Captain's Log

Jul-16

26 May 2016

Day 6 – Great Sailing Conditions

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to day six of our voyage. Given my busy schedule today I asked White Watch if they would write the Captains Log for this evening and straight away they agreed to take on this task, so please enjoy tonightâ€™s entry written by Lucy and Pete with some shout outs from the rest of their watch.

Until tomorrow, take care

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

Ahoy there,

Greetings from Pete and Lucy from White Watch. It is currently day six and the last 24 hours have been pretty hectic and tiring for us all. The shipâ€™s rig needed a tune today which involved heading back to Sydney from Jervis Bay and sailing around the Harbour whilst tacking the ship and mastering our sail skills. As we were entering the Harbour we also got a spectacular view of whales playing around in the water.

We started the day off with a cold and miserable front which eventually passed whilst in Sydney; from a grey, rainy sky we were welcomed once again with the lovely, warm sun. Once the rig was tuned, we made our way back out into the Tasman Sea, headed for Broken Bay. We also took advantage of some much needed rest whilst having a few games of Uno, relaxing on the deck and going for a climb.

Itâ€™s currently 18:10 and we are on watch until 20:00 where we will spend time keeping watch, taking the helm, doing the rounds of the ship and enjoying each otherâ€™s company with a few jokes from our watch leader, Kenny. We will then be willingly heading off to bed until 04:00 where we will commence our next watch and enjoy the beautiful sunrise until 08:00.

We have all been fed extremely well, much to our surprise! We had stuffed beef, salami pasta, pumpkin soup, grilled vegies and chocolate pudding on offer to us tonight which we made the most of. Many of us have been making up for the meals some of us missed due to the dreaded sea sickness we were overwhelmed with during the first three days, luckily this has passed for all of us and we are now fully enjoying sailing the seas.

Shout outs!

The members from White Watch would like to take this opportunity to touch base with our family and friends.

Hi Mum, Dad, Greta and Haydn. Been thoroughly enjoying this experience heaps besides all the gut wrenching throwing up over the first couple of days. Donâ€™t miss you too much (sorry!!) but looking forward to telling you all about it! Lucy xx

To Laura and Graeson- Missing you heaps and looking forward to hearing from you next Tuesday when we arrive in Newcastle. Pete xx

To Mum, Dad and Austin- Having an amazing time and enjoying the experience, missing you so much and cannot wait to see you next Tuesday. Maddie xx

Hi James, Mum, Dad, Sophie, Melody and anyone else who ends up reading this. Iâ€™m having a much better time now that Iâ€™m not sick. Sorry I didnâ€™t tell anyone to read this before I left, but I can make up for it by having you read it now. Love you all. Love Kayla xx

Missing you all and am so not eager to start uni again. Love Nate.

Hi from Zack. My tacking station involves shouting at people. This is so much fun.

Latitude/Longitude:

33 29 S / 151 31 E

Conditions:

Currently located 15nm to the NE of Broken Bay and enjoying moderate 12-15kt NW winds with .5m SE swell. Our current speed is 5kts and the temperature is 14 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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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

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Day 6 – Great Sailing Conditions

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