Out to sea we must go!

Hello Shipmates, After a good nights rest the Youth Crew were awoken by Sail Master Guv and one of his 80’s classics. As they arrived up on deck they were greeted by some less then ideal weather but it did not seem to dampen their enthusiasm. With a very quick early morning activity under their belt everyone jumped down below decks for a quick shower and some tasty treats from Bec the chef. While the Youth Crew were finishing up their morning routine the Staffies made preparations to weigh anchor (It turns out Bec’s cooking scales and not rated to weighing the anchor so we had to use the capstan instead). We were soon underway and making way out through Morton Bay towards the open ocean. As Rick was conducting the navigation Guv kicked into the morning brief on the port side of the bridge where the Youth Crew continued to expand their ships knowledge with some guest speakers from Mick the engineer, Bec the chef, the resident salty man and some words of (Hopefully) wisdom from myself. After the brief, they Youthies went below to start their first “Happy Hour” which is the daily cleaning time. After Happy Hour, Dave our resident safety expert kicked into a more in depth safety brief to ensure the Youthies know everything they need to about the ship. The Watch Leaders then took charge of their watches and began the task of teaching their watches how to set and furl the sails. Before long it was lunch and the watches filtered below to fill the fuel tanks for the afternoons activities. In the afternoon the watches continues with their sail handling drills until their watch leaders felt they were at a satisfactory level to progress to the next step of learning how to deal with the mainsail. After a very comprehensive brief from Sail Master Guv the Youthies soon had the main out in a very quick time. The ship now had a full press of fore and aft sails and was ready for the crew to practice tacking stations. Unfortunately the wind was refusing to play the game and after two tacks I decided that it was a forlorn hope and we should take in the majority of the sails and motor sail overnight to make some ground to the north. Overnight the watches will be keeping their first night watch of 4 hours where they will learn how to helm the ship, keep a good look out and other watch on deck activities. I hope that the wind comes in to allow some more sailing but at this stage it does not look like this will happen for at least the next 24 hours. Until next time, May your course always be true CAPT Matt Do you know what is out there? Wind and rain, some damn big waves, reefs and rocks, sandbars and shoals, and enough fog and darkness to hide it all. So why do we go out there? It builds character. Character that you only find on mountain tops, deserts, battlefields and across oceans. Character that we all need to developCaptain Christopher Sheldon