Day 9 – Command day (part 1)

Command day started with the type of challenge we like… Underway with a hot handover, as we had remained at sea overnight due to gale force winds in the Gulf St Vincent, denying us a safe anchorage. After the official ceremony of handing over the keys of this fine vessel and the staff retreating into holiday mode (not really), we could finally dub the tall ship, Noah’s Arc (After YC Captain Noah).
Grace, Dan and Jack put on a spectacular lunch fit for kings and queens. We were fuelled and ready to go for the long day ahead.
After an educational tacking experience we proceeded to set sail into the high seas making great progress on our navigational waypoints – achieving three out of four waypoints by 9pm. After an amazing cake provided by Grace we proceed to up end the dinner table to make ground on our non-navigational objectives. A mural displaying the highlights of our journey was painted on the midships, knots were learnt and shown off, poems written, sea shanties inscribed and jokes shared.
Shoutout – I am realising this amazing journey is coming closer to an end and am look forward to sharing my experience and stories. I hope they will be good enough to convince the school it was worthwhile me taking two weeks off, because I sure know it was for me – Lachlan
Shoutout – Will, you should do this!
Shoutout – Ahoy Uncle John, this voyage has truly been incredible. I look forward to telling you all about it and impressing you with all the sailing knowledge I have learnt – Hannah
Shoutout – Ahoy there, I’d like to say I like the cut of your jib but I cannot see you. I’d like to reassure my family and friends that we have successfully navigated to South Australia. I look forward to sharing tales of our adventure when I see everyone again. Love you Mum and Dad – Ethal
Shoutout – As we approach the half way point of our command day, I am very proud to say the sailing and completion of our set tasks has been going very well thanks to an awesome effort by all the youth crew aboard. We are looking well on track to achieving our goals. It’s been a joy and honour to captain such an awesome group of people – Noah
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

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”
