Captain's Log

V02/24

25 January 2024

Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Day 9 and the second half of Command Day. Tonight, Captain Tilly has done a wonderful job of writing the Log and I really don’t think I need to add anymore except for congratulating the Youth Crew on a great Command Day. Please enjoy!
Until tomorrow, take care.
Captain Gav

Hey everyone, welcome to day 9 of our voyage. I think everyone can agree that the last 24 hours of the voyage have been full of both challenges and rewards. Luckily the weather gods took our side from checkpoint 2 and maintained good winds, meaning we were able to reach a boat speed of about 7 knots. We caught up on a small amount of time lost in the beginning, safely delivering us to our final checkpoint well before the cut off time of 2100. It would be a crime to not mention the stunning sunset that welcomed us into Sydney. If you missed it, don’t worry, there were plenty of cameras on deck capturing the action.

After all the sails were furled, the staff crew brought us into Sydney harbour and dropped anchor at 2200. This luckily meant short anchor watches for the rest of the night in beautiful Reef Bay. It is all owed to the incredible hard work and determination of the whole youth crew and support of the support of the staff crew that we made it to Sydney and had such a successful first 12 hours of command day.

With another smooth night of anchor watches, the much dreaded 0630 rolled around once again and this morning we were woken by Jude and the Beatles, playing (yep you guessed it) Hey Jude. Everyone shuffled up on deck for our early morning activity of scissors, paper, rock snake. Our command day Cheffos cooked up a storm in the galley, serving us eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, fresh fruit, raspberry and white choc muffins. I think everyone can agree that not only did it fuel our bodies, but also our souls.

After breaky, everyone gathered for morning brief where Abi told us the dreamtime story of how black swans emerged, Angus gave us a weather update, I tried my very best to live up to Captain Gav with a quote of the day and Liam told us the plan for our day. The end of morning brief brought us into a very snappy happy hour before the pool was opened at 0930 and the rope swing was in full swing with Captain Gav kicking it off with beautiful technique. Blood was shed and I bet the other side of the harbour heard Bec scream, but either way, the pool party/disco was a huge success and an incredible way to celebrate command day. This however was not the end. With only 2 and a half hours left to complete our tasks, it was all hands-on deck. An epic chalk mural was drawn at midships, the gaskets were tied, the ship was cleaned and polished. The Cheffos cooked us up one last command day meal, with mac n cheese, chicken and toasties.

After lunch the final touches were done and before we knew it, it was 1300 once again, and command day was done and dusted. The ship was handed back into the safe hands of Captain Gav (for legal reasons, Gav was always the real captain) and it was official that the youthies of voyage 02/24, successfully sailed us to Sydney, and did a damn good job. At this point it was time to weigh anchor and cruise our way through Sydney harbor, past the Opera House, under the Harbour Bridge and into HMAS Waterhen. The afternoon was filled with picnics, garden walks, piano playing and exploring, before we reboarded the ship for another incredible meal prepared by Stevo. After dinner we debriefed and reflected on command day, diving into the things that were done well, the things that could be done better next time and the overall life lessons that we will be taking away, not only from command day, but the whole voyage. Finally, to our friends and family, we love you and miss you and can’t wait to see you! But that’s all from me today, see you tomorrow!

Love and hugs.
Captain Tilly 😊

From Jude – Hello Friends and family hope all is well in the land of Bendigo. I hope my ute is still in condition and that it still Squeaky Clean!

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AUTHOR: Peta Binns

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V04/24

19 February 2024

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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