VOYAGE 06/16 DAY 5 – FRIDAY 26 MAR 16

Ahoy there Shipmates,

Overnight the Ship remained at sea on passage to Broken Bay. We maintained a south westerly course on a quarter run on the port tack with a light NNE breeze. This freshened to 16 knots during the morning watch. At 0600 we arrived east of the entrance to Broken Bay and altered course to the east. As a consequence the watch on had to clew-up the square sails and set the Jib.

Sail Master Matt piped Wakey wakey at 0700 with the smell of fresh-baked hot cross buns wafting up from the galley, given it was Good Friday. The other notable thing was the Young Endeavour recently established tradition of ‘Floral Friday’, which enabled the crew to wear colourful and loud floral clothing for the day.

After breakfast Salty paid a visit to our morning brief and demonstrated the nautical origin of the expression ‘Son of a Gun’, using the staffies’ well-developed acting skills and impressive wardrobe and props. ‘Goth’ Nana then visited with another full sack of loose clothing she had found ‘sculling about’ the youth crew’s cabins. Obviously they are still not getting the message! Today’s song she taught us was ‘Peel Bananas’.

That was followed by Happy Hour and then the crew mustered on deck for ‘Demonstrational Tacks’. This is another activity that prepares the youthies for Command Day. We got three members of each watch up to the bridge to observe the Tacking process, until we had worked our way through the whole youth crew. I explained the process to each group to enhance their understanding. This will be critically important for the youthies elected captain, sail master and navigator. It also gives everyone a deeper understanding of what we are doing and why.

After lunch we held mid-voyage talks which was an opportunity for youthies to discuss their progress in achieving the goals they set for themselves as we as a chance to add / delete or amend their goals. This was followed by round 3 of Rope Races and then a briefing on the nautical Rule-of-the- Road, given by Watch Officer Marty.

The watches then participated in the ‘Egg Challenge’ which involved creating a form of parachute from a range of common objects to enable an egg to survive being dropped from the lower tops (course yard level) and landing closest to the target. All watches were given the same objects and a time limit to complete their preparations. It was a fun activity with varying levels of success. White watch achieved maximum points.

The ship remained at sea overnight with the watches consolidating their setting and furling and navigation knowledge. It is intended to anchor the Ship tomorrow at Patonga, Broken Bay, before lunch.

Until tomorrow evening,

Yours Aye

Captain Mike