Day 8 – 40 Knot Winds…and Cold, Cold, Cold!

Ahoy Shipmates…Day 8…What a ride. Overnight we flew up the coast on a beam/broad reach aided by a consistent 25-35 knot south-westerly, perfect sailing conditions for YE, made even better by the breeze knocking down the swells creating a wind/no waves situation…great fun. As we approached Sydney just after sunrise the wind picked up, gusting to 40 knots, much to the excitement of the youth crew. Despite the minor hiccup of the jib sheets snapping whilst being furled, requiring some creative seamanship from the staffies, at 0930 we reached the more sheltered waters of Hunters Bay, coming to anchor off Balmoral Beach. Once secure at anchor a meteorological brief was presented, more prep for Command Day, and it was then time for lunch. At 1230 the youth crew were ferried ashore for some touch footy and refreshments, before returning for another hotly contested round of rope races. On completion I delivered the ‘Command Day’ brief, advising the youth crew of the roles to be filled and the unique challenges they would face due to both their limited numbers, and unfavourable weather conditions. Following dinner, the youth crew held their ‘Command Day Elections’…congratulations to Captain Sol, Sailmaster Jack M, and Navigator Cam. The documentary ‘Around Cape Horn’ was then shown in a somewhat brisk upper deck cinema, with the mandatory popcorn, motivating our young adventurers for the looming Command Day. It was then into anchor watches overnight for a solid night’s rest in preparation for a big day ahead! That’s my version of events…see below for a youthie take. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny———-Captains Log Day 8:Ahoy there, A wise man once said, a man without ribs, potatoes, and grilled vegies in his belly is not a seaworthy man, this is why our very good chef cooked up a storm for dinner last night consisting of just those things. After dinner we tried to rest until our watch during the night until we were woken to the sound of our navigator Emma yelling “Hands to tacking stations”. Up we got from our warm beds and headed to the upper deck where we attempted to furl the jib and the main sail. While trying to do this the jib sheet snapped and the peak of the mainsail got stuck…yikes. Soon after we managed to finish the tasks and were sent down to the cafe with Jack kept spirits high with sea shanties and before long everyone started singing along.This morning we were given another feed of bacon, eggs, hash browns, mushrooms and beans. Then we went outside to find ourselves anchored in Hunters Bay. We then enjoyed Emma’s wonderful meteorology brief and learned about the wonders of how the weather works which is great because I can now understand the news weather. Afterwards we enjoyed yet another banger of a feed as we had pork tacos and some turkey cheese and cranberry sauce. We then went ashore and enjoyed relaxing and playing some games. We went swimming as well and watched Lochie pull of a beast of a backflip, and nailed it too, as a tank would. When we got back on board it was into another round of rope races…we had to deal with white watch losing again because of Benny being bribed by red watch 🙁 . We were then educated by our fabulous captain on the roles available for Command Day, and then we had to sort out how we ran the election process, which was a mess but got cleaned up shortly after. Adam had cooked up an absolutely divine feed as we had indulged in some garlic chicken Kiev’s and more yummy bangers and mash.After dinner it was time for the biggest event of the trip so far as we conducted our Command Day elections and selected our Captain, Sail Master, Navigator, Watch Leaders and Master Chefs. When all the elections were over Reggie showed us a very interesting documentary on how sailing used to be in days of old, and boy was it crazy. That’s it from the cool kids so we’re signing off yours truly Lochie and Dillion.