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First Dip in the Drink
Last night we entered Hervey Bay and sailed past Gladstone to reach our evening’s anchorage just before the wind started howling. Today has been great. Spirits have risen immeasurably now that the seas are calmer and seasickness has disappeared. We stopped and swam in the sea for a while this afternoon about 10 miles from land. The YC are really starting to get into the swing of things onboard. They’ve done lots of sail handling and climbing aloft and plenty of friendships are developing. We’ve just completed 3 way talks and they were excellent – even though some major ad-libbing was going on. Poetic license can be a very funny thing… Tomorrow we’ll get into the boat and go ashore for the day. We plan on leaving the anchorage late in the afternoon to continue north toward the Whitsundays.Youth Crew entry by Dave Crighton, 17, from Canberra, ACT. Absolutely phenomenal! I have only been on board for a couple of days, but I have already pushed myself to expand the limits I had previously drawn. Getting to know the entire crew has been interesting to say the least, I could never have hoped to encounter such a magnitude of friendliness and enthusiasm in a group of only 35. With a lower spew factor today, I found that everyone started to perk up and actually get into the sailing especially now that we have had our first dip in the drink, and are presently anchored off Great Keppel.I never thought it possible to feel such a rush from ocean travel, but knowing that it takes a team effort (of which I am a part) to move this ship anywhere is satisfying in itself. Climbing the main mast was something I would never have thought I could do, but an hour or so up a 35m pole moving in force 4 seas at 8 knots proved me utterly wrong. There is a definite ‘go hard or go home’ attitude here and I like that too. It certainly seems that I am not the only one able to break out dated barriers on this ship. Anyway, enough from me all the best to my mates and family, see you next week. Stay tunedAndrew Davis
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
CO's LOG Thursday 12 Apr 01Current situation at 2000: At anchor Great Keppel Island. Wind Sou'east at 20 knots and rising. Temp 23C.
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!
ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
