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Day 7 – Off the coast of Phillip Island
Hello, this is Isy and Crash (Collison) reporting from the coast of Phillip Island just south-east of Melbourne. Today we woke up after a night of sailing to a warm, sunny day, by the suited ‘Here Comes the Sun’.
Beginning the day in our different watch groups, nervous but excited to have Captain Leups test our knowledge of sail setting and furling. All were deemed competent and pleasantly surprised with fresh Tim Tams that tasted better than ever before. Following our chocolatey pre-breakfast reward we had our morning brief from the Staffies, including a literal off-the charts low for the spew-meter, earning a celebration for no sea-sickness the past two days.
We then broke off to our respective watch tacking stations and took turns up at the bridge to learn what was actually happening to the ship when we close up and execute a tack. We are usually on deck hauling lines and it was great to see it from the Bridge perspective.
After lunch Blue Watch won the final round of ropies, with the bonus round of a race to consume Zooper Doopers the fastest. Calories were consumed. Brains were freezed. Mouths were numb.
With the buzz of the zooper doopers, youthies were disappointed to hear that we had a navigation brief, however, when the plan quickly changed to a swim around the boat, a huge roar of surprise followed. With the current too strong we launched the boat and went for Plan B which was a run in to Cowell Beach, Philip Island.
Captain Leups talked us through a brief on the conduct of Command Day. This is the culmination of all the training and drill we have been doing out here. It is very exciting! After speeches were spoken and votes were counted, the results for the different positions are as follows:
Seth as Captain; Andrew as Sailmaster; Isy as Navigator; Gunita as Officer of the Watch; Crash, Lila, and Mark as Watch Leaders of the new Dog, Cat, and Bird Watches, Sam, Daisy, and Darby will be our Master Chefs; and Amaya and Harry as our created positions of Morale Officers.
The day was then finished with movie snacks while we watched the short documentary, Around Cape Horn, about Captain Irving Johnson’s trip on the 17 storey tall-ship, Peking, in 1927. Despite the vast differences in safety equipment, ship size, and the conditions, the movie served as a reminder of the seafaring knowledge we have gained.
Time to sign off as the final day of being a Youthie, tomorrow we will become proper Salty Sea Dogs.
Isy and Crash Out +
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Sunny Wind: 15KN E-NE Temp: 26C
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ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
After a rather nonchalant guts watch with the Bluies, Reddies came in guns a blazing, setting our beautiful square sails preparing us for a speedy and eventful day at sea. Scaling (laying aloft) the Foremast, whilst the ship swayed kept the Reddies on their toes, holding on for dear life as they let out the gaskets for the Topgallant and Topsail Yards. A challenging activity to start off our day rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over Starboard.
During the day we participated in a Meteorology Brief led by our resident Nav guru TOMO, learning everything there is about fluffy, rainy and stormy clouds. This was followed by Lunch and a needed Siesta.
Whilst some slumbered, Bluies kept watch. They had brave volunteers to climb both main mast and to the topgallant yard to sea furl the sails.
In the afternoon, our Watches came together to have Mid Voyage Chats, where we had the opportunity to reflect on our voyage goals, experiences and discuss our hopes for Command Day. There were some very heartfelt talks, from overcoming fears, to gaining confidence in working as a team, and we set our eyes upon what we want to achieve in the rest of the voyage.
The first dog (Reddies) (from 1545 to 1745) was full of excitement, with over 50kn winds and up to 50 degrees on the OOOH AAAH meter (heel). Watching the waves break higher than the rails was an exhilarating experience and kept us holding on tight. Sites of sharks and a Cargo ship kept our lookouts entertained, while Callum lead an engaging activity on Charts. At the end of the first dog watch, Nick and Phil braved these treacherous conditions to lay aloft on the mainmast to wrangle the mainsail!
Rockin and rolling, Youthies (the newest salty sea dogs) Hugh, Bridget, and Nick!!
