Captain's Log

V01/22 Hobart to Geelong

10 January 2022

Day 7 – King Island

Welcome to day 7 of our voyage. Again it has been an action packed day with Demonstrational Tacks and Captains Setting and Furling Drills completed during our passage over from Hummock Island to King Island, in what I would class as perfect conditions.

Once safely at anchor in King Island’s Sea Elephant Bay we conducted Command Day elections followed by a sunset climb of the foremast before settling into anchor watches overnight ensuring that our young mariners are well rested for tomorrow’s Command Day. Please enjoy a full narrative of today’s activities written tonight by Jo from Red Watch.

Until Tomorrow, take care.
Yours Aye
Captain Gav

—————

The past 24 hours have been some to remember. We started off the period with a movie called “Around Cape Horn” by Captain Irving Johnson. There is now a scholarship in his name for tall ship sailing around the globe. The movie was shown as it demonstrated the readiness of those previous generations of sailors to go around
the Cape in the wrong direction (east to west) rather than with the favourable trade winds of west to east.

The ship was one of the P Line style ship. 4 masts and something like 7 square sails to a mast. They were amazingly large ships carrying cargo all around the globe. We then went off to our racks, and for some of us (that’s me) got a pretty good sleep in. I was out of it until my 0530 anchor watch.

An anchor watch is normally 1.5 hours, but with the day how it is, the 0530 anchor watch finishes at 0630 with wakey wakey. Breakfast was a fare of pancakes with cream, fruit, jam and other condiments. We then upped the anchor started motoring in almost glassy seas from Three Hummock Island towards King island. A gentle zephr started to blow, the main staysail was unfurled, along with the forestaysail. At this time we also
braced the yards to starboard.

After some demonstrational tacks, where our esteemed Captain, Captain Gav, took the youthies through the process of tacking and wearing the ship at the helms position in groups of 3-6 people (1-2 from each watch) it starts with the sailmaster calling helms to lee, at which the helm puts 30 degrees of rudder on, then the mainsail is hauled to windward which unbalances the ship, pointing the nose into the wind. At the same time, the headsails are eased, to create less counter force to the mainsail.

Off turns is called, when most but not all youthies come down to half a turn of the belaying pins or cleats. The between mast staysails are let draw, which are the main staysail, topgallant staysail and the fisherman’s
staysail (if carried). The red watch then lets the braces out to green on the sheets, cause “GREEN IS GOOD” and “RED IS DEAD” then the blue watch takes up slack on the lee sheets. “ALL BRACES WELL” means to stop hauling on the braces, and just to take up slack.

Once the squares/braces have been set, all spare hands are called to the jib, where the most muscle is needed. Wearing (gybing) is very much similar to tacking but with a few less steps.

After the demonstrational tacks, we had lunch, which was chicken breast and Morrocan style lamb cutlets. There were wraps for those who preferred them.

After lunch it was time for our “Captains Setting and Furling” where each of the watches furled and or set our fore and aft sails (main staysail and forestaysail). The Captain’s Setting and Furling was started by red watch furling the main staysail. Carl called, I was heaving in on the furling line with one of our esteemed staff watch leaders Theresa. Kenny was the “dumb muscle” tailing after the belaying pin. Both Oli and Sari were checking away on the sheets. I can not remember who was on which one.

After furling the main staysail, Captain Gav gave us the rundown of what could have been better and what was amazing. It was all amazing.

We were then set to unfurl (or “set) the main staysail which saw Me of the lazy side heaving in. I’m pretty sure Oli was checking away on the furling line, and Sari along with some more dumb muscle was on the working side heaving in. All went smoothly with setting the main staysail. We did it in about 20 minutes or so, for both setting and furling, so the Wonderful Captain Gav got us to furl the forestaysail.

With this one, we had a slight malfunction of the winch, where the winch was no longer ratcheting. This just gave me no resistance when checking away on the sheet, and it also meant that the sheet wound up the
winch, making it wrap on top of itself – effectively creating a clove hitch. Even with this slight mishap, we got the forestaysail furled and completed the task, earning us a packet of TimTams. The other watches then completed a very similar set of sail changes, but I do not know which they did as I was down below eating TimTams!

After everyone had finished Captain’s Setting and Furling, we had almost arrived at King Island, where we anchored for the night in Sea Elephant Bay. No elephant seals seen yet.

We had a lovely dinner cooked by our illustrious Chef Jarod – blue dory, rib eye steaks, chicken something and vegetarian nachos. I tried both the rib eye and the nachos, and both got a 10 star review.

After dinner, we had to decide on positions for Command Day. We have Soph as Captain, Carl as sail master, Sam as navigusser, and Willy G and Niamh as Watch Leaders.

This Captains log is coming out a bit late as I went for an almost sunset climb up both the main mast and the
foremast when I definitely did not have time to do that.

As I am writing this I am hearing the Watch Leaders of the youthies stitch me up with the anchor watch, purely as I have had two nice ones before. (Best was this mornings, as Kenny let me off after only half an hour 0530-0600).

This Captain’s Log brought to you in story book fashion from the wonderful Jo of Red Watch.

(Due to a system glitch – Position: LAT 39 54.8 S / LON 144 07.5 E; Conditions: Currently at anchor in Sea Elephant Bay and enjoying moderate 8-12 SSW winds with a .5m southerly swell.

To follow the ship check out the GPS tracker at Where is Young Endeavour now?

Latitude/Longitude:

39 54.8 S / 144 07.5 E

Conditions:

Currently at anchor in Sea Elephant Bay and enjoying moderate 8-12 SSW winds with a .5m southerly swell.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

You might also be interested in

V07/23

01 April 2023

Day 6 – Bermagui to Sea

ARRRRRRGH, Ahoy there land lubbers. Pinch and a punch for the first of the month! We began our day finishing up out anchor watches, giving everyone a little more sleep and a break from our normal routine of watches. We were all awoken at 0630 to the blaring sound of ‘My Island Home’ and Evans cheerful voice. Breakfast was extraordinary as usual, brought to us by Chef Haydo and our Masterchefs. We then headed to our morning brief where White watch raised the flags for the youthies and staffies, and we and the staffies sung a rendition of Advance Australia Fair to Working Class Man tune. We were all excited to head on land and feeling grass once more at Bermagui, NSW so we sped through happy hour cleaning and out the transport and run ashore brief. While waiting for our turn to head ashore as we engaged in the Macarena and Nutbush, all laughing and having a jolly ol’ time. We spent the morning exploring Bermagui, enjoying the small things like a fresh hot coffee, fish and chips, swimming at the beach, cute dogs and shopping at woollies for snacks. Fun fact of the day the ships name Plaque is hand crafted with flowers of every Australian state and territory and from the countries of the United Kingdom who gifted the YE to us! For today’s lunch menu we had beef burger chicken pesto pasta bake. As we weighed Anchor we spotted a pod of dolphins. We set off north to sail past Sydney in preparation for command day. Unfortunately no swimming as the water surrounding us is famous for its great whites as Bermagui was once a whaling town as it is located close to the continental shelf. All youthies gathered at midships to set the jib, main staysail, mainsail and topgallant staysail, great effort and teamwork from everyone. After today’s round of Ropies, all teams are neck and neck even with our attempt at acting out an advertisement for bonus points, coincidentally we all chose KFC as our ad, competition was fierce. We are well on our way to Sydney, having passed Montague Island, and soon passing Ulladulla, with swells reaching 2 metres high. We are now passing around seasickness tablets and strapping our bunk meshes to keep us tucked in, desperately fighting to stay in bed and stay upright as we walk around on-board. And as usual, plates were flying as Haydo cooked us a meal short of nothing but delicious, complete with tim tam chocolate ripple cake and curried sausages at 1715. We are now heading into the night, also while on our watches tonight, the blue and red watches we going to have to stay up longer as daylight savings comes to an end. We are writing while White Watch (Tom, Ben, Hunter Em, Mack, Anna, Ariyah and Kaitlyn) are starting the first watch (2000 to 0000) listening to music (Ariyah’s song Bottled Emotions- Rysiesss) keeping a good lookout, taking turns on the helm and doing rounds. Stay Salty, from your Salty Seadogs, Anna and Kaitlyn

V07/23

31 March 2023

Day 5 – Sea to Bermagui

Good evening, Tonight we are hearing from three Youth Crew members who have provided individual contributions. The Youth crew began today with substantial winds and a drastic sea state. The conditions though treacherous, eased as the day progressed into a beautiful autumn day, so bright it even caused sunburn. Captain Mike Today was a day of teamwork. As exemplified in the quote “society is but the aggregation of individuals” it is clear to see that our voyage, youth crew and staffies, one and all is becoming a society unto its own. All that the youthies learn is taught to us by our knowledgeable staff crew (none with so great a breadth of knowledge as our gallant captain). Whether it is hauling in on the Jib sheet as one entire crew or tacking away working as an individual watch, we give all that we can for as long as we can. It is in this fulsome contribution that we can be assured of the strength of the shoulders of those who stand beside us, this strength having already brought us from the stormy seas of Bass Strait, to the looming shadow of Mt Dromedary. Each inch of progress we have made, is our own, one and all, as a society.

Ari Mintoff

Today the youthies enjoyed the sun after a few days of rain. We refined our knowledge of sailing and sail lines through the ropes race and lots of tacking. Also, our amazing navigator, Seb, walked us through some navigation exercises. Continuing on… today we saw albatrosses and gannets. You may ask, what’s the difference between an albatross and a gannet? Gannets have a yellow head. That was not a joke. This is a joke. Did you hear about the red ship and the blue ship that collided? They were both marooned.

Nourah

After 40 knot winds and a 6 metre wave at one point the previous night, the sun was welcomed by all the youthies and staffies. The daily routine kept as usual with breakfast at 0630 and the morning brief with Evan at 9 with everyone dressed in their finest floral fits for ‘floral Friday’. As we were underway, the watches then took place with an aim to anchor by the end of the day. Later, all three watches competed in ‘rope races’ with the blue watch now on the board. In the afternoon, youthies were given the chance to climb the foremast to secure the gaskets to the squares. The winds picked up during the ascent and I personally spent 2 hours up on the yards. The youthies enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked up by Haydo and we practised our tacking skills before relaxing for the night. Missing the family and having a ball anchored off Bermagui.

Molly Barnett

Thank you Ari, Nourah and Molly from Captain Mike

V07/23

30 March 2023

Day 4 – Flinders Island to Sea

Ahoy there, The Youth crew woke up this morning bright and early after completing their overnight anchor watches. YE was anchored in the beautiful Blythe Bay, Flinders Island. Starting off with the morning with colours, we raised the Australian flag and Ensign while singing the national anthem. Followed by the morning brief, captain’s inspirational quote of the day, the daily agenda and then straight into ‘Happy ½ Hour’: cleaning stations! Before weighing anchor the youthies participated in the squares brief before climbing the foremast to cast loose the gaskets on the squares. It was challenging as the swell was 1 metre high and very unpredictable. By lunch time we had weighed anchor and set the sails, which was made easy, thanks to our amazing chef Haydo who fuelled us with delicious sausage rolls and hot dogs before we entered the Bass Strait. The rest of the afternoon was spent sailing through the Bass Strait, which we soon learnt was not easy. As we continued to sail the swell and winds grew leading to every youthie clipping onto the ship for safety. By 14:00 travesty hit with the course sail getting slightly damaged, leading to all three watches jumping into action to clew up the course sail. 4 youthies were then selected to climb the foremast in order to tie up the gaskets. As the night continued on and everyone tried to settle down for the early evening, we soon learnt it was going to be a long rolling night – as dinner proved challenging. It didn’t seem to want to stay on the table! The night watches have now started with White watch at 18:00, due to the weather it will be all hands on watch as the sails have to be furled in challenging conditions. The night will continue with broken sleep while changing watches, moving into early morning. Tomorrow will consist of ongoing sailing through along the VIC and NSW coasts, where hopefully we can anchor south of Sydney by night fall. Emilie says hi to her family and friends and misses them very much (but is having so much fun!), Ariyah says she’s having a blast but she’s missing Alby and Molly says happy 16^th birthday to her brother Charlie. Goodnight and sleep well, Emilie and Ariyah.

The Voyage

Latest Captain’s Log

BEFORE YOU APPLY

Apply for Financial Assistance

FOR GUARDIANS

Youth Safety & Mental Health

FOR ORGANISATIONS

Scholarships for Local Youth

ABOUT US

The Young Endeavour Youth Scheme

OUR COMMUNITY

Make a Donation

Day 7 – King Island

Latitude/Longitude:

Conditions:

You might also be interested in

Ready to set sail?

More Information

Donations

Contact Us

1800 020 444

Keep in Touch

1800 020 444