Captain's Log

Voyage 14/22

10 December 2022

Day 8 – Command Day Part 1

Hello again to all our friends and family back home, Youthie Sailmistress Jordan here!

Today marked the commencement of our Command Day! (WOOHOO) At 1000hrs the staffies handed over command of this beautiful vessel to the youth crew, trusting us with the task of sailing us back to the beautiful Sydney Harbour. Excitement filled the air (along with plenty of nervous energy along with it) ready for 24hours of fun, challenges and open seas!

Command Day began with a navigation challenge for our newly elected navigators, where they were sent on a hunt around the ship for a geocache (thank you Emma) otherwise known as the details of our navigation waypoints and destination. Once our nav information was found, Youthie Captain, Sailmistress, Navigators and Watch Officer head into the chart house to begin our plan of attack. All remaining youth crew were given the task of building a rope hammock on deck that was large enough and strong enough to support the entire youth crew. With the combined team effort we managed to get that done in under an hour, with the staffies saying it was one of the best hammocks they’ve seen!

Once that was complete, it was time to swab the decks before we weighed anchor. The staffies led us out of Broken Bay and shut off the engines at 1630 leaving us to sail towards our first way point. Under my watchful eye, we set our fore and aft sails along with our mainsail to start making headway.

Shortly after, we enjoyed an incredible dinner meal from our youthie chefs, receiving high praise from staffie chef Jarrod and the rest of the crew. We sent four keen youthies aloft to cast loose gaskets in preparation for setting the squares after we reach our first waypoint.

As I write this log, we have split into our night watches and continue to sail into the night towards our destination. Keep all your fingers crossed for us that this wind continues to change northerly (otherwise is means we have a long night ahead of us).

We shall keep you updated on our journey, and touch base on our (hopefully) successful arrival in the morning. Sailmistress Jordan signing out!

P.S. Wishing the happiest birthday to Charly’s mum. We’ll be home soon!

Latitude/Longitude:

Conditions:

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Day 8 – Command Day Part 1

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