SETTING SAIL

Hi everyone and welcome to Day 2 of our Voyage.Well, we finished the first mast climb just before midnight last night and enjoyed a nice hot chocolate down below in the warmth of the Caf� afterwards. Yes, it had been raining while we were up the mast and it was a bit chilly – even those from Canberra said it was cold! At 06:30 this morning Trish, our Sail Master or Second-in-Charge, awoke us all to the sounds of the Hudu Gurus (A Thousand Miles Away, hey, hey, hey � and everyone is humming or whistling the tune all morning). A quick walk around the upper deck and a get-to-know you game before breakfast and then the ceremony of “colours” where we raised the flags, rang the bell, blew the whistle and sung our National Anthem with gusto.We then had our morning brief where Trish told us the plan of the day and Kenny our Navigator told us where he thought we were and where we might be going. As one of the Youth Crew offered, “We are in Bundaberg and going to Mackay keeping Australia on the left”! When you look at it that way I suppose it isn’t too hard. Yet again, it will be interesting to observe the Youth Crew navigating over the coming days � perhaps it is a bit more complex!Under the guidance of the Watch Leaders we then did everyone’s favourite activity – Happy Hour! You guessed it; we cleaned the Ship for about an hour before getting into the basics of deck work and controlling the sails. The sun was out at last! After lunch we continued with more setting and furling drills to make sure we could handle the sails before we proceeded to sea.With going to sea utmost in our minds, Navigator Kenny provided an introduction to navigation before we weighed anchor late in the afternoon and departed Bundaberg. Just as the sun set we altered course to the north, set some sails and enjoyed the thrill of being under sail in a Tall Ship. After dinner we did our first tacking stations where everyone is up on deck to handle the sails to allow the Ship to alter course when we need to. The Youth Crew did it really well so off for a relatively early night’s sleep – well sort of! We will be keeping four hour shifts or watches tonight so we can keep sailing up the coast so maybe not that full a night’s sleep!It looks like the weather will hold for a day or so with 15-17 knot South Easterly winds and a 1.5 metre sea also from the South East, which is ideal for our passage north. Anyways, Blue Watch have just reported we are closing some ships in the shipping lane up towards Lady Elliot Island so we will probably have to go to tacking stations again soon so until tomorrow � fair winds and following seas!Yours Aye,Dave Jordan (Yak)Voyage Captain