Captain's Log

Oct-16

7 July 2016

Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day nine of our voyage.Please find attached the second part of Command Day written by Matt, Nash and Oli, please enjoy.
Until tomorrow, take care
Yours Aye
Captain Gav

Ahoy Everyone!

Welcome to day 9 of our Journey through the beautiful Whitsundayâ€™s to Airlie Beach J

The morning began at 0015 with a wake up call from Karl, our youth crew Sail Master. The crew dragged themselves out of their bunks; still in their pjâ€™s, to commence the first tack of the morning.

After a few initial dramas with tacking, the crew were subjected to a rough 5 hours of sleep before being awoken once again for the second tack of Youth Crew Command Day, in a quest fighting the wind to reach our destination, South Mole Island.

Following the early start, the crew had an amazing English themed breakfast, cooked by youth crew master chefs (Sam, Patchy and Katie).

Morning brief commenced at 0930, run by the youth crew included a brief history lesson, navigational information, a talk by the Captain and a visit from the local cleaning Nana and Saltyâ€™s female counterpart â€˜Brinyâ€™.

The crew then polished the brass instruments and conducted the Happy Hour cleaning ritual. We all worked tirelessly throughout the morning, continuously tacking the ship, going through to lunch.

At long last, 1300 hours, the Youth Crew were relieved to hand over the ship back to the staff members and were rewarded with a well deserved 3 hour power nap, with the loud interruption of the anchor â€˜a slight tinkleâ€™ according to Taffy.

1630 hours, the staff and Youth Crew met at midships for a short debrief regarding Command Day, where we discussed the good, the bad and the lessons to take away.

A short and sweet dinner followed the brief, before a full dress rehearsal of a â€˜Sodâ€™s Operaâ€™ which left the crew in hysterics.

Following a few card games and dessert, we are now heading of to bed feeling a little emotional, knowing that we only have two days left with our Young Endeavour family.

Matt, Nash, Oli

Hey Mum, Dad, Kellie, Dash, Jasmin

Missing you heaps! Iâ€™m having the best time onboard. Canâ€™t wait to tell you all about it. Hope youâ€™re all well and good. See you Saturday. Love Matty xx

Hey Mum, Dad, Tar, Natey boy and Zayney

Missing you guys like crazy! Cant wait to get home Iâ€™ve had one of the best times of my life on this boat thank you so much for allowing me to do this, love you all so much seya in a week. lots of love Nash xx

Hej Mor, Far, Jakob og Alex!

Hope you had the best time at the golf resort but I donâ€™t know if it can top this. Thank you so much Morfar for the opportunity to go on the voyage. It has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life and Iâ€™ll treasure the memories forever. Canâ€™t wait to tell you all about it! See you soon,

Oli

Latitude/Longitude:

20 15 S / 148 50 E

Conditions:

Currently at anchor at South Mole Island and enjoying light SW winds with nil swell. The current temperature is 16 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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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 9 – Command Day Part 2

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