Tacking Stations

Ahoy there Shipmates,Welcome to Day 2 of the voyage. Following a well deserved night’s rest the Youth Crew awoke at 0630 to the sounds of one of Sail Master Evan’s favourite tunes and to the delights of a cool, dry Twofold Bay morning. After walking a few laps of deck everyone gathered at midships for a quick ice-breaker game before heading off to get their swimmers and towels for a chance to swim from the side of the Ship and use the rope swing. The ‘big pool’ was open for 15 minutes and most people took the opportunity for a swing and a dip. The ocean was surprisingly warm. On completion everyone headed off for showers and a hearty breakfast.At 0750 the Youth Crew mustered on the port side of the bridge for their first experience of the ceremony of colours, during which the Ship’s flags (the Australian National Flag at the bow and the Australian White Ensign at the stern) are raised including ringing of the Ships bell and piping the still using the bosun’s call. This was followed by our first Morning Brief of the voyage. It included Evan detailing the program for the day, Navigator Guv explained his plan for the day, the Youth Crew met ‘Salty the Seadog’ (Baggers’ alter-ego) whose job it is to explain the various nautical terms we use for things onboard Ships and today he explained why the left hand side is called the ‘Port’ side and the right ‘Starboard’.Evan then gave the Climbing Safety Brief and we undertook the first climbs, during which the Youth Crew climbed to the Top Gallant Yard, and spent some time getting used to working on the yard. This is quite a lengthy activity as all three watches go through this routine. The last watch got back on deck at 1130 and we all headed down below decks for another of Marcus’ delicious meals.On completion of lunch the Youthies experienced their first ‘Happy Hour’ which is what we call Cleaning Stations onboard Young Endeavour. At 1330 Karly gave a more detailed safety equipment brief and at 1430 we weighed anchor and proceeded out of Twofold Bay and commenced sail handling, setting the fore-and-aft sails and undertook our first Tack as a crew. We broke for dinner at 1730 and then went to tacking stations again at 1815 to practise a few more tacks until they were done smoothly and efficiently, with the aim being that the crew would be able to do it in the middle of the night on short notice if necessary.The crew then prepared for their first night at sea. This will involve keeping 4 hour Sea Watches through the night, during which they will work the sails as required and keep the Ship safe performing duties as helmsman, lookouts, and conducting below deck engineering rounds. No doubt the crew will sleep well after a busy day! Until tomorrow,Yours Aye Captain Mike