Longest Day of My Life
The real story of what happened during Command Day reads like this…..Youth Crew entry by Karl Harisson, 23, of Brisbane.And so ends the longest day of my life. Thirty six hours awake with only a few broken hours sleep has the crew feeling very weary, but happy we managed to complete our objectives set by the staff crew. In the last 24 hours, our youth crew has learnt the true meaning of teamwork and what it takes to get there. Communication, leadership, a lot of hard work and trust. We managed to put everything together that we have learnt in the last week and sail a 240 tonne tall ship from Broken bay, out to sea and down into Sydney Harbour. The thing about being captain isn’t the physical side of it, but the mental effort in being responsible for not only the ship but for the crew. Looking after everyone’s morale, safety and interests. I was told being the CO (Commanding Officer) isn’t a popularity contest. And didn’t that ring true when I had to call the crew up to tack at 2330 and again at 0500.The standard of food definitely did not drop on command day. Ben’s green thai curry, Sara’s roast and Simon’s steaks followed by a chocolate pudding and banana sorbet re-vitalised the crew after a hard day in the sun.Sydney Harbour had never looked better as we approached it in the early morning sun. Now this was the really tricky part of navigation for which Donna Bush, our navigator had carefully prepared. I watched on in amazement as Donna, with only a couple of day’s navigation experience, confidently led us safely into harbour. Well done Donna!Thanks all Youth Crew for your hard work during command day. This has been an experience that will stick with me forever. If you are reading this log to see what happens aboard the Young Endeavour and trying to decide to apply or not, let me just say this. The past nine days have been some of the most enjoyable of my life. I’ve met new friends and bonded with people from different areas, social classes and made some great new friendships I hope with last into the future. Although the sailing has been awesome, it’s just a medium for us to learn more about ourselves and about teamwork.Tomorrow, the PM visits and we are all looking forward to that.Stay tunedAndrew Davis
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
CO's Log Tuesday 20 Feb 01Current situation at 1800: Arrived safely and at anchor Rose Bay. Command Day: Mission Successful. Youth Crew: Tired, but Happy. Temp 23C.
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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