Captain's Log

May-16

16 March 2016

Day Ten – Final Night of Voyage

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day ten and the final night of our voyage. Overnight and during the early hours of this morning the Youth Crew managed to pass through all of the required waypoints and by 0900 we were located 8nm to the south east of Port Hacking sailing down wind under all three squares and the main staysail. At 1015 the Staff took back the navigation of the ship piloting it safely into our planned anchorage at Port Hacking.

Once safely at anchor a brief ceremony was held to officially hand the ship back to the Staff Crew then the Youth Crew were stood down until 1400 so that they could get some much needed rest following a challenging 24hr Command Period.

Later this afternoon we completed the Command Day debrief which was followed by the final set of rope races then harbour furls of the squares. This evening we enjoyed a pizza dinner followed by a SODâ€™s Opera then had to dash below for the end of voyage slide show due to a passing shower.

The rest of the evening was spent with the Youth Crew completing end of voyage questionnaires and â€œletters to themselvesâ€, which are returned to each Youth Crew member six months after voyage completion. Whilst the Youth Crew were completing these final administration tasks the Staff Crew took the opportunity to conduct the â€˜end of voyageâ€™ debriefs.

At 0615 tomorrow morning Young Endeavour will weigh anchor, depart Port Hacking then transit the 18nm to Sydney Heads where we will make our grand entrance into the spectacular Sydney Harbour having now been gone for just short of 15 months. Once inside the harbour we will conduct a boat transfer so that we can embark His Excellency the Governor of NSW who will sail with us down the harbour to our berth at Garden Island.

At 1000 Young Endeavour will berth for the final time for this voyage at Fleet Base East Berth No2 where I am sure that we will be met by a large group of family, friends and World Voyagers.

Once our guests have had a tour of the ship I will give my final address to the Youth Crew then present them with Certificates of Achievements. Once completed, we will say our final sad goodbyes then the Youth Crew of Voyage 05-16 will depart the ship.

This ends the Captains Logs for this voyage. Young Endeavour will move over to the Sydney Maritime Museum where she will be open to the public from 1300-1600 on Saturday 19th March 2016. We will embark the Youth Crew of Voyage 06-16 while alongside the Maritime Museum on Sunday 20th March 2016 who will sail the ship from Sydney to Sydney.

Until then, take Care

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

Latitude/Longitude:

34 04 S / 151 09 E

Conditions:

Currently at anchor in Port Hacking and enjoying moderate 10-15kt SE winds with a .2m SE swell. The current temperature is 19 degrees

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

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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

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Day Ten – Final Night of Voyage

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