Captain's Log

V02/24

22 January 2024

Day 6 – Departing Eden

Hi Everyone,

Following a restful night in Eden we departed at 0630 this morning and once clear of Twofold Bay we set sail and commenced our passage north along the NSW South Coast. During the day we have completed a number of activities including my own presentation on Sail Theory, but I think the standout for the day has been the sailing. Throughout the day the wind has been consistently from the SE at 15-20kts which has enabled us to put the ship under a full press of sail and just enjoy being at sea sailing this magnificent ship in her full glory. Overnight we will continue to make ground to the north and presently plan to anchor in Broken Bay late tomorrow afternoon. I will now hand over to Gabriella and Abigail from White Watch who kindly volunteered to write tonight’s Log.

Until tomorrow, take care.
Captain Gav

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 6 of our voyage. After a long night of hourly anchor watches, a few chats and a night of rockles rest we set sail out of Eden early this morning, before the majority of the youth crew had risen from the decks below. We took part in our morning walk around the deck with Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” playing in the background. Prior to our morning brief we set the sails in our PJs, and shortly after headed down for some brekkie our amazing chef had prepared for us early this morning. A popular option among most of the youth crew was eggs benedict on an English muffin with spinach.

Afterwards we headed to our morning brief where we met Shanty (Salty’s Twin Brother), who gave us a brief history on how sailors used sea chanties to express their feelings about the ongoings of the ship, indirectly to the captain. Shanty then taught us the chorus of “Bound for South Australia” and encouraged us to write our own as a watch.

Following our morning brief, each watch decided to send a few youthies up the mast for a morning climb along with PO Paddington who was bravely strapped into his own harness and taken up to the lower top platform. Our remaining youthies on the deck opted to go out onto the bow sprit, hoping to see a few dolphins that have taken a liking to making an appearance before the whities on each watch. Unfortunately, today we did not have any dolphins join us out on the bow sprit, but we didn’t let that stop us from having a good chat about our lives back home and hopes for the future.

Just before lunch as I (Gabriella) was sleeping we got call over the radio Saying that a nearby Navy helicopter was keen to fly by the ship. When Esther and I heard the pipe we rushed up on deck and joined the rest of the youth crew and staff watch them fly in and around us. I’m sure the fly past was the highlight of most of the youth crew’s day.

Following a much-needed break we conducted our third round of Rope Races, with a bonus round of Ad recreations where White Watch being the standout for today with their “Uber seas” performance came in firsts place, followed by blue and red watch tying in second place.

As red watch headed to the bridge after rope races, the rest of us put our heads down for a quick power nap Before heading down the café to play a round of marine matching while eagerly awaiting dinner. The highlight of our day was the delicious TimTam cake that was served after dinner that the previous watches had been raving about at watch handover.

That’s it from us today, see you guys again tomorrow 😊Gabriella and Abigail from white watch.

Latitude/Longitude:

35 40.7 S / 150 40.3 E

Conditions:

We are currently located 19nm to the ENE of Batemans Bay and enjoying moderate-strong 15-20kt ESE winds with a 1m SE swell and the temperature is pleasant 19 degrees.

AUTHOR: Peta Binns

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V04/24

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Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

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

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

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

V04/24

19 February 2024

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 6 – Departing Eden

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