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Day 11 – Fare thee well!
Ahoy landlubbers, armchair sailors and of course, our newly minted shellbacks! Today we farewelled our newest salty sea dogs but before I get ahead of myself allow me to start at the beginning!
Day 11 dawned, a little cloudy and very windy, but nothing could dampen the spirits of our Youthies. We weighed anchor and commenced the short transit north to the Mackay Marina, waking the youthies from their first full night of slumber. A final delicious Haydo breakfast later it was time for Morning Brief. Whilst Sail Master Chucky, Nav Seb and the Salty Sea Dog himself, Matty, gave their final insights, Mother Nature wasn’t quite done yet. Our Youthies were delighted with not one, but two close encounters with whales surfacing just meters from the ship.
All too soon it was time to man the yards and come alongside. We welcomed our family and friends on board, and proudly showed them around our new home. Thankfully Mackay blessed us with the sunny weather we missed on day one, so we mustered on deck for our final farewells. I welcomed everyone back on board and gave a short recap of the adventures we’ve had over the last 11 days. After the presentations and farewells there were two certificates remaining. The Young Endeavour award is normally presented to one youth crew member, signifying the ethos of the program, but on this voyage, we had a hard time choosing just one. It is my pleasure to announce Grace and Cooper as the recipients of the Young Endeavour award this voyage!
A group photo and many hugs and tears later and our Youthies were off again in search of their next adventure!
Well, that’s all folks! We’ve taken many photos, and we’ll have many more memories. We’ve learned to sail, we’ve made some friends, and maybe, just maybe we’ve learned some life lessons along the way. Thank you voyage 11/23, we hope you had an amazing time!
We’re going to have a well-deserved break before getting right back at it very soon! Stay safe friends! Captain Libby+
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Mostly Clear, Wind SE 15-25Kts
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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”
