Lady Musgrave Island to Gladstone Harbour

Ahoy there shipmates!
We started off the day with a 0630 wake up, walking around the ship with a stunning view of the sunrise coming up over Lady Musgrave Island. Just before breakfast, blue watch headed up the foremast to watch the sunrise. After breakfast we had our morning brief with special appearances from Salty, Cheeky Jack, Cheeky Jill and a horse.
After happy hour, 6 youthies took the boat out to snorkel during high tide. Seeing lots of starfish, coral, fish and sea cucumbers. Meanwhile the rest of the youth crew had the opportunity to jump off the bowsprit and swing off the rope swing.
After showers, the elected youthie Command Team met with their opposites, racking their brains for all the information they needed for command day. All the youthies met at midships to witness Captain Mike hand over control of the ship to youth Captin Carl… Finally the staffies get their well-deserved holiday!
The youthies were given a list of tasks to complete during command day. We completed our first task quickly with Cyrus and Frosty polishing the bell and compass. Meanwhile, Lex, Mia and Anne started working on tying knots. All of the youthies put their creative talents to use making a chalk mural on the midships deck. All youthies then participated in climbing aloft the foremast, sitting out on the yards and the lower top. Our last group task of the afternoon was making a hammock that could hold all 19 youthies by using rope.
After our new navigator Liam, sailing Master Dan and Captain Carl saw that our anchor was dragging they decided to weigh anchor early and head to our final command day destination.
Under youthie command, we quickly set the main staysail, fore staysail, main sail and jib. Then all youthies gathered in our new watch groups and started our watches.
Our new chefs, Molly and Goose cooked up some delicious spag bowl and pav. Which gave everyone the energy needed for the long night ahead of us with big winds and rough seas.
Jolie and Emma signing off.
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Thank you Jolie and Emma. The have summarised the day’s events very well. We are currently experiencing stronger winds that were forecast. We expected 20 knots, and we are getting 25 – 30 knots at the moment. We have handed-in sail to reduce our speed so that we don’t arrive at Gladstone too early.
The plan is to go to anchor in the harbour on arrival.
Until tomorrow night. Yours aye, Captain Mike
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind: Southerly at 23 knots; Sea and Swell: 1.0 m from the south Weather: fine but overcast Temp: 18 deg C; feels like 14 deg C
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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”


After a rather nonchalant guts watch with the Bluies, Reddies came in guns a blazing, setting our beautiful square sails preparing us for a speedy and eventful day at sea. Scaling (laying aloft) the Foremast, whilst the ship swayed kept the Reddies on their toes, holding on for dear life as they let out the gaskets for the Topgallant and Topsail Yards. A challenging activity to start off our day rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over Starboard.
During the day we participated in a Meteorology Brief led by our resident Nav guru TOMO, learning everything there is about fluffy, rainy and stormy clouds. This was followed by Lunch and a needed Siesta.
Whilst some slumbered, Bluies kept watch. They had brave volunteers to climb both main mast and to the topgallant yard to sea furl the sails.
In the afternoon, our Watches came together to have Mid Voyage Chats, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our voyage goals, experiences and discuss our hopes for Command Day. There were some very heartfelt talks, from overcoming fears, to gaining confidence in working as a team, and we set our eyes upon what we want to achieve in the rest of the voyage.
The first dog (Reddies) (from 1545 to 1745) was full of excitement, with over 50kn winds and up to 50 degrees on the OOOH AAAH meter (heel). Watching the waves break higher than the rails was an exhilarating experience and kept us holding on tight. Sites of sharks and a Cargo ship kept our lookouts entertained, while Callum lead an engaging activity on Charts. At the end of the first dog watch, Nick and Phil braved these treacherous conditions to lay aloft on the mainmast to wrangle the mainsail!
Rockin and rolling, Youthies (the newest salty sea dogs) Hugh, Bridget, and Nick!!