch at 0715. Each watch cycled through the assessment and was judged to be safe to set and furl the sails by themselves with the staff crew only monitoring safety. This would then enable the watches to progress to Command Day tomorrow.Once the assessments were completed the staffies anchored the Ship in the vicinity of Heron Island. After a briefing on the does and don’ts in and around the local Marine National Park, Watch Officer Brad ferried the youthies ashore in the seaboat. Chef Aaron had prepared cut lunches to maximise the time the youthies would spend ashore. All Youthies had returned onboard by 1630 and saying ‘what a great break ashore they had and how much they’d enjoyed having a snorkel and relaxing on the beach.After a quick shower and clean-up of the Ship I sat everyone down for a brief on Command Day. We then tucked into a fantastic teak deck BBQ and enjoyed the atmosphere on deck with delicious food, beautiful sunset views and great company.Congratulations to the Youth Crew who were elected as follows:Captain – LiamSail Master – BrentonNavigator – JoshWatch Officers – James, Hugh and HannahWatch Leaders – Kai, Ella and SavvyChefs – Jasper, Tearske and Dallas.To finish off the night Adam put on a movie at midships about sailing a Tall Ship around Cape Horn. There really is no better end to a fun day sailing a tall ship than kicking back with your shipmates and watching a film about the days of old on an ‘old school projector screen’ with the stars above.We shall remain at anchor overnight with the Youthies keeping anchor watches and recharging their batteries for tomorrow when they take charge of the ship.Until tomorrow, yours aye,CAPT Mike     “Â
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: fine, Wind: 025 / 5 kts, Swell: nil, Temp: 24 deg. C
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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!!
