Day 3 – Newcastle to Jervis Bay

Ahoy there Landlubbers,

Overnight the Youthies were missing their beds as it was the first round of watches, this is basically shifts of steering the ship, keeping lookout, changing sails and going for the occasional climb up the mast. Shifts go from 8pm-8am in four hour stints per watch. These strange hours were difficult but made worth it from visits from the local sea life, including a pod of very large dolphins that were mistaken for whales.

In the morning, the Youthies pushed through sea sickness and fatigue to practise their tacking stations and wearing manoeuvres. This allows us to rapidly change the course of the boat if that is needed, e.g. to dodge an obstacle. Joining us was the pod of 10-15 dolphins who had been following the ship since around 11pm the previous night.

The past few days have been a major information overload, but the Youthies have been doing a good job at absorbing it all. Today we had a fantastic nav briefing from our expert navigator, Terrific Trevor where he taught us how to find where we are, where we have been and where we are going, all of which being very crucial things for not getting lost at sea!

Sunday roast came early with Ash and her Master Chefs making roast lamb and pork ribs, with some killer veggie bake and roast veg. To top it all off we had gourmet lamingtons that cured any sea sickness that they may have had.

Special shoutout to Elise. Arkady says “Happy one year anniversary, love you so much.”

Sending hugs and kisses to our families!

Written on behalf of the Youthie crew by Jack Mckee and Sarina Hicks of Blue Watch (the best watch)!

Thank you Jack and Sarina for your narrative of today’s events. Making good speed running downwind on all three square sails, we expect to arrive off Jervis Bay early in the morning. Intend anchoring there tomorrow and spending the night there.

Until tomorrow, Yours Aye, Captain Mike