Day 8 – Fun on the Fleurieu

Ahoy there dear readers, the morning of day 8 found the ship sailing into St Vincent Gulf from Kangaroo Island and Investigator Strait, having conducted teamwork and leadership exercises overnight. At 0700, Josh the Engineer and I commenced sail handling validation of all the watches, to ensure their competence and safety, leading into Command Day, and I can happily say that all of our sea puppies passed with flying colours demonstrating excellent skills and safety standards, as well as good command and control.
With that achieved, I put them through their paces once again with a ‘Captain’s Challenge’ whereby all fore and aft sails were to be set and yards braced, setting up a standard sail plan, on their own with staff supervising only. This activity is designed to allow each watch to work together and Youthies have the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities, which may come in handy during tonight’s elections…
Once more, Youth Crew came together and accomplished their mission within the time frame set, thereby achieving success. I congratulated them all before announcing that it all had to be handed-in, as we needed to proceed to anchor… and without missing a beat, Youth Crew did as directed, safety and swiftly handing-in sail and we thus came to anchor in Rapid Bay on the Fleurieu Peninsula, letting out 5 shackles of chain (140m) to hold us in place, in preparation for forecast windy conditions overnight.
Haydo then had a scrumptious meal ready for everyone and after woofing it down, we had an afternoon brief before getting stuck into cleaning stations. Once the ship was cleaned to Dion’s satisfaction, we launched the seaboat and Youthies went ashore to explore the rugged coastline, studded with caves and cliffs.
After a refreshing dip and some fun beach games, Youthies returned onboard a couple of hours later, to a BBQ dinner followed by Command Day brief and elections…
Yes, it’s that time of the voyage as Command Day will take place tomorrow morning at 1000, when I hand over the keys to Youth Crew elected Captain Noah from Melbourne, supported by the following elected positions:
Sail Mistress – Jaz,
Navigators – Oli and Ed,
Watch Officer – AJ,
Watch Leaders – Tarsh, Hannah, Maddy
and most important of all…
Chefs – Grace, Jack and Dan.
Congratulations all, I know you will serve your crew well. Then with excitement in the air, we screened our favourite movie and afterwards, everyone turned-in for the night. Keep safe and tune-in tomorrow night to see how our Youthies fare when they take Command.
Yours Aye,
Captain Adam Charlie Farley+
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Fine. Wind: SE @ 30. Swell: Nil. Temp: 18
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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!!