Day 4 – South Australian landfall
Overnight the vibes on the boat changed dramatically. The seasickness had finally passed, so the day became our most productive yet.
Green Watch set the Topsail and Topgallant at 6:30am after getting to enjoy a beautiful sunrise. Gold Watch was lucky enough to be woken up by a Young Endeavour parody of “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton. This was sung by the beautiful voices of Green watch, lead by Tess.
9am rolled around and the energy levels were high at the morning brief. We were gifted by another visit by Admiral Salty and his trusty assistant Scuba Steve who gave us the history of the phrase “Son of a Gun” accompanied by a dramatic rendition.
Next was Happy Hour and for the first time on the voyage we had all hands on deck for cleaning our vessel. The music was loud and the atmosphere was pumping as we were all happy we could remain upright and below deck for more than 1min!
Highlight of the day was our Rope Races or “Ropies”. Gold Watch and Green Watch went head-to-head in a safety equipment identification challenge. Gold Started strong but Green made a smashing comeback in the bonus round, taking the win.
After Ropies we turned our brains on for our Navigation Brief to help us not get lost and not hit any rocks come Command Day. Kyle our trusty Nav Man explained the three ways of making sure our position was on course. These were GPS, RADAR and visual bearings and would help to plot where we are and where we need to be!
Then we were left to our own devices till lunch. We decided it was all hands to napping stations close up midships. There were 15 happy beached seals basking on the deck in the morning sun.
Fresh bread rolls with delicious fillings were provided by our wonderful cheffo Jenko and was the first meal we could all enjoy together since the first day.
Next was some sailing theory provided by our knowledgeable Captain Adam “Charlie” Farley. We learnt the difference between square sails and staysails, Newton’s Laws vs. Bernouli’s Law and the best angles to utilise the wind. Minds were bent while we learnt that wind also bends around sails.
While Gold was on watch Greenies were lucky enough to sit on the bowsprit and watch a large pod of dolphins frolic in the waters below, showing off their jumping skills.
Our final brief for the day was on Nautical Rules of the Road by Evan. We learnt the different buoyage of the ocean, what to do to avoid collisions and the safety around speed. The danishes served mid brief was also a nice little afternoon booster.
Before dinner all hands were on deck to bring in the sails as we were heading into Robe to anchor for the night (WOOHOO!). We handled the ropes quick-smart and before long all sails were neatly stowed away.
Once again we all enjoyed a delicious dinner together and even squeezed in a card game or two.
The final activity for the night was to climb the foremast and tie down the sails – referred to as sea-furl the squares. With a spot of teamwork and a beautiful teal ocean view up the foremast we couldn’t have asked for a better way to end a spectacular day.
We are looking forward to more days like this! Love Staz, Ellie and Erin xxx
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Fine. Wind: 140 @ 15-20. Swell: Nil. Temp: 14.
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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