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Captain's Log
14 September 2013
Voyage 15-13 Commences
Hello everyone,Welcome to Voyage 15/13 and Young Endeavour’s second voyage of our southern program. Our journey starts in Melbourne and will conclude in 6 days time in Hobart. We have a magnificent tall ship, wind for our sails, the unpredictable Bass Strait to challenge us and the spectacular Tasmanian Coast to explore. The potential is limitless and sense of adventure is infectious. I would like to introduce the Team of Staff Crew that will facilitate this voyage of adventure:Captain – GavSail Master – GuvNavigator – AdamWatch Officer – JenBoats Officer – JordoRed Watch Leader – DaveWhite Watch Leader – DougyBlue Watch Leader – SandyChef – HaydenEngineer – MickVoyage Fifteen officially commenced at 0800 today when the Returnee Youth Crew joined Young Endeavour berthed alongside at the Workshop Pier in Williamstown. Once all gear had been stowed, everyone mustered on deck for my welcome address and staff introductions. Once complete we said our farewells then commenced a safety brief and some ‘ice breaker’ activities.At 1000 in front of a very large crowd of well wishers our lines were cast off and we departed our berth then proceeded out into Port Phillip Bay in company with the other seven Tall Ships which have been participating in the Melbourne International Tall Ship Festival. Once in open water we formed up astern of each other then proceeded to conduct a spectacular Parade of Sail down to the south of Port Phillip Bay to the township of Rye.During this Parade of Sail we were surrounded by spectator craft and all of the Returnees got to experience the excitement of sailing in company with other Tall Ships. During this passage we continued with the training program refreshing the memories of the Returnees with some sail work and tacking drills.On completion of these drills all sail was handed in and due to the light and variable conditions we had to motor the final 15nm to our planned anchorage at Rye. Once at anchor I gave my Captains chat then we went straight into first night climbs. This activity was completed by 2200 and with everyone safely back on deck the first days program was successfully completed.The time is now 2200 and our Young Endeavour Returnees have just turned in for a well deserved good nights sleep.Tomorrow morning we will depart our anchorage and again proceed in company with the other Tall Ships out through the Port Phillip Bay Rip and into the infamous Bass Strait.Until Tomorrow, Take CareYours Aye Captain Gav     “Â
Latitude/Longitude:
38° 21' South / 144° 46' East
Conditions:
Currently at anchor just of the township of Rye and experiencing light NE winds with nil swell. Current temperature is 11 degrees.
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V03/23
03 February 2023
Day 6 – Wineglass Bay
Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 6 of our voyage. The strong northerly’s experienced yesterday moderated overnight and by the early hours of this morning we had entered Great Oyster Bay and were now motor sailing due to the light conditions. Just before sunrise we altered course to the east and transited through Schouten Passage which gave the morning watch an opportunity to view the western side of the Freycinet Peninsular and witness a spectacular sunrise. Once safely through the passage we altered course to the north, handed in sail, then proceeded directly into the famous Wineglass Bay where we came to anchor at 0830. Once at anchor we conducted the normal morning’s activities and have spent the rest of the day enjoying this beautiful part of Tasmania. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Liv and Mei who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav Ahoy there! This morning started off with a “funny” parody of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” featuring a memorable yet un-relatable line: “the vomit never bothered me anyway”, created by Red Watch. Thankfully, White Watch could sleep through this as they were on guts watch from 0000 to 0400, where they worked as a team to set the storm jib in a record time of 40 minutes! Other highlights of the night included learning about navigation, steering the helm by the wind for the first time and our famous midnight café featuring a lot of vegemite. Some very special guest dolphins swam around the ship and looked truly majestic as they glowed with bioluminescence. We anchored and woke up to the stunning view of The Hazards at Wineglass Bay, which we later hiked up and saw a spectacular view of Young Endeavour looking gorgeous in all its glory. But before this, we had mid voyage chats where we evaluated our goals and how we’ve progressed since the beginning of the voyage. We then played the inaugural bin ball championships created by Bucky at Wineglass stadium featuring a sand court. Unsurprisingly, White Watch won with a tight score of 3-2 in the finals. After the hike, which we were told was going to be around 20 minutes but ended up being more than an hour, some Youthies took the chance to have a quick swim before going back to the ship. Tonight’s dinner menu included lamb satay curry and grilled chicken, as well as a special addition of Hoppy’s Sundae Bar, which proved to be very popular. Most of us decided to have dinner on the deck and take advantage of the picturesque view of Wineglass Bay. As always, a big shoutout to our Head Chef Haydo and Masterchef assistants for keeping our bellies happy! After dinner, we had a self-reflection “Stop Start Continue” workshop in our watches where we wrote about certain aspects we want to work on to improve ourselves. Hopefully we will see that we have been able to make progress on our goals when we get to read them again in six months’ time. We believe in you, you got this! Currently, we’re waiting to start the anchor watches (our favourite) and preparing to set sail again tomorrow. Finally a shoutout to Mum, Dad and Ruben miss you guys so much. Remember I’m looking at the same moon and stars as you are, Love you - Liv Shoutout to Dad as I live out his dream of “enjoying good food on a navy ship”. Mei This is Liv and Mei signing off J
V03/23
02 February 2023
Day 5 – Two, Six, Heave!
Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. Overnight and during the early hours of this morning we continued to enjoy a great sail around the southern Tasmanian coast with all of the watches kept busy with setting and furling sails and doing some practical navigation. By sunrise we were located just to the south of Bruny Island now just sailing under fore & aft sail and hoping that the day would get warmer, which sadly it didn’t. But the cold and a little rain hasn’t dampened our spirits and we have still managed to fit in a lot of great activities today and our young mariners continue to impress with their endless energy and motivation. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Riley and Jack who have done a great job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain GavV03/23 – DAY 5
This morning the youth crew of the STS Young Endeavour woke to the frightening sound of red watch singing a parody of Riptide by Vance Joy over the ships intercom. This was then followed by the message that blue watch, the watch that was on guts the night before, could have a well-deserved sleep in. While members from blue watch went back to sleep the rest of the crew made their way down to the galley to enjoy another one of Haydos fantastic meals. After everyone had had breakfast the morning brief was given at 0900 which involved informing the youthies of the day ahead and a very educational story by Matty on the origins of the nautical term “two six heave”. After the morning brief the crew went below decks for Chucky’s favourite part of the day: Happy Hour! (Also known as cleaning the ship hour). In the afternoon the three watches conducted rotational tacking stations. This involved the watches rotating through the positions that the other watches fill when we tack which helped the crew get a better idea on what happens when we tack. Captain Gav came up on deck to give us a crash course about sailing theory and the ships history. This was very interesting and gave the youth crew a helpful insight into why different sails are used depending on different wind conditions. Round 3 of the famous Rope races were then commenced at noon with a twist of the round being worth double points. This highly non-competitive competition ended with Blue and Red watch drawing making it a close race for the rest of the trip The biggest highlight of most people’s day was sailing through the straight between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar in the afternoon. We all gathered at the bow of the ship as we gazed upon the spectacular columnar basalt edged cliffs rose up on either side of the narrow passageway. We had to furl all the sails, which involved sending two youth crew members up the main mast in rough swells and high winds to gasket the sail. Engines where turned on for the first time that day so we could safely pass the straight. The effort was truly worth it as we passed the resident seal colony and schools of dolphins. One of the greatest things about the STS Young Endeavour is even though the ship may sway from side to side and youth crew struggle to walk straight without getting knocked into a wall; the ships Chef continues to work hard and impress us with meals made from a kitchen which is smaller than the size of most people’s laundry room. It continues to amaze me how he keeps this quality in these rocky conditions. Not enough praise can be given to the hard work this man puts in keeping everyone happy. Go Haydo!Hi mum and dad I’m still alive, somehow we are already halfway through. See you in six days. Jack. You probably won’t see this but love you to the moon and back mum and dad. Riley. Until next time… Youthies Jack & Riley
V03/23
01 February 2023
Day 4 – From Dusk ‘till Dawn
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Day 4 of our voyage. It’s been another busy day for the crew of Young Endeavour with plenty of activities to keep our young mariners busy. We did experience some rain this morning but the weather gods smiled upon us just as we weighed anchor with the sun coming out and the wind freshening from the WNW.
Once clear of Port Davey we put the ship under fore & aft sail and by late afternoon we had set the topsail which was the first time we have set a square sail this voyage. By early evening we had rounded SW Cape and are now settled into watches overnight and are enjoying some great sailing.
That’s enough from me I will now handover to Jasper and Aria who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav
From dusk ‘till dawn, each group for anchor watches consisted of three people, each from different watches, and conducted rounds without the help from the staff for 2 and half hours which was definitely much easier and more relaxing from the four hour watches we did the previous day. This morning, we were at anchor in Port Davy to mist and drizzle and spectacular mountain views.
Due to the weather, we conducted morning brief inside after a delicious breakfast of porridge, eggs, toast and even spaghetti thanks to the legendary Haydo and his assistant master chefs. Our brains were slightly fried by a very informative lesson on navigation from Seb, but despite it involving a bit too much maths for that early in the morning, it was really interesting and gave us all a better idea of what on Earth is going on in the Chart House.
When that was all covered we had the choice of a siesta until lunch or to lay aloft (climb the mast) and loose the gaskets from topsail yard. It was only really a four person job but there were eight of us keen to go up, so the four who weren’t needed to cast loose the gaskets just went up to the course yard and stayed there a while taking in the scenery. Just as the gaskets had been loosened and we were on our way down, the rain started. Luckily most of us had already donned our wet weather gear, but Alistair got soaked through and Jasper couldn’t reach his hood and got a very wet head.
Once we were down lunch was ready so we sat down in the galley to steak with garlic gravy and Haydo’s delicious chicken pasta bake. In red watch, one of our goals is to try every different tea available on board and learn Morse code, so we had a tea with lunch and practiced the alphabet.
Then we left anchor and as we left Port Davy we had rope races in which a specific rope was called and one person from each watch had do find where it was located and the first person there was claimed the winner of that round. White watch came in clutch with the win, red watch second and blue watch finally put themselves on the board with a win from today’s races. We then set the forestay sail along with jib afterwards which proved to be difficult with the wind but was achieved with the help of some mighty teamwork.
After the wind went down, everyone was admiring the ocean on the upper decks with the sun finally out and shining, dinner was then served with an amazing selection of meals including curried sausages, steam veggies, pasta bake and potatoes and of course a special shoutout to Chucky’s mum for the excellent rhubarb from her garden served in the rhubarb ice cream for dessert.
Shoutout – Just wanna say hi to my Mum, my Dad, Thoria, Rory, Lawson and Fynn J I miss you guys so much and I can’t wait to tell you about all the amazing experiences I’ve had. I love you guys so much. See you guys when I get home xoxo J - Aria <3
Hello to Mum, Dad, Asher and of course Oyster Joe. Dad we definitely need to walk to Port Davy some day and all of you make sure to give OJ and the horses a scratch from me J - Jasper
Jasper and Aria signing out