Captain's Log
V02/25, Eden to Melbourne
16 January 2025

Day 2 – Strong winds and towering heights

Ahoy there readers of this fine journal. Day Two of our voyage was filled with action with the ship coming alive at 0630 for a snappy Early Morning Activity session on the upper deck. We rolled through breakfast and straight into a harness familiarisation brief, working aloft safety brief and a demonstration by our talented staffies on how to lay aloft. The Youth Crew were keen to get up the foremast to the T’Gallant before climbing down the other side. Impressively – every one of our Youth Crew overcame their fears and achieved this on their very first attempt. Well done!

The watches finished off their climbing and our talented Chefo, Kingy, cooked up a storm. With Masterchefs helping clean up the galley in good time we were back out on deck and the Navigator weighed anchor. We racetracked across beautiful Twofold Bay as our Watchleaders taught their watches how to set and furl the Main Staysail and the Fore Staysail in winds gusting to 35 knots. The deck safety rules really apply in situations like this as there can be quite a bit of weight on the working lines. Credit to the Watchleaders and the Youth Crew as we were able to set and furl these sails numerous times with each member of the crew having a chance to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Great result in challenging conditions.

The Navigator took over once again and we cruised the bay under engine power whilst dinner was served. Once cleaned up and packed away we were back out on deck to run through the setting and furling drills one more time before returning to anchor in the south of the bay by 2000. The Southerly Winds are howling out there and the BOM website is showing some pretty rough weather out there. So we will watch and wait for now.

Anchor watches overnight with the Youth Crew conducting rounds, being introduced to the bridge, and spending some time learning the basics of navigation.

A huge Day Two, lots of lessons learned, new skills introduced and smiles all round. Can’t wait to build on this tomorrow!

Captain Leups Out +

 

Latitude/Longitude:

37 05.6S / 149 54.4E

Conditions:

Weather: Overcast Wind: 25KN Southerly Temp: 21C