Day Five – The escape

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
It seems we can’t catch a break at the minute. I must sadly inform you that one of our young salty sailors, did injure himself this morning (dislocated knee cap) and has since been landed ashore and will not be continuing with us. Obviously, this has taken a toll on our crew, as Angus was a great shipmate and friend, he will be missed. Sad to see him go but happy that he has received appropriate medical care and is currently back home recuperating. We will continue on. Angus, we hope to see yo again sometime soon.

Overnight, the youthies took advantage of a stable ship to continue skills consolidation including rounds, climbing and sail handling. Then after breakfast, morning brief and a fun set of rope races, we launched the seaboat to recover Kenny (who had escorted Angus to the hospital) and then weighed anchor. We departed our anchorage and then rendezvoused with our seaboat which was subsequently recovered. Then finally, after three days confined to Port Stephens, we broke out and into the wild blue ocean.

The following précis on the days activities comes from Loz and Macca. Enjoy.

Captain Adam

Our first day of open sea sailing was pretty exciting, after a couple of days stuck in the bay of Port Stephens we finally had the wind conditions to set sail. After an early wake up at 7 after four hour night shifts we were treated to scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and cinnamon scrolls.
Youthies are getting the hang of where everything on the ship is situated including the obscurely named “Sea Blitz” (an emergency light.) In the event of an emergency we will be putting on a huge orange thermal suit which makes us look like overgrown carrots. We play a game called “ropies” which pitches the three watch groups against each other in races to find an object the staffies give us. Sails and their sheets especially are difficult to memorise but we’re getting the hang of it thanks to fierce competition.
Last night in the early hours one of the youth crew unfortunately dislocated his knee climbing the mast, the incredible Marcos managed to get him down off the yard which is about 10 metres up off the deck and a paramedic was called.
Shout out to Banksy the legend from Launceston, hope you enjoyed that green whistle my friend. We’re already missing you.
We set sail for real at about 12.30 after collecting Kenny from the mainland and coasted out of Port Stephens on some fine westerlies. The weather was sunny and windy enough that we got up to 11 knots and made great time past Foster. On the way there was a whale sighting, the call went out “Whale on Starboard,” and then a pod of dolphins about an hour later.
We’ve been practicing our tacking stations for the rest of the day, which are stations the watches need to be at when changing directions of sails. Keely has out done her self again with amazing homemade pies for dinner. We’ll be rocked to sleep tonight in our bunks and up for what is forcast to be a nice 15 degrees and about 25 knots of west south westerly winds.
From your impostor Captains,
Macca and Loz

Shout Outs
Shout out to Rob and Helen Webber missing you heaps, loving this trip best experience of my life. I have made heaps of friends along this vouge and have achieved many goals while on board see you soon. Love you lots your son Connor Webber xoxo.
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Shout out to the Amori’s family from Canberra, she’s having a great time.

Hola Victoria. Estoy pensando en ti y teniendo un tiempo incredible. Hello Mum and Dad, Rachel and Susie. Having a great time and I’m glad to be out on the sea. Ben