Captain's Log

Sep-16

23 June 2016

Day 8 – Command Day Part One

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 8 of our voyage. Following a very enjoyable morning at anchor I handed Captain Ben and his Crew the â€˜Telescope of Challengeâ€ and in doing so gave them the huge responsibility of running the beautiful ship for the next 24hrs. So far they have done a wonderful job of completing a number of their tasks and are now sailing the ship the 50nm to their final waypoint. Surprisingly we were meant to have light and variable winds this evening but the weather gods have smiled upon this Crew and we are currently getting very pleasant 15kt north westerlies which is giving the Youth Crew the opportunity to put the ship under a full press of sail which I know was their goal.

One of the many tasks to be completed during the 24hr Command Period was for the Youth Crew to write tonightâ€™s and tomorrowâ€™s Captains Log so please enjoy tonightâ€™s entry written by Kate, please enjoy!

Until tomorrow, take care

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

Greetings from an at large and in charge youth crew!

Today marks a very special day in the Young Endeavour Voyage: the staffies holiday, more importantly known as the Youth Crewâ€™s Command Day. For twenty four hours the youth crew are in charge of the Young Endeavour and all the shenanigans that take place on board. After the Youth Crew elected the ships roles last night the ship is now under command by Captain Ben, the new Sail Master is Jake, the navigator is Travis, our new watch officer is Jack S, our three watch leaders are Abbie, Steffi and Rhys and our wonderful master chefs are now Jess B, Mariah and Hayley. The new watches are called Neptuneâ€™s Wenches, The Krakens and as a special treat to all you Pokemon fans out there the third watch have dubbed themselvesâ€¦ Squirtle. I know what youâ€™re thinking and yes, their meeting call is â€œI call you.â€ Itâ€™s been a trying day for creativity.

The Youth Crew awoke to another perfect morning in Great Keppel Island, providing us the perfect opportunity to take another swim, this time from the boat. We cracked out the rope swing and everyone had a chance to flip, dive and belly flop (or in some cases, back flop) into the crystal blue waters. There was no sign of any sea life, but the crew did cop an eyeful of the shipâ€™s engineer, Horton, in some very strapping Speedos.

Last night the Youth Crew watched a very inspiring documentary about sailing tall ships around Cape Horn in the 1920â€™s. It depicted how little safety was around in those days, but how sailing has in many ways remained very similar but I think I can speak for everyone when I say that most of the Youth Crew are very glad Captain Gav does not have a little dog on board trained to nip at our behinds when we are the last to reach a line. I would be missing half a buttock by now.

This afternoon six lucky youthies took on a secret mission in order for the crew to receive their sailing coordinates for the night. After locating â€œSashay,â€ a lovely little boat docked at Wreck Cove the youthies were set the challenge of hoisting the Australian flag and serenading the rest of the Youth Crew still on board with an awe-inspiring national anthem. Part of Command Day involves a myriad of challenges, three of which were ticked off this afternoon. Neptuneâ€™s Wenches constructed a phenomenal hammock that supported the weight of twenty four youthies, the entire crew went aloft for a mass photo session, Squirtle watch created an epic chalk mural of the voyage thus far and the master chefs fed everyone a beautiful Asian inspired dinner with the best apple crumble I have ever had. Big props to the master chefs! Feeding a ship full of hungry sailors including the ravenous Princess Tangalooma is no easy feat and they did a fantastic job. We are in charge of the ship until tomorrow afternoon, so if you donâ€™t hear from us again weâ€™ve probably had a successful coo, made the staffies walk the plank and sailed away to the Whitsundayâ€™s for good.

Stay salty,

Kate McCormack (Macka)

P.S – Dear Erin (Joshâ€™s GF) feel free to meet us in the Whitsundayâ€™s. We should be there by Sunday at the latest, weather pending. As a crew we have discussed it and agreed that you may join us on the Young Endeavour if you wish to elope with Josh. Please bring at least twelve packets of Tim Tams, preferably the double coated kind. That will be your ticket aboard.

P.P.S – Go Queensland! Sail Master Kenny said we werenâ€™t allowed to talk about the football but he didnâ€™t mention anything about social media. Get with the program Kenneth.

Latitude/Longitude:

23 16 S / 151 04 E

Conditions:

Currently located 14nm to the SE of Great Keppel Island and are experiencing moderate 10-15kt NW winds with .3m NNE swell. Our current speed is 4kts and the temperature is 16 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

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19 February 2024

Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

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Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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Day 8 – Command Day Part One

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