DEPARTED BREMERHAVEN

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 15 of our voyage. We departed Bremerhaven at 1500 today following a most enjoyable and highly successful five day visit. The World Voyagers again demonstrated what a great group of young Australians they are by flying the Australian Flag high at Tall Ship sporting events, Crew Parade, Crew Party, Open Ship and our official Reception attended and co-hosted by the Australian Ambassador to Germany Mr David Richie AO. They really did us all proud and I am sure that most of the 1.2 million visitors to Sail Bremerhaven are still talking about that Australian Tall Ship and its crew that came so far to participate in this fantastic event.Since departing we have experienced mixed weather conditions with torrential rain and light to moderate winds. This is an extremely busy shipping area so in reduced visibility we have been maintaining a good lookout for huge 250,000ton car carriers, container ships and numerous types of other vessels. Thankfully the rain has now stopped and we have just managed to put the ship under sail so hopefully we will now be able to enjoy a pleasant sail to Amsterdam.Writing tonight’s Captains Log is Jacob and Kendall from Blue Watch who have really focussed on telling you all about our stay in Bremerhaven so please enjoy!Until tomorrow, take careYours AyeCaptain Gav PS. A big thank you to the Australian Embassy Staff in Berlin, Colonel Russell Maddalena, Cathryn Waters, our German Navy Liaison Officer ‘Toby’ and all of the other great people that supported our visit to Bremerhaven. Your efforts contributed greatly to the success of our visit and we thoroughly enjoyed your company and friendship.Many thanksThe Crew of Young Endeavour     CAPTAIN’S LOG – 17 AUG 15Hi,As we write this log we have taken to the seas again after five days at the Bremerhaven Sail Festival. The Germans had prepared an abundance of festivities, we’ll only talk about a select few but there was plenty on offer.As we first arrived into Bremerhaven port we were greeted with enthusiasm by masses of welcoming locals. They cheered and waved for us as we took our place among the stream of Tall Ships representing a vast number of countries from Europe and beyond. The first night we were let loose amongst 1.2 million other festival goers to explore the prepared celebrations; encountering hundreds of food and drink stalls, numerous music stages and a firework and laser show to top off the evening.The next morning brought a day full of friendly competition as we joined the other ships in a sports day including, soccer, beach volleyball and tug-of-war. These activities continued on Friday with a shooting competition and then full crew parade and awards ceremony. We gathered our boxing kangaroos, surf rescue board, yellow and green face paint and took to the parade, wowing the locals with our dancing and chanting. We stood out among the well dressed naval crews and their big bands, and were cheered and applauded by the rows of people lining the streets. The parade concluded with an awards ceremony where we were presented a with very large, multicoloured sailing ship trophy for longest distance travelled to the festival. Further, we won third place in the team shooting event, combined with some members of the Tall Ship Nao Victoria from Spain. Special mention goes out to fellow World Voyager also to Nick Hamilton who took out second place individually! Formalities finished with, we joined the other Tall Ship crews at the official Sail Bremerhaven crew party.A duty-free day Saturday allowed the World Voyagers’ time to explore the local attractions including a zoo, U-boat and maritime museum and also tour some of the other ships attending the festival. However, we were drawn back to the ship in the evening by our very own cocktail party. It was a very enjoyable evening as we played host to the Australian Ambassador to Germany, Captains of our fellow ships, local Mayors and other dignitaries and were given the chance to show-off our beautiful ship and the excellent experiences she provides. As the party continued into the night, we indulged in specially selected Australian beers and wines and showed off Australian cuisine excellently prepared by our chefs, Marcos and Jenko.Our final day in Bremerhaven allowed the time for some to visit other nearby German cities. Groups of World Voyagers visited Hamburg and Bremen while others stayed in Bremerhaven to continue enjoying the festival and fellow Tall Ships. Although we were tiring, we were not going to be stopped from enjoying everything on offer and made the most of this final day. With the festival wrapping up many Tall Ships made their exit during Sunday evening and overnight and we awoke to find ourselves rather alone in the harbour this morning.We awaited some final preparations before we could depart and once all was complete we began pushing away from the wharf, only to find, we were stuck! Some private sailing boats to our bow and curve in the wharf to our stern had us trapped! It seemed Bremerhaven would not let us go. We called in the assistance of a tug boat (almost as large as we are) and were towed free, then, by way of a loch we finally departed.Normal routines resumed today with including happy hour, and our watches will continue through the night as we make our way to Amsterdam. With all of the crew happy to be at sea again, we look forward to these final two days of sailing and reaching our final destination for Sail Amsterdam Festival.From the North Sea,Jacob and Kendall, Blue WatchShout OutsHi 4A at Mater Christi Catholic Primary School in Perth! I hope you’ve been enjoying our posts and are learning lots about explorers. If you’re really lucky and have been good for Miss McNally, you might get a visit from an explorer in December 😉 Love the crew of the Young Endeavour!