THE NORTH SEA

Hi Everyone, Welcome to day 10 of our voyage. The weather has continued to be kind and we are still enjoying our passage across the North Sea. Since getting back to sea we have reactivated our training program and are now focused on getting the World Voyagers sailing skills up to a high standard so that by next week we will be a well trained crew when we start the first of the Tall Ship races. Again tonight the World Voyagers have done a very good of writing the Captains Log so I will handover to Lauren and Léa from White Watch to tell you about our day in the North Sea Until Tomorrow, take care Yours Aye Captain Gav   Captain’s Log – 21 July 15 Ahoy from white watch! We’ve been blessed with spectacular weather for the last 24 hours. Last night, we enjoyed an amazing sunset over the water from aloft and our first clear night which we spent looking for shooting stars. Today we had blue sky and gentle rolling swells as far as the eye could see – not what we expected from the notorious North Sea!   In our Morning Brief, Salty the Sea Dog taught us the proper greeting to our fellow tall ships in preparation for the Tall Ship Races. Depending on the weather, we might be lucky enough to meet up with them before we arrive in Kristiansand, Norway. This was followed by the staffies enlightening us with a song about going bananas which made us go bananas. It was then time for the Nav-extravaganza brief delivered by our resident expert navigator Miquela. We learnt different techniques for determining our current location and how to predict our future location. We’ll be consolidating these techniques in more detail during our subsequent watches. Today is the first time us Whisky Victors (World Voyagers as named by Kenny) have set the Main Gaff Topsail. It was a challenge at first but we worked well as a team and thankfully managed to set it up in time for lunch as it helped stabilise the ship against the rolling sea. For those who weren’t on watch after lunch we enjoyed a few lazy hours of downtime in the beautiful sunshine. A few people could be found asleep in various places and others took the opportunity to get washing done. It was then time for rope races, which we take very seriously here on Young Endeavour. Whities naturally excelled at it, as we do every day. Our next challenge was a team building exercise called “The Egg Drop”. This challenge involved dropping an egg from the Lowertop (the first platform on the foremast which is approximately 10m high) without breaking the egg. We were given numerous items with which we could protect and save the egg, including a plastic glove and a bread roll. We also had to create a background story to explain why our egg (i.e. Watch Leader) was jumping off the Lowertop. This naturally resulted in eggs-ellent puns and many laughs. Only one of three Watch Leader Eggs survived the fall. Sorry Dougie and Nick, congrats Red Watch on saving Matt! Tonight, as we are approaching Norway, we will be changing timezones which means we lose one hour of sleep. As you can imagine, sleep is a precious commodity and we are not looking forward to this. We are nearing the half way point for V05A. It’s amazing how close we have become compared with the quiet room of strangers only 10 days ago. We’re extremely excited about what’s still to come. Bring on the Tall Ships Festival! Yours Aye, Lauren and Léa Hi India I hope you have an amazing 18th Birthday. I wish you were here with me and you could get away from your exams. Keep your chin up and remember that “Today you are you and that is truer than true; There is no one alive that is you’re than you”. Miss you and love you lots musketeer xxx Nicola. HI family xxx Hi everyone, seasickness tablets worked this time so I’m feeling great! Love Lauren x Hi Mum, Dad and Juzz, having heaps of fun onboard. The North Sea hasn’t been too mean so far. There are heaps of oil rigs out here though, got some great photos. I haven’t spotted all 500 yet. Hey Taylor, hope you’re not missing me too much. Ill have heaps of great stories to tell when I get back, love you. To all my friends, Hope you’re all keeping well and making Gains!! We’ll have a massive catch up when I return. Will