Captain's Log
V06/19 Newcastle to Brisbane
5 April 2019

Sea to North Stradbroke Island

Ahoy there shipmates,

The day started for engineer Reggie and I at 0700 when we commenced the ‘Captain’s Setting and Furling’ assessments of the watches. This is done to ensure that their sail handling skills and knowledge are at the level required to progress to Command Day. I am pleased to say all three watches were successful. I then gave the crew my ‘Captain’s Challenge’ which was to, with out input from staff, for the youth crew to hand in all sail and brace the yards square for enty into the Gold Coast Seaway. As we approached the entrance it became obvious that the size of teh swell entering the seaway made it unsafe for us to attempt to enter, due to our deep keel and the limited depth of water available.

Instead we set sails again and sailed further north to an anchorage we selected near Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island. After lunch Reggie held round four of rope races, which were followed by some deck games. At 1400 I gave the Command Day briefing to the youth crew. At 1700 we anchored off the resort at Point Lookout on the NE corner of the island. That was followed by dinner and then the youth crew conducted their command day elections, assigning ten members of their crew to leadership positions.

At 1900 the Youth Crew watched the movie ‘Around Cape Horn’ about the adventures of Captain Irving Johnson when he was an Ordinary Seaman onboard the barque the Peking. It is a quirky and inspirational film we show to all youth crews. On completion of the film the crew began anchor watches to keep the Ship safe through the night. Tomorrow I will hand the Ship over to the elected youth crew captain to begin the adventure that is Command Day.

Until tomorrow.
Yours aye,
Captain Mike

Latitude/Longitude:

27 26.5' S / 153 33.1'E

Conditions:

Weather: passing showers; Wind: 250 / 5 kn; Swell: 1.0m from east; Temp: 18 deg. C