Captain's Log

V07/15

11 August 2015

SUNDAY SEA ROUTINE

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day 18 of our voyage. Well as you will read in tonightâ€™s log everybody loves a Sunday Sea routine and I have to admit I am no different as it gives all of us a chance just to relax and recharge our batteries in preparation for the week ahead. For me being a weekend even the majority of my work emails stop which is a blessing as it gives me more time to spend with the crew.

Being a Sunday I havenâ€™t got much news but I can tell you that we are currently located 1310nm WSW of Cape Town sailing down wind under all three squares and experiencing strong 18-22kt SW winds with a large 3-4m SW swell.

Prior to sitting down to watch the Sunday Movie under the stars Red Watches Emily, Hope and Zoe jumped on the computer and quickly wrote tonightâ€™s Captainâ€™s Log, please enjoy.

Until tomorrow, take care.

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

Ahoy there! Itâ€™s day 18 of the voyage, and surprise, surprise we are writing to you from the South Atlantic Ocean. Australia is currently 6300Nm away from us, and all we can see are albatross and white capped waves.

After a week of watches, a Sunday is always welcome on board the STS Young Endeavour. Sunday Sea Routine means that despite the rolling swell, bellowing winds and flying albatrosses; the crew and world voyagers can get some well deserved rest. Watches still running as usual and all activities cancelled â€“ including cleaning! We have the chance to catch up on sleep, decorate the ship with our wet laundry and play countless games of Uno.

This morning, the new Red Watch (Ridiculously Good Looking Watch), expecting to wake up to a selection of cereals (mostly all-bran), were awoken to the smells of Marcosâ€™ eggs, bacon, fresh raisin bread and sweet chilli and cheese scrolls. We were in Hopeâ€™s words â€œspoilt for choice.â€ Thanks Hope. We were told that Marcos had taken over the galley for the day to give our Super Chef, Jenko a rest.

After eating a fast paced breakfast, Ridiculously Good Looking Watch were up and ready to start their watch. The rest of the ship, it seems, had an ample sleep in, some only emerging in time for lunch. After an uneventful morning on watch, lunch was welcomed. Roast Lamb, Salmon, Tuna Pasta Bake, and Coleslaw salad was devoured, and siestas kicked in. With half the ship sleeping in their racks, the other half caught some much needed Vitamin-D on deck, rejoicing after the last couple of days of miserable weather. Liam in particular, was excited for this change in weather as it presented as another opportunity to take his shirt off.

Dinner, Chicken Korma, Boeuf Stew and Pepper Chicken Soup was delicious and hearty, a good way to replenish energy after doing not much at all. However, the true star, the shining glory, was Louisaâ€™s Frangipani Slice with Candied Oranges, and Turkish Coverture Chocolate. YUM. The world voyagers are now preparing for a movie under the stars, a welcome weekly tradition, before settling into our nightly watches. With red watch currently selecting tonightâ€™s blockbuster hit, itâ€™s sure to be a good one.

With that, itâ€™s time for us to sign off,

With love and lots of albatrosses,
From the South Atlantic Ocean,
Emily, Hope and Zoe

Shout Outs:

SHOUTOUT TO ADAMâ€™S HOMIEZ. (Heâ€™s old tomorrow)

Hey Loyal fans and followers, Toze family and others. I am having an bsolute blast! Every day more things amaze me, whether itâ€™s the amazing people Iâ€™m sharing this once in a lifetime voyage with, the stars that change constantly, or the sunrises and sunsets. This is living. I miss you all, and love you loads, sending hugs from the South Atlantic, Em x. p.s if Heather and Hannah are reading this – the stars are out of this world, Iâ€™ve seen like 2 comets and now know where Orion is so Iâ€™m pretty pro. Miss you girls.

Hi there Mum, Tom, Bruce, Hamish, Ollie, Nick, Jaki, Sophie, Max, Jasper, Oliver, Pixie, Benny, Kacee, George and Jay. Itâ€™s pretty crazy living on a boat, you should all try it sometime! Iâ€™m personally loving it! I miss home(s) though and I really look forward to seeing you all again soon and telling you about some of the awesome things that Iâ€™ve done and seen. Still not sure when I will be returning but I will keep everyone up to date. Love you all. PS: Missing everyone from Pretty Sally too, miss and love you all!

Hey to everyone! Everything is going swell on here. Just making sure my fish are still alive and clean, Mum you better be feeding them! Missing you all. Its pretty amazing watching a movie under the stars in the middle of the ocean canâ€™t wait to tell you all about it. Love you all, Zoe

Hey fam bam. Still having a crazy awesome time. Meeting some pretty cool people who are teaching me how to twerk. Give fatty a huge kiss for me. Love you long time, kim

Latitude/Longitude:

36 degrees 52 minutes South / 7 degrees 57 minutes West

Conditions:

Currently located 1310nm WSW of Cape Town and experiencing strong 18-22kt SW winds with a 3-4m SW swell. Our current speed is 6.5kts and the temperature is 12 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

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Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

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

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