Day 8 – No Wind, Beach Games and Command Day Elections!

Ahoy ship mates…Day 8 and Command Day looms. Unfortunately the wind has deserted us…bit hard to sail a tall ship without it. No mind…we have our trusty iron headsails (engines). It has been another busy day…Captain’s setting and furling (a success), arrival in Port Hacking, rope races, beach games, elections and, to cap off the night, an upper deck movie titled ‘Around Cape Horn’….motivation for Command Day. I’ll leave it to Connor and Iyanah to fill in the details…looking forward to handing the ship over tomorrow to our young adventurers…I’m confident they’re up to the challenge. Late new just in…Command Day elections complete…positions as follows: Captain – Liam, Sailmaster – Tayla, Navigator – Ethan, Watch Leaders – Connor and Mary, Watch Members – Reese, Slicky, Peta, Sam, Henry, Eve, Iyanah, Tammy, Masterchefs – Sandro, Em and Ryan. Congrats and good luck to all. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny———- Overnight Young Endeavour continued its voyage south with all watches taking the usual 4 hour shifts; (blue 2000-0000, red 0000-0400 & white 0400-0800) in warm, weather with spotted showers. Blue watch was almost tempted to stay on for another 4 hours at the end, it was such a pleasant night! Day 8 brings us a warm, sunny, beautiful yet windless day. Many of the youth crew were sitting around feeling a little bored after the rigours of constant sail handling over the last week. Some more reflection time definitely has our crew feeling a little home sick and dearly missing loved ones. Luckily Young Endeavour cannot be held back by lack of wind. Powering along with our motors, and with all our sails neatly furled, we continued our journey down past the coast of Sydney towards the southern beaches of Bundeena, nearby Cronulla. During the morning watch shifts all the watches were tested by Captain Kenny and Engineer Reggie on how safely we could set and furl sails around the ship. All team watches worked well together to pass with flying colours (HA!). Red watch was even fortunate enough in the low winds and crystal clear waters revealing a pod of 8 dolphins under the surface to celebrate their successful test results. At around 1300 hours the Young Endeavour arrived at Bundeena (near Cronulla) and anchored with clear skies and waters. The police boat was just one of many vessels to curiously circle the Young Endeavour, sticking out a little in this bay of modern yachts and jetskiis. Just after this we had our morning briefing in the afternoon and to everyones great delight another incredible S.H. Production! Where does the term ‘split the dogs’ come from? Now we know. Then after the happiest hour of the day, Happy Hour (cleaning the ship) we moved into Ropies (testing knowledge of ropes around the ship) and a bonus round of water cup passing game. Congratulations red watch on a stellar victory to get enough points to come tied with white watch. Blue watch still in the lead, but a closing gap means anyones game! Very exciting. Adam, the champion chef as always kept us going with delicious fresh meals and filled us with enough energy to spend a few hours on the beach. Led by Reggie, we played some beach games including tug of war, dodgeball, and a weird combination of fantasy scissors paper rock and tag. Just prior to dinner, Captain Kenny’s election brief got the youth crew up to speed on election roles, watch splits and other crucial information for Command Day (24 hours straight starting tomorrow at 10am). Here we go. It all begins now. – Connor & Iyanah