COMMAND DAY CONCLUDES

The ship has now been returned to the Staffies. The 24 hours which we commanded the ship had many good sides although not everything goes to plan and there were some not so good sides. Throughout the night we sailed with an easterly breeze of only about 7 knots which meant we didn’t have much speed and when we had to tack it was hard to get up the 3 knots necessary to be able to tack the ship, as we were heading to our north and second waypoint we had to continue tacking to get away from the land, just as we were getting onto a good course to get to our second waypoint we had a fishing boat which we had to avoid and therefore we had to tack again. We then thought it would be easier to head to the south waypoint as it would require a lot less tacking throughout the night, much around the same time the wind swung around to the west this also force the ship into a tack in which we did not want to do, however this worked in our favour and we were able to continue heading to the southern waypoint. We eventually got to the southern waypoint to cross our second for the day/night, we then started to head out to the eastern waypoint but in doing so the wind started to die completely and we ended up missing the eastern waypoint. We started heading back to Twofold Bay so that we could make the Start/Finish line by 0900, we crossed the line with plenty of time to spare and this meant that we had completed another task.Within the 24 hours which I captained the ship, the crew worked absolutely outstanding, the guys in the galley worked for hours to prepare some of the best meals you could possibly think of. Everyone came together and put in the hard yards when they were needed, this included; tacking the ship at all hours of the night, doing watches throughout the night, helping one another when help was needed, the navigators working endlessly throughout the night to workout our position and many, many other things. The last 24 hours as a captain was made easy by the work done by so many, the ship ran smoothly and there was never a dull moment. There was 22 tasks in total to complete and I am pleased to say that we have completed 20 and the 21st, 22nd ones will be completed tomorrow night as they are a song to highlight our voyage and a photo story of our voyage, they will both be presented on our last night together as the crew of V18/11.I am extremely proud of everyone aboard “Young Endeavour” V18/11 as it has only been 9 days since we met one another, we knew nothing about each other and within the past 9 days we had taken command of “Young Endeavour” using all the skills in which we have learnt to complete every task set for us. Command day was a great success and it was a great pleasure to be the captain. We have come together as not just a crew but a team and great mates and we have faced many challenges along the way and we have gotten through them all because we came together and got the tasks done as a team. I just want to say well done to everyone on “Young Endeavour” V18/11 it has been an exciting and an amazing voyage.Youth Captain James