Whitsunday Passage

Ahoy shipmates and welcome to day 7. Dion here again to fill you in on the day activities. Overnight we conducted our eggs can fly activity. It was very entertaining and some real ingenuity and creativeness was on show from our amazing and talented Youth Crew. They then settled into anchor watched overnight and readied themselves from a very physical and busy day.
We pulled up our anchor early in the morning and repositioned around to Cid Harbour. This is where we provided a physical and mental challenge of a different nature, to head ashore and summit the highest peak in the Whitsundays. Our team did sensational and we have a crew photo at the top of the peak to prove it. Some deep and meaningful discussions were had on both the summit assault and on the descent and there was much thought, sharing, honesty and reflection. What a morning!!! Stunning!!
After a lovely lunch, we successfully sailed from anchor and our team had to demonstrate some real precision and timing to achieve this and were up to the task. The afternoon had some more involved explanations of and demonstrations of tacking and I took the team through the basic theories behind sails and how they work. Then after dinner, we sung Happy Birthday and shared some cake with some very special individuals, Luke and Emma! I’ll now hand over to some members of Red Watch, Sarah and Jess to fill you in on the activities from their perspective.
Until tomorrow, fair winds, Dion
Ahoy there maties from Jess and Sarah.
What a morning! We had some amazing pancakes and watched the sunrise up on deck, anchored at the gorgeous Stonehaven Bay. After filling our faces with pancakes, chocolates and ice-cream we went to shore to work it all off and hiked a whopping 5kms up and down Whitsunday Peak. But our efforts were all worth it in the end to see the glorious, unreal view of the Whitsunday Islands from the highest peak in the Whitsundays. Shoutout to Horto for supplying the scrumptious chocolates that were discovered at the bottom of his bag!
Have you ever celebrated your birthday at Whitsunday Peak, surrounded by a bunch of strangers and just coming off a Tall ship? Well two of our members today Luke (21) and Emma (19) have. Hope you loved the cakes. A massive HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both! Exhausted and starving from our hike we rushed into the galley to fill our bellies with Zacks delicious cooking, then onto practising some observational tacks. After a few tacks and wears we set full sail, turned off all engines and sailed off, with the sun setting behind the mountains painting the sky in purples and pinks which faded into a beautiful blood moon rising over the horizon.
Shoutouts: Sarah Hey FamBam I am so happy you convinced me to go on the Young Endeavour! I have met so many wonderful people and we have all had such an amazing adventure together. Miss and love you guys!!! Jess Thank you to the Navy for this amazing opportunity! It has built my confidence and social skills and I have made so many new friends. Missing family heaps but I am having an amazing time, can’t wait to see you guys again!
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Wind 110 at 12knots Sea 0.5m Swell Nil
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Ahoy followers of our Young Endeavour journey! Command Day. We made it.
The beautiful weather at our anchor point at Jervis Bay made for a spectacular day under the command of our fellow Youth Crew! A morning stretch and some wise words from the Ship Crew gave Captain Waz and the team a step in the right direction.
With the new watches all set and ready to go, Captain’s Setting and Furling gave all our youthies the chance to prove their abilities on the high seas. Strong performances from all three watches; Sharkies, Chompers and Narwhals!!
Morning brief gave the Sailmaster a chance to give us the daily orders and help get everyone on the same page. With the staff crew getting ready for a holiday and giving us the ship, floral shirts and party music filled the deck and, with some final preparations, the ship was ours.
The Captain was given a small but very significant envelope that contained the essential, non-essential and completely optional tasks to be done over the course of the next 24 hours. 2 tacks were to be made at a minimum before leaving the bay and safety checks were the essential tasks to start our journey. However.
More amusing, optional tasks allowed some of our youthies to become part of the “Beach Assault Team” while others were put to the task of making a slideshow of the voyage, tying all the knots on the list, etc. These were some activities that bided the time for our incredible navigator - Ruscoe to set out a plan and work together with the Sailmaster - Hugh to create a sail plan.
Tacking stations were the focus for our late afternoon, preparing to weigh anchor and leave such a beautiful bay, for our last stretch of this incredible voyage.
Happy Birthday to the Capitan, Warwick, who turned 24 today! The wonderful MasterChef’s created a “cherry ripe” cake out of rice crispies, coconut, chocolate, and love. With a beautiful ceremony to end our day.
Sailing into the night leaves us the ability to see the lights from our destination. Sydney, here we come!
Wish us luck! From Nat and Tom!!

ARRRGH, ahoy there from the spectacular Jervis Bay! We’ve all been taken A-back by the crystal clear blue waters and snow white sands.
After a well deserved sleep in these sheltered waters which was a refreshing change to clinging to our bunk racks for dear life for the past few days, the ship rose to another banger of a morale tune “sung” by Blue Watch. Brekkie was fun after the early morning activity to get us all up and moving. We held another round of competitive not-competitive rope races which culminated in smashed eggs on deck and the mummification of said egg smashers.
Roast lamb for lunch was prepped by the staffies in the absence of our culinary wizard Steve. Once cleaned up, we took the RHIB’s across to Captains Beach bordering HMAS Creswell which was a mind-blowingly beautiful little spot. Pretty much everyone had a dip in the drink and a roll in the sand and played some creative beach games run by our Suitability legends, Speedy Sam and Eggs.
A few hours at the beach made everyone ready to head back home and attack a teak deck barbeque, devouring cheese platters, steaks, sangas, and salads. With our full stomachs, us youthies initiated the highly anticipated elections for our command day roles. Which will commence sometime around midday tomorrow. We held a vote for each available role that all willing youthies put themselves forward for.
The following roles were voted as follows: Captain – Warwick, Sailmaster – Hugh, Navigator – Ruscoe, Officer of the Watch – Dan, Watch Leader – Nick, Ben, Bridget, Master chef – Emily, Mackenzie, Alyshia
We were greeted after our elections by a low flying anti-submarine MH60-Romeo Helicopter which did a cool fly around our ship. *Thanks Squizz!!* And then watched an amazing film about the rounding of Cape Horn back in 1929 on a 7 story tall sail ship.
Signing off from our anchor watch, Ben and Giles.
“I believe that positive energy and optimism help us to take up any challenge in life and to succeed in even the most difficult tasks. I also believe that positive energy is contagious: We can transmit it to others”
