DAY 11 – COMMAND DAY PART 2

Ahoy there Shipmates,It was a long night for the crew of the Young Endeavour. Everyone was put through their paces being thrust into new roles with everyone taking on the challenge.The night of sailing was challenging not because of gale force winds but because of the complete lack of wind with 0.2 knots being recorded at one stage. The crew in the early hours of the morning were also faced with an armada of fishing vessels which lead to a series of course changes.Special mention should go to Navigator Andrew who had to make a series of course changes and Sail Master Jack who had to make a number of changes to his sail plan. I would also like to thank the Watch Officers and Watch Leaders who were patient throughout the night.But most importantly I need to thank the youth crew who stuck by us throughout the night battling fatigue and cold conditions to get us to our anchorage early in the morning.The crew were then graced with a glorious French themed breakfast which was able to lift the crews’ spirits.Breakfast was followed by the morning meeting presented by Sail Master Jack who went over the plan for the day. He was followed by Navigator Andrew who declared Green Watch the winner of last nights distance race.We then saw a series of guest appearances from Salty Junior (Jake) who provided an entertaining portrayal of a historical event in Tasmania. He was assisted by Nadine and Hannah who played their parts with gusto.The next special guests were grandma (Lauren) and grandpa (Steve) whose comedic duet ensured that the crew would think twice before leaving their clothes lying around their bunks.At the conclusion of the meeting we headed to midships where we sang some nursery rhymes with Kasey and Annabel taking centre stage. This was followed by the National Anthem to a series of different tunes. The three watches, Green, Pink and Black all presented the National Anthem to a wide variety of tunes including ‘Three Blind Mice’ and ‘What did the Fox say?’This was followed by the happiest hour of day ‘Happy Hour’. The crew despite being sleep deprived were able to put on a happy face and clean up the ship and put back to its original sparkling condition.At 1000 there was a hand over ceremony, where I handed back command of the Young Endeavour back to Captain Mike. The opportunity to Captain the ship truly was a privilege and it was a unique opportunity to work with such a fantastic group of people.I would like to thank everyone involved for this once in a lifetime opportunity.Captain Dan——————————————————Ahoy there shipmates,It was great to witness the youth crew of Voyage 20/13 undertake the journey that was Command Day. In some of the debriefs we heard today some expressed disappointment and frustration at how the day panned-out. I think the youthies are being overly hard on themselves. I think they performed very well and they should be proud of their achievements.I took the Ship back from Youth Captain Dan at 1000 and we then debriefed the Command Day task achievement followed by a debrief of the whole experience of Command Day with a focus on what the youthies have learnt and will take away from the experience.Navigator Rick and I had a look at the weather forecast for tomorrow and saw that 30 knot winds are expected in the vicinity of Williamstown. For that reason I decided to berth there this afternoon instead of waiting until tomorrow morning. I decided that because for us to berth under those conditions we would require tug assistance and since we had the option to berth while conditions were more benign it made sense to do so.On arrival we held the final round of ‘Ropies’ challenge to decide who the winning watch would be. That result determined the watches who would conduct the harbour furls of each of the square sails. After getting into some dry clothes the youth crew got together to de-We then had a break for the traditional final night pizza dinner, made onboard by Luke.After cleaning up we then got into the post-voyage administration until sunset, when we stopped to conduct the final two tasks, a slide show recording the experience of the voyage and a poem, which was written by Phoenix Richards. Once the final paperwork was completed everyone crashed to get some well-earned rest.Until tomorrow.Yours ayeCaptain Mike