COMMAND DAY CONCLUDES

An eventful night followed an eventful day of the 24 hour youth crew command day. Here we tested our wit and resolve and pushed the limits of sleep deprivation in order to keep the boat going where we wanted.Aside from the command team and the chefs, the bulk of the crew was split up into three groups. Each group comprised a watch officer, watch leader and three to four crew who each took turns throughout the night to watch over the ship. This ensured that there was always someone keeping an eye on the ship while the rest of the crew could tend to other tasks and get a little shut-eye.Shannon continued to navigate our ship, and take fixes of our location using the radar system. In between tacking and other duties, he delegated this task to the officers on watch thereby allowing himself to get a solid 2 hours of sleep.At about midnight, we were making excellent headway and our expected time of arrival would be around 3am. Shortly after this realisation, a simulated distress signal was received. The youth crew responded by diverting our course to the location given to save the fair maidens lost at sea. As it turned out, this dog leg would prolong the voyage by several hours.Head henchman, Brae, decided to conduct an impromptu tack in the wee hours of the morning resulting in the officers on watch, Kaz and Peter, with the help of their team to get the ship back on course without disturbing the crews sleep.We put together an entertaining morning brief, including a few crusty jokes and an interesting explanation of the origin on the fenders which are found on the side of a boat.At around 12pm the following day we were on our final leg into Port Adelaide. With the wind behind us and sails set we thought it would be an opportune time to get everyone to climb aloft the mast and get a photo. However, as is usually the case with best laid plans, we were a little short for time and forced to postpone this photo until after we laid anchor. The photo still looks pretty good.At 1pm we handed back the ship to the staff and immediately got some much needed rest. Looking back we’re all pretty happy with what we have achieved. We completed nearly all the tasks, didn’t use any engines, sailed away from anchor and into anchor in the required time.We all had a great time, and learnt the importance of respect, trust, delegation, empowerment, adaptability, tolerance and all that jazz. I think we are all a little surprised at what we are capable of when we can all come together as a team and really push our limits.Wounds heal, chicks dig scars, and glory lasts forever.Youth Captain out,MikeAs Youth Captain Mike detailed, the Command day for the Youth Crew was an incredible journey, a day filled with individual and team discovery, challenges, rewards, lessons, friendships and new found confidence. They exemplified the ships motto ‘Carpe Diem’ translated ‘to seize the day’.Now that the Youth Crew have settled into overnight anchor watches the intention is to weigh anchor early tomorrow morning from Semaphore anchorage and proceed into Port Adelaide Outer Harbour, where we will berth and embark our guests consisting of young Australians from the Leukaemia Foundation enabling those youth who are unable to participate in an 11 day voyage a glimpse of what our current Youth Crew have experienced. We will depart for a three hour sail before returning back alongside and farewelling our guests. Sailing once more to anchor for our last night on the ship to complete the adventure that is voyage 19/10 on Young Endeavour.Yours ayeCaptain Damien