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Captain's Log
Voyage 17/23
4 October 2023
Day 9 – Command Day!
Ahoy there! All Youthies to Midships! Welcome to the Captain’s Log for Day 9!
Overnight the Youthies attempted to keep their ears open, and eyes peeled on anchor watches in Port Stephens, and attempted to get as much sleep for the big Command Day! As this day approached just as fast as the wind did, the Youthies felt prepared and started their windy day to “Chicken Fried”.
Lead by Captain Brittany we smashed through several of the tasks, such as scrubbing the deck, creating a hammock that could hold all 24 Youthies, write a Captain’s Log :), teach the Staffies new skills, and conduct a dance off. These challenges required a lot of creativity, teamwork, and trust in each other. These challenges pushed us to our limits and a lot of blood, sweat and tears were scrubbed off the deck of the Young Endeavour.
However, with smashing these tasks problems do arise… Mother Nature being one of them. She had to have her say in our day and she clearly didn’t like how well we worked together. So, she decided to send (predicted) 40 knot winds and 4-5 metre swell our way. But we took this on the chin, rubbed the salt off our skin and carried on, excited to have another short and most certainly sweet night of anchorage watches.
Our amazing Chefos- Mads, Rachel and Eden created a 3rd mouth-watering meal for us so we could eat our feelings away with a great “Pub Feed” themed Dinner.
As we kept our anchorage and prepared for our watches, we reminisced of the times spent, and inside jokes made as we await to set sail for an adjusted Command Day (navigation version) and Community Day tomorrow.
Yours with kind and salty hearts,
Charlie and Will
Latitude/Longitude:
32 41.4'S / 152 10.3'E
Conditions:
Cloudy, Wind N 30-35Kts, Swell N 1-2m
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The day started off with everyone conducting overnight watches. Despite this being a routine task, we were met with a surprise leadership challenge. Our challenge was to find, set and furl the storm jib (which we had never seen or heard of before) without any assistance from the staffies. This tested our ability to work productively and communicate efficiently within our watch groups under stress. We all completed this activity successfully within around 1 to 2 hours. Afterwards, we spent some time to debrief and discuss how we can improve teamwork within our watches, as we all reflected on how we could each work to create a stronger team.
As the day progressed, all watches utilised their newly found skills to undergo "Captain's setting and furling". This entailed setting and furling the fore staysail and main staysail while Captain Adam Charlie Farley and a few other staffies assessed our safety without our watch leaders' guidance. All watches passed successfully, leaving the Captain very satisfied that we would be able to safely handle the sails on Command Day. Some of us saw a pod of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus Dolphus) swimming along the side of the boat, with a very cute infant dolphin beside them. After anchoring in the beautiful Broken Bay, we settled into a delicious lunch of Ham & Cheese toasties, Satay Chicken, or Sweet and Sour Pork made by the incredible Steve; followed by a much needed siesta.
Of course we had to take advantage of the sunny weather, so we enjoyed a refreshing swim at the beach with a game of dodgeball and tug of war (won by Blue Watch). We then had our mid-voyage chats with our watch leaders, reflecting on our goals which we set at the start of our voyage, and set some new ones to ensure we make the most out of the busy days ahead.
Just when we thought our day couldn't get better, we were treated with a BBQ and salad on deck for dinner and an impromptu dance party at midships. This was followed by another round of rope races (Dan is the man!!), where different items had to be located around the ship. An intense bonus round of racing Fenders (taken out by white watch) was undertaken, which got very competitive very quickly.
As the day concluded and the sun began to set, many of the youthies were able to enjoy the setting sky from the Foremast yards while taking up the square sails, while others enjoyed the view from the Main Mast or Bowsprit. Whilst this occured, some of us also were able to listen to one of our expert navigators on board, Leups, who taught and consolidated navigation techniques needed for command day and the best ways we can improve our navigation going forward.
Tonight, after a fantastic day, the youthies will be completing 1-hour anchor watches while also solving a navigation challenge during this time.
We can't wait for another busy and exciting day tomorrow!
Ava and Ruby, out!
Shoutouts:
Hey Mum, Dad and Zane! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the quiet household, I miss you guys so much. I am having so much fun and have had the most amazing experiences with the most amazing people (and yes Dad, I actually got to the top of the mast); I can't wait to tell you all about it when I get home. I love you guys so much! xx
Happy Birthday Kai! I hope you have an amazing day and enjoy being an official adult, I can't wait to see you. - Ava
Hey Dad! I hope you are remembering to be super rad. I miss you lots but I am having an incredible time on the ship! Some of the stuff you taught me has actually helped (sorry for not paying attention earlier). I have seen so many incredible things and hung out with some great people, so I can't wait to tell you all about it. I love you so much x - Ruby
Lat/Long: 33 34.7'S - 151 16.6'E
Weather: Clear. Wind: Light and variable. Temp: 24.
Newcastle to Sydney
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Day 5 – The Big Blue
All watches had a great night of sea watches, after leaving anchor yesterday. We were kept busy with climbing, sail handling, steering the ship and keeping a good lookout. The day started with the youthies having their morning brief with the Sailmaster swiftly followed by tacking stations where each watch worked together to switch which side the sails were on. This was then followed by 'happy hour' as the youthies went back to cleaning stations. The rest of the morning consisted of the youthies learning sail theory with Captain Adam. We learned how the sails worked, the points of sail and when we should use which sails.
After lunch the youthies learned how tacking stations worked from the perspective of the bridge, and what the Captain, Sailmaster and Navigator do before and during tacking the ship. All the youthies rotated through the bridge for a tacking demonstration. The rest of the afternoon was filled with practice of setting and furling the sails in preparation for the 'Captains Setting and Furling' activity, where the youthies must be able to operate the sails without assistance from their watch leaders.
After dinner a lot of us climbed up the foremast and onto the yards to watch a beautiful sunset. Each watch then began to settle in for another night of sea watches, and are looking forward to another great day tomorrow.
Harrison and Liam
Shoutouts:
Hi Mum, Dad, and Lincoln. I just wanted to say that I am having a lot of fun on the Young Endeavour and I cant wait to get back home and tell you all about it. Love Harrison.
Hi Mum and Dad, definitely having much more of a better time then I expected and am always keeping myself busy, hope Bear is doing well and same with you too, and you guys were definitely right, seasickness is very real. Love Liam.
Newcastle to Sydney
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Day 4 – Farewell Port Stephens. Thanks for having us
Last night the youthies participated in ANCHOR watches throughout the evening/night of Day 3 and the morning of Day 4, in which they were organised into groups of 3 or 4, this time from different watch colours.
In these anchor watches the youthies would check the position of the anchor, monitor the navigation system and complete the rounds log.
At 0630 we were woken up to the deep fried speaker audio of Hoodoo Gurus "A Thousand Miles Away" along with a walk around deck until all youthies were awake. A competitive game of Ubuntu helped wake the last of us up, with the staffies pleased to have won their second ever voyage Ubuntu game.
Hoisting of the flags or 'Colours' was conducted 0800. White watch was tasked with raising the flags and ringing the bells prior to a rendition of the national anthem.
For breakfast we had eggs benedict, on english muffins, with a side of bacon and baked beans. Following this great meal we conducted our second Happy Hour, splitting into the same groups as the first time to clean the ship.
Navigation tutorial with staffie Matt followed, in which we learnt to triangulate our positions using three known and stable points of reference, among other methods of seafaring navigation.
We had a ten minute break before we went into another talk, with Karsen. During this talk she taught us the basic 'road rules' of the ocean (eg. giving way port-to port-to avoid head-on collisions, signals/lights red over green to indicate a sailboat 'red on green is a sailing machine').
Lunch consisted of nachos and meat pies. We learnt how to set and clew square sails, which made a large proportion of the youth crew feel like pirates.
We set sail 1430 and conducted tacking drills, rotating between the stations of the three different watches to experience the roles of the other watches.
We had a large break ('siesta') after setting the sails as required for the course.
For dinner we had penne bolognaise and salmon in hollandaise sauce. Thank you so much to Steve for such delicious meals! A great way to finish of the day before we started our watches for the night at 1830.
Damien and Scarlett.
- Hey Mum, dad, Alex, Darcy and Harrson. I'm having a great time out here! Loving every second of it. We've been doing lots of stuff and I am missing you all so much. Time has been moving so fast, I can't believe that It's already day 4! I love you all and please say hello to the pets from me. - Damien
- Love you Mum, Dad, Kate, Tom, Inca and fish! I'm having a great time. Haven't been 'catatonic' once and after the initial sea sickness it feels like I've 'always been here', if you know what I mean :). - Scarlett.
