Captain's Log
V05/14
19 April 2014

DAY 9 – COMMAND DAY PART 2

Ahoy there Shipmates,After a quite night at anchor recharging our batteries Adam woke the Youth Crew at 0630 and got them up on deck to some glorious tropical QLD weather for a quick heart-starter EMA, after which Aaron made the early morning start worthwile with a Teak Deck bacon and egg sandwich breakfast cooked on the BBQ.We had a snappy morning brief straight after Colours and then went into ‘Opposites’ where the youthies, elected into leadership positions, had a chance to ‘pick the brains’ of their opposite number Staffie on what their job entails.After such a great start to the day I have no doubt that Command Day will be great. At 0900 we gathered the crew together at midships and I handed the ship over to its brand new Captain Liam and his able-bodied crew.Capt Liam will tell you all about Command Day and you will hear from me next after he hands it back to me at 0900 tomorrow.Yours, ayeCAPT Mike——————————————————————–G’day shipmates, Captain Liam here,At 0900 Captain Mike handed STS Young Endeavour over to my able-bodied Youth Crew. We’ve been given the mission to sail the ship from the current anchorage position and shape a course for Gladstone, proceeding in accordance with our navigation instructions to the final waypoint position. Included in our mission is to complete a task list over a broad range of disciplines to test our leadership and teamwork skills. Over the last eight days, we have been learning how the ship works and we have been pushed to challenge ourselves in all areas. I have no doubt that this crew will do the Youth of Australia’s Tall Ship proud.Upon allocating tasks, my eager sea puppies formed a Reef Assault Team (RAT) and paddled to Wistari Reef in the GPIB to retrieve the Navigation Instructions. With our newly learnt climbing skills, we proceeded to lay aloft for a group photo on the yards. The next few hours comprised of a decorative and colourful chalk mural at midships, a refreshing swim in our very own ‘pool’ and dinner from our newly elected Chefo’s. After dinner, a couple our skilled knots-men successfully created a hammock to support the entire Youth Crew.At 1930, we weighed anchor. The Staffies used the engines to steer us away from the reef. At 2000, the helm was handed back to us and the engines were switched off. The Youth Crew took command and we set our first three sails. We’ve been tasked to set every sail except the Storm Jib, Storm Trysail and Gaff Topsail. We’ll aim to set and furl these overnight. Given the lack of wind, we plan to switch the engines on after our first waypoint.Onwards to Gladstone.Yours, ayeCAPT Liam

Latitude/Longitude:

23°26's / 151°46'e

Conditions:

Weather: fine, Wind: 020/7 kn, Swell: nil, Temp: 24 deg. C