Day Eight – Favourable Conditions

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to day 8 of our voyage. By Sunrise this morning we were located 45nm to the south of Cape Inscription motor sailing under fore and aft sail in light to moderate south westerly conditions.
Given these improved conditions we decided to catch up on a number of the activities that had been missed due to the bad weather experienced prior to our arrival in Shark Bay, this included a good set of rotational tacks, my sail theory presentation and some refresher training on sail setting and furling and deck safety.
Throughout the day we remained close to the coast taking advantage of Leeuwin Current and the inshore winds. Buy sunset this evening we were located 80nm to the north of the Abrolhos Islands still motor sailing against moderate to strong 15-20kt southerly winds and making good 6kts of boat speed.
Overnight the Youth Crew will complete the BEAREX (Communication and Teamwork Exercise) as we continue to make best speed to the Abrolhos Islands where conditions permitting we will anchor sometime tomorrow.
Kindly volunteering to write tonight’s entry in the Captains Log is Jac from Blue Watch, please enjoy!
Until tomorrow, take care.
Yours Aye
Captain Gav
Hi everyone, welcome to Day 8!
Today’s blogger is Jac after Captain Gav got eaten by a Shark in Shark Bay! Not really, but we did have some Shark attack survivors according to the fantastic T-shirts that were purchased at the Denham Souvenir shop.
Our first day back on the high seas started off with weather better than we have had so far, with only a few cheeky bouts of seasickness. We got off to a cracking start but were still using the ‘metal sails’ as we have been for most of the trip due to the wind being quite ignorant and not realising it is blowing in the wrong direction for us.
Gav normally talks about what we have done in great detail but given I’m likely to be a one hit wonder as a keyboard warrior a bit of an insight into the voyage so far is on tonight’s menu.
Every day in morning brief we hear from many illustrious characters on board, some from hundreds of years ago when boats were made of wood and men were made from steel, and some who surface only for morning brief. Captain Gav is a regular fixture at morning brief and imparts a pearl or two of wisdom for us. Whilst he needs to work on quoting some Aussie Prime Minister’s, his poignant quotes fit the mood without fail.
Today’s pearl of wisdom was to never make excuses for not being the best you can be. On this ship, it can be easy to make the excuse of sickness or danger to avoid the fear of climbing aloft (up the mast), or to get out of pushing yourself through the 4 hours of watch in the middle of the night.
Finding magic in the little things aboard has become a real morale booster. Whilst mother nature needs to work on the wind direction and swell, sunrises and sunsets at sea are a different kind of beauty every day and don’t get old. Nor do the turtles, dolphins, whales, birds and the other wildlife we see every day.
The small wins are a huge boost when life on board is taken back to just the simple things and make much more room for thoughts about each other and taking in what is happening around us as individuals. Something I think we fail to notice in our lives when they are filled with jobs, school and most of all, the internet!
Perhaps post voyage all of us will again become ignorant to the little things, like appreciating showers and beds that don’t move. But as Captain Gav’s quotes keep coming hopefully some of the wisdom sticks and we maintain an appreciation of the little things and a drive to be our best selves every day.
As the rest of my watch tease me for writing a novel, I will leave you with a shout out to Mum (Sally), Dad (Phil) and Simon; and a word of encouragement to Siobhan in the final week of her thesis.
Cheers to being the best that we can be!
Jac (Sparrow)
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Currently located 80nm to the north of the Abrolhos Islands and experiencing 15-20kt southerly winds with a 1-2m SW swell. Our current speed is 7kts and the temperature is 16 degrees.
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
