Not a Breath of Wind

Welcome to day 7 of our voyage. This morning we awoke to find that we were ‘a painted ship upon a painted ocean’ with not a breath of wind and not a ripple on the ocean. Not weather that you would expect in the Southern Indian Ocean but since departing Cape Town we have experienced many different weather patterns and today was just something else to add to our unique experience of sailing in this part of the world.Being a Sunday we have run a Sunday routine which has meant a sleep in and a very chilled and relaxed day for everyone. As you will read in tonight’s log it doesn’t mean that everything stops because the ship has to keep running and that requires all of us at different times of the day and night to still keep working. Chef Jenko is one of those that gets very little down time as he continually has 37 hungry mouths to feed so he is continually preparing fantastic meals out of that very small galley.Given the lack of wind we have continued to make good speed to the ESE under main engines and are now at 39 degrees latitude and located 610nm to the SE of Cape Town. We will reach the Roaring 40’s tomorrow and the wind is forecast to freshen so hopefully when I write this log tomorrow night we will be back under sail.Volunteering to write tonight’s Captains Log is Josh and Tim from Red Watch, please enjoy!Until tomorrow, take careYours AyeCaptain GavCAPTAINS LOG – 29 NOV 15Josh and Tim (Red Watch)We began today with a Bear Ex as part of our night watch. This began with Shaun demonstrating some of his hidden artistic flair. Our watch came together and brainstormed some of the traits of a successful team and then it was time to put this into action as we had the task of setting and furling the Main Gaff Topsail. Initially we started with the spare Mainsail before we quickly realised that we had in fact gotten the wrong sail out. Some confusing labelling later and we found the sail we were after, hidden in the awning bag. Over the next 2 hours we came together as a watch and drew on each others skills and knowledge to haul the gaff topsail into place and it marked a successful end to our watch. At the change of day we skipped ahead into the future as we moved into the next time zone on our way home (GMT +0300)A slow start to the morning ensued as we had a split watch set up to allow a few of our team to sleep in as part of Sunday Sea Routine (do nothing day!) As a few of us trudged up onto the deck we were greeted with a spectacular view of a gloss-like ocean that you could almost see your reflection in. This of course meant there was absolutely no wind and we continued to power throughout the day on engines as we keep on our course for the Roaring Forties.After our split watch ended most of us on Red Watch (i.e. all of us) went for a midday siesta followed by steaks, grilled salmon, sun dried pesto pasta and the usual array of delicious condiments provided by the galley team. At 2pm the Southern Indian Ocean Floating Cinema was once again in session with a screening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to ease us into the afternoon.This was followed by yoga and some planking practice on the decks as some of the World Voyagers prepare themselves to bring our Engineer and resident planking champion out of retirement.We finish today with the taste of delicious rissoles, chicken curry, steamed vegetables, cheesecake, peaches, choc mint ice cream and everyone’s favourite, Aeroplane jelly as we settle in for our watches this evening. A big thanks to Jenko for another day of great food. Overall, a very relaxing and varied Sunday as we prepare for another big week aboard Young Endeavour.SHOUT OUTSMatt H (Red Watch) – Mum can you check the post box please?Shaun (Watch Leader) – To my family, looking forward to seeing you all at Christmas, 25 days to go Karen, miss you xoxoTim (Red Watch) – Lyssa, hope you had a great day, ill be home soon . To answer your last question about the cats, they “were” real, now they live on in memory. Mum, Sam and Jess, missing you guys a lot, hope you are having a good time at home. To my MPS buddies and everyone in the office;The Weapon, Kylie, Josh, Gav, Cass, Ben and Joao hope everything is not keeping you too busy as you wind down for the year, but I digress, this has been a such a great opportunity, will catch up when I get back!