Captain's Log

V01/26, Hobart to Hobart

11 January 2026

Day 9 – V01/26, Hobart to Hobart

Day 9 of Voyage 01/26 – and the day started with the Youth Crew still in command of their beautiful ship. The weather gods turned on an experience with consistent 20-25kn winds overnight. Youthie Navs James and Zoe did a fantastic job plotting our course as we zigged and zagged through Storm Bay. The seas were relentless but the crew soldiered on through the night and prevailed. Captain Matt and Sailmaster Zoe worked with their tenacious team and completed tasks, set sails and got stuck into the challenges ahead of them.

At 0330 and a strong gust assaulted the ship was sailing on a broad reach with only Forestaysail and Mainstaysail set. The helmswoman, Caitlin, battled the rudder as she fought to keep ships head from falling off the wind. The route was surrounded by fish farms characteristic to this part of Tasmania and it was imperative that we maintained our safe distance at all times. The Navy Watch turned to for their 0400 watch and immediately set about handing in some sail to rebalance the ship. A dedicated team effort and order was restored. Some thrilling sailing memories that the crew will never forget.

As the sun rose the winds abated to 15-20kn which felt quite civilised as we made our way Northward up and in to the Derwent River. By 0800 we were at anchor in Sandy Bay – back where it all started 9 days ago! After a siesta through lunch the team worked through some profound reflection activities and re-lived the experience. Teasing out the good, the bad and the lessons to be taken with us as the team departs the ship tomorrow and returns to their homes throughout Australia.

Each and every member of the crew put in a huge effort and left nothing in the tank over the last 24 hours. This is all we can ask of them as we build up to Command Day and the freeplay, choose your own adventure, style challenge it presents. Well done V01/26 you all did yourselves proud!

Tonight we eat pizza, celebrate our victories and laugh about our losses. Friendships made, memories forged by the sea, our beautiful old STS Young Endeavour and crew have once again worked their magic. Tomorrow the ship will berth at the UTAS Wharf (where we departed) at 0950 ready for our 1000 farewell ceremony. We have some very special guests coming down to visit us but the ones we are most looking forward to seeing are our friends and families after 20 days away.

I finish these voyages truly humbled and inspired by the intensity, character and genuine enthusiasm that the Young Australians that are brave enough to come and sail with us present. Thank you Youth Crew (and Staffies – you know who you are!!) – you have made the start of 2026 one to remember!!!

Captain Leups Out +

Latitude/Longitude:

42 54.059S / 147 20.784E

Conditions:

Weather: Sunny Wind: 15kn SW Temp: 25C

AUTHOR: Peta Binns

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V01/26

11 January 2026

Day 8 – V01/26, Hobart to Hobart

Command day on STS Young Endeavor V01/26; a big day for us today as us youthies took over the ship at 1000, Matthew, our elected captain wore the pirate hat with pride as he stepped into the role with me (Sailmaster Aurora), James the Navigator, Zoe the Officer Of The Watch, and Cara, Dylan and Wil, our three Watch Leaders. We huddled ourselves into the cramped chartroom around a giant Tasman map with a list of task… 31 dot points of hard work. We listened with increasing horror as we the wind outside howled and debated the best course for both the boat itself and the crew within. However, as things always do at sea the conditions changed and it was unsafe for us to go ahead without plans, trying to keep up with all our necessary duties and inform the rest of the crew of the very little we knew, we spent hours pouring over charts and activity lists to create the best day we could despite the weather ahead. We are currently setting up for a very long cold and rainy night of sailing in Storm Bay, excited, despite the long, brutal night watches, to spend time together as a cohort. I’m so happy to be trusted with this position and grateful to my fellow youthies for the constant support - particularly my fellows at the helm, Captain Matt, and Navigator James. Love you all, wish us luck - Sailmaster Aurora. The Captain, Sailmaster and Nav had a hard day because the strong wind kept us in our anchorage into the evening. Explaining the situation to our team, and the constant replanning, was hard work, however the Nav sharpened his pencils and refined the plan. Our elected chefs, Abby, Ash and Katie, made a beautiful meal for lunch and dinner. The garlic bread was particularly delicious! Today has been a big day and will be a massive night, due to the heavy wind forecast. The team and I have focussed on making sure we know how to look out for each other and handle the sails in the strong conditions. We have done mock tacks to ensure everyone in their new watches knows their position and follows their elect watch leaders, (Rainbow watch - Dylan, Pink watch – Cara, Navy watch – Wil) and Nav James has come up with a course that allows us to use the sails available with the wind speed to reach our destination points given to us by Captain Leups, Sailmaster Sarah, and Navigator Benny. Tonight will be a big night with high windspeeds, high swells and late night tacking and waring unlike what we’ve ever done before. I am incredibly honoured to be elected as Captain of the STS young Endeavour by my crew. Check in on tomorrow’s log to find out how we went – and more importantly – if we made it to Iron Pot Lighthouse on time!! This is Captain Matt – signing off on behalf of the Youth Crew of V01/26.

V01/26

09 January 2026

Day 7 – V01/26, Hobart to Hobart

Ahoy landlubbers! Welcome to Day 7 of this epic voyage of adventure. We are looking forward to an anchorage tonight after our watches have been forging their skills at sea for two days. We sailed our way across Stormy Bay once again and dropped the pick in Adventure Bay. No shore expeditions, no swimming, today was all about getting ourselves reconstituted and ready for Command Day. With strong winds forecast tomorrow the crew spent their morning demonstrating their knowledge of safety procedures and drills. Captains Setting and Furling was a success with each watch showcasing how far they have come in 6 days of Sail Training. Each watch is well and truly ready for Command Day tomorrow! This afternoon the entire crew was stood down for an extended siesta. We are all going to need our rest before the next 24 hours is upon us. Once we were up Ty our Engineer held the final round of rope races with Red Watch the ultimate victors. Well done team it was a tough competitive non-competitive competition...?! I briefed the crew about the protocols for Command Day. There are some guidelines for a succesful exercise but largely the youth will have the run of the ship for a 24 hour period, working together to complete as many tasks as they can get through whilst navigating and sailing the ship through a windy forecast in Storm Bay. It promises to be an epic experience with much anticipation and enthusiasm exhibited by the team. Watch this space as the Captain-elect will be publishing tomorrow night's log and it is sure to be an action packed report. Captain Leups Out +

V01/26

08 January 2026

Day 6 – V01/26, Hobart to Hobart

Ahoy there! Mum, Dad, it’s official. I am not coming home. Nathan’s Pork Belly Adobo has pulled me over the line. Goodbye landlubber life. Hello salty sea dog living! Last night, the sunset was incredible. It looked like a lava explosion in the sky. All the colours streaming across the night. Then, fast forward to this morning… First up, Wakey Wakey was as delightful as ever, with Cara picking Rocketman to blast through the speakers because we all know, we’re no longer the men they think we are at home. After this, we gathered for morning brief with a new special guest, Engines. We’ve been spoiled with Salty and Nav’s introductions but it was time for a change. Happy hour came next. Everyone’s favourite part of the day! Cleaning was a breeze. We’re getting quicker every time. With rough seas ahead, we commenced tacking stations. In our positions we hauled and checked away until all sails were successfully set. Ropies was next, with a tough competition, luckily, we all had the intuition. Except Whitie’s had the most intuition when it came to knowing where things were and eating the most amount of Sao’s because we won (as usual). #nevereatingsaosagain. Captain Leups was ready today. Ready to teach us some incredible sail theory. We learned about sailing downwind and upwind and the theory of tacking/wearing. As Command Day creeps up, we now definitely feel more equipped to use terms like closed haul and broad reach with confidence (instead of hoping it’s the right answer). We closed out the day with some Demonstrational tacking. Captain Leups took small groups through the sequence of a tack explaining each of the sail calls and what they mean to turning the ship through the wind. Now, we are about to eat dinner before another night at sea, so we’ll sign out. We're getting ready for a BEAREX - whatever that is!! Sounds fun! See ya! Belle and Cara * Hey mum and the girls! We saw a whale, although we were traveling the speed of a snail. Love you x * Clover, I found Michael. He was hanging out with Spongebob and the space horses. He may be ready to talk again once we get back. Xx * Mum, Dad, Remi, love you and miss you (a little bit) * Shoutout to Dylan turning 19 today. Happy Birthday legend!!

THE VOYAGE

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