Entering Moreton Bay

Ahoy Shipmates,Well, Command Day is now over, but to tell you all about it, here is YC Pete, Captain of Command Team Gold:What a morning! Our Goldies were stirred from their collective slumber to take charge from Greenies at midnight. With the winds not being kind to Daz and his crew, we had a lot of ground to cover over the next twelve hours. We began, sailing against a vicious current that reduced our true speed to 1.5 knots, but some clever navigation by Jordie and Erin soon had us sailing well. As the winds picked up steadily, we made full use of it with watch leaders Sam and Chloe setting the square sails as their watches changed over at 0400. We breifly had all 10 sails on board set at once, fulfilling one of our challenges and giving us plenty of speed. Another beautiful sunrise at sea gave way to a gusty morning. After a mad dash to reach a checkpoint we changed course, and Jos’ watch sailed into 25 knot winds with massive heel at blistering speeds.Morning brief was very entertaining, with plenty of laughs and a little singing to start the day. The command team was really feeling the effects of fatigue by this stage and tension was pretty high as we plotted a course for the final waypoint. Exectutive Officer Darak successfully led us through our first tack at around 1000. It was clear it would be very tight if we were to make it to our destination on time, which was directly upwind. After an early lunch (thanks Chefo’s) XO Lou called the shots for our second tack, in a last ditch attempt to reach our mark. Despite a fantastic effort from all youth crew we were short by just 4 nautical miles when command was handed over.Well done guys, especially both command teams, you should be stoked. You put in a sterling effort, showing enthusiasm and teamwork for the whole day. We sailed the Young Endeavour over 80 miles during command day, and accomplished things that nine days ago we would never have expected. Signing off, Cap’n Pete