COMMAND DAY

Hi Everyone,I handed the Young Endeavour over to the Youth Crew of Voyage 15/09 at 1000 this morning and ever since then they have been doing a great job of running the ship (I might be out of a job). One of the many tasks that they have to complete over the 24hr period is to write the Captains Log for tonight and tomorrow, so please find the first entry from Youth Crew Captain Cass and some of her merry crew.Until tomorrow, take care.Yours AyeCaptain GavYOUTH CREW COMMAND DAY CAPTAINS LOGVOYAGE 15-09Hello all!Captain Cass here (excuse the awkward alliteration), logging on to deliver our first contact from THE TOP. Yes, we’ve finally been given the chance to take the helm, (literally!) and, in all honesty, the ship has never been in more capable hands! Our world, at the moment, consists of the ship, ourselves and a seemingly endless expanse of deep blue sea, all of which we have grown to love and respect.After a ‘rocky’ start and some very full fish (urgh!) we very quickly found our sea legs and pulled our foreheads off the railings long enough to get to know our fellow crew. And what an amazing, diverse group of young people we turned out to be! Everyone has really come together and contributed to our journey. Last night we went through the process of electing a leadership team for Command Day, with Matt C elected Sailmaster, Beth as navigator, Russ, DK and Ev as Watch Officers and Nathan, Tim, Jacqueline and Lex as Watch Leaders. And, somewhat surprisingly, it’s fallen to me to captain the ever enthusiastic Youth Crew. And what a task it has been!It’s now 18:00 and the weather is still on our side- thank you weather Gods. We find ourselves floating (steaming along at 8/9 knots) somewhere off the coast near Jurien Bay; we plan to be anchored safely near Fremantle sometime in the morning tomorrow. Big shout out to Bethany, our unfailing navigator, who managed to direct us within 3 yards of the last Navigation point- an incredible feat!We have been set a series of tasks to fulfil over our 24 hours of supremacy- all of which are well on the way to completion, if not already there. The sails are all under control and our direction, as I mentioned, is spot-on. The creative tasks have fallen into the capable hands of the watches and their leadersï¿½ You should see our huge chalk mural on the midship deck! Move over Da Vinci- wait til you’ve seen Lara attack a deck with colourful chalk! And our rearranged national anthems are ummm, music to our ears?! Sort of.We’re now getting ready for dinner, prepared with love by Millie, PJ and Loz- they’ve so far maintained the high standard set by Chad. We may have frozen to death, lost the contents of our stomach overboard multiple times, been over-tired and over-worked, but one thing we haven’t been is starved!Anyway. I’m looking forward to dinner, so I’m going to sign off. At the moment, command day has been perfect- there’s a long night ahead though, and someone has to relieve Beth without us ending up in Alaska… Fingers crossed.Love to all at home. We’re safe, happy and all is well.Cassie StaffordYouth Crew CaptainHey all (again)Command day and ever one is doing everything awesome there are really workingWell together and everything is running smoothly so far touch wood. Captain CassIs doing a great job so calm and collected and everyone else is really using the word team word and not saying it to people but they are doing it and its greatï¿½..Still having an awesome time and its just heaps of fun but not many days left now so I am making it worth while, while we still can well there is work to be done and no oneTo do it so I better go do something..See use all shortlyBye byePETEAhoy there! (As we’ve now become accustomed to)Alright it’s about time I sent out some love. I’m sorry I’ve not logged in till now but am having an awesome time! And yes (for all those lovely Exmouth cousins of mine taking bets) I was sea-sick even though I’d been so adamant my stomach would not fall victim to the unpredictable rolling seas. Am all good now though and have learnt so much. I won’t attempt to write about the adventures we are all having as it will take too long but I just wanted to get down a quick shout out to everyone to let you know all is well. Missing you terribly mum and dad and cant wait till I see you both (and Fel)… I’ll try get another log in before our return but if I don’t lots of love to you all!!Lara Oreskovich, xoxo.Hey there everyone,Thought I better log on and let you all know that I am having an absolute blast. It has all been so much fun and I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off my face. As everyday goes past, the only sad thing is that we are drawing closer to the end. Unfortunately that will have to do for now as I have to get back and get some things organised. Miss you all, can’t wait to see you and tell you all about it.Matthew CividinÂ Â

Latitude/Longitude:

31Â°0's / 115Â°9'e

Conditions:

Currently located 65nm to the NW of Fremantle and experiencing moderate 12-15kt SW winds with a 1.5m swell.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

Good evening shipmates, After a well-earned quality night’s sleep at anchor in Hunters Bay, Sail Master Sara woke us with another of her soothing tunes to get us on deck for a quick early morning activity. After breakfast the staff crew weighed anchor and conducted the transit to HMAS Waterhen, at Waverton. We berthed there at 0900 and prepared to embark our guests for the Community Day Sail. At 1015 we cast off our berthing lines and departed with our 34 guests and commenced our 3 hour tour of the harbour. Our Community Day Sailors were a group 30 members and staff from the Windgap Foundation. We also embarked some defence personnel as well. We again passed under the Harbour Bridge and then proceeded into Rose Bay where we set some sails and commenced sailing back towards Waterhen. Whilst on the harbour our fantastic youth crew helped us host our Windgap special guests. They encouraged our guests to participate in setting the staysails and a square sail by helping to pull on the sheets and clewlines. The youth crew also helped Chef Ash to prepare and deliver the food to our guests on deck. At 1300, after 3 fun-packed hours on the harbour, we berthed back at the southern wharf at HMAS Waterhen. Once we had farewelled our guests it was time to commence our end-of-voyage activities and preparations. The staff crew managed to organise a visit to the RAN Ship MATV Sycamore, which is crewed by a mixture of civilians and Navy staff, is a multi-role aviation training vessel. The youth crew embarked with their watch leaders and were given a 45 minute tour of the ship by some of the Navy crew. On completion they returned onboard and Young Endeavour sailed and proceeded to our anchorage in Athol Bay, which affords a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. During the transit to the anchorage the Youthies undertook their end-of-voyage chats, facilitated by their watch leaders, to examine if they had achieved everything in their full-value contracts they had completed at the start of the voyage. After the traditional last voyage dinner of home made pizzas, Sara gave the Youthies the Harbour Furl brief, who then donned their climbing harnesses and laid aloft to undertake the ‘Harbour Furl’ of the square sails to make them look immaculate for our ceremonial arrival at the end of the voyage tomorrow. Once that was completed, the youth crew then finished off their final outstanding Command Day tasks, which were planned for the last night onboard. These included the Voyage Slide Show compiled of photos taken by everyone. This was excellent and provided a touching reminder of what we had experienced and the beautiful coastlines and islands that we had visited during the voyage. The final activity of the day was the end-of-voyage administration, which for the youth crew included a feedback questionnaire asking for feedback on their experience of the voyage, as well as a letter for each crew member to write to themselves on their experiences during the voyage, which the Young Endeavour Youth Scheme will post to the youth crew in 6 months time. The aim of this is to help reinforce what the youth crew have learned about leadership, teamwork and about themselves from the experience of the voyage. Once these were completed the crew were encouraged to go to bed. The Ship will remain in Athol Bay overnight and weigh anchor and sail in the morning at 0900 and undertake the transit to HMAS Waterhen, where family and friends will meet the Ship on arrival at 1000. Until you hear from me tomorrow for the final instalment of Voyage 04/24. Yours aye, Captain Mike

V04/24

19 February 2024

Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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