Day 6 – Sails, Dolphins, Sunfish and Tuna!

Ahoy shipmates…apologies for the delay…technical difficulties ashore (power outage apparently). Suffice to say all are hale and hearty…and that’s about all I need to say…my very articulate young friends have got it covered. Until tomorrow, fair winds, Captain Kenny P.S. The sailing has been awesome!———-
Day 6 was an absolute cracker! Cracker being the operative word because it was loud, hot and we couldn’t see a damn thing because of the thick smoke. We kicked off the day with some good, old fashioned ACDC. “Thunderstruck” was both a rallying call and a very optimistic prayer that the blooming smoke would subside. Things felt a little strange once we came above deck… Partially because this was the first night sailing after weighing anchor at Jervis Bay for a blissful 24 hours. Partially because Mercury was in retrograde – not that we could see Mercury. Once again, SMOKE.
As usual, at 09:00, the youthies were called to Morning Brief where we once again fought tooth and nail to guess the distance we travelled overnight (57 miles). Amateurs might think we were merely yelling arbitrary numbers at the Navigator; however, after our 5th day out at sea, we knew the stakes were too high to guess. Following on from the Navigator’s speech, Salty (our resident Sea-whispering Goddess) smiled kindly on us and told us the magnificent story behind why the 4-6pm and 6-8pm periods are called first and last dog watch respectively. We would write what we saw, but in many ways what we saw was indescribable. We then moved on to Happy Hour (the most gloriously happy of hours) and we cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. Just like the captain’s smile, the boat was sparkling (if not slightly incomplete).
After we sadly finished cleaning the Young Endeavour, top to bottom, bow to stern, we headed up on deck to finish the last remnants of our crew training. Ivanka explained the many regulations around boat travel that prevent collisions and other mischief. The youthies gleefully sat and listened as Ivanka described the difference between a bouy and a lifehouse! Captain Kenny then took the (metaphorical) helm and taught us about Sail Theory. Through the use of chalk and pure imagination, the Captain described which sails could be used in which conditions for maximum results. The only thing distracting us from the Captain’s sweet teachings were a pod of dolphins that came to greet us in the early afternoon. As if the dolphins were not enough, a series of sunfish graced us with their presence. Not to be distracted from the delights of nature, the crew then embarked on a series of tacks so the youthies could learn how to change the direction of the ship and set the sail correctly come command day. We each got a turn at every tacking station as the Staffies explained the process of checking away, hauling the lines and heaving the jib. After hours of sailing, we welcomed a 38th member on board, being a large Yellow Fin Tuna, courtesy of our part time Sail Master and full time legend, James Bagnato. Unlike the lovely welcome that the Youthies received when they first came on board, the tuna was somewhat less fortunate. The youthies did not mind. Jonathon (the Tuna fish) looked delicious once filleted.
From there, the youthies were given the challenge of setting the fisherman’s staysail and main gaff topsail without the assistance of staff with a one hour time limit to make it a tad more demanding. Cheered on by the spirit of Jonathon who now haunts the ship, the youthies worked in tandem to set several objectively difficult sails. Once we had successfully finished that task, we headed for dinner (party pies, char-sue pork and a sneaky vegetable or two) and then to our racks (bunks) where we dreamed of a tomorrow filled with floral shirts, smoke-free air and several servings of butter-fried Jonathon.

James (lazerboy) and Emma