Day 8 – Command Day

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 8 of our voyage. Well following a pleasant morning where we let the Youth Crew loose on the picturesue town of Cowes I have now handed the ship over to Captain Ben and his faithful crew who I am sure will do an amazing job of running the ship over the next 24hrs. Besides sailing and safely navigating Young Endeavour they have many other challanging tasks to complete during the Command Day period and one of those tasks is to write tonight’s Captains Log so please enjoy tonight’s entry written by Captain Ben.

Until Tomorrow, take care.

Yours Aye

Captain Gav

Day 8 â€“ Command Day!!!
Today was the beginning of the highly anticipated command day, where the youth crew takes over the STS Young Endeavour for a whole 24 hours, deciding where we go and when we get there. Although we didnâ€™t take over until 1400 the excitement was palpable all day. This was all in conjunction with the equally anticipated Floral Friday, with the whole crew, youthies and staffies decking themselves out in a floral shirt for the day.
Accompanying a 0630 AM wake up was a light walk around the bridge in pyjamas and a game of knights, mounts and cavaliers, with bodies barely awake contorting into different positions as quickly as possible. This was all just a holding pattern as we waited for a breakfast of bacon and eggs sandwiches to be ready up on deck. As we finished eating, we dropped down the rubber dinghy and made our way into Cowes for the first bit of civilisation in a while. We explored the area for a few hours, taking in the sights, sending off some postcards and sneaking in a call or two at an ancient payphone (this may well have been the first time handling a payphone for some of us!). We managed to get a few more people onboard Floral Fridays with a bit of last minute shopping, and as captain designate, I picked up a captains hat to get in the spirit.
After yet another amazing lunch (thanks Zac), tuna bake and chicken wraps, the command team got a final chance to talk to their corresponding staff member for a few last minute questions and gems of wisdom for the challenge ahead. While we were at it, the rest of the crew got through an amazingly efficient happy hour, giving our living space a top down clean in no more than 20 minutes.
At 1400 hours it was finally time for the staffies to hand over command to the elected youthies. With a short ceremony involving the handing over the â€˜telescope of challengeâ€™ that was gifted with the ship and passed along with every change of command (so I will be handing it back to Captain Gav tomorrow), the staffies started their 24 hour holiday with a quick dive in the waters off the starboard bow. We were given a set of instructions with a list of tasks to complete on board during our 24 hours in command, and left to get it done as best we could. Up first while the navigators were plotting our course was a beach assault, where six of our most highly trained crew paddled their way to the beach at Cowes and belted out the national anthem in front of a rather large, undoubtedly confused crowd of people waiting for a ferry. We also managed to get twenty four of our crew members up onto the foremast, spread out across the three yards, for a quick photo before weighing anchor and setting sail.
Taking into account the wind available to us, we quickly set the forestaysail to have the wind turn the ship into the direction our navigators had set for us to get up and out of Western Port. After a little bit of favourable winds, and the setting of almost every sail on the ship, we lost the wind and were left with little choice but to turn to the engines, which Captain Gav was kind enough to give to us for an hour. An amazing sunset with little clouds was mostly lost as we worked our way around the ship getting all the right sails set and clewed away. As of right now, we have our last few minuted of the engine and are close to getting out of the relative protection of Western Port, and hopefully some easterlies will help us along the way to Port Philip. It has been a hectic few hours but we have started to settle into a routine and will hopefully see Port Philip tomorrow.
Ben

Latitude/Longitude:

38 31.9 S / 145 01.4 E

Conditions:

The time is 2115 and we have just departed Westernport Bay. The wind is currently NE at 6-8 kts (but we expect it to strengthen)with a 1m SSW swell and the temperature is still a pleasant 22 degrees.

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

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Day 11 – Last Day of the Voyage

Good morning Shipmates, Sailmaster Sara's final Wakey Wakey song was pumped through the Ship’s speakers to jar the crew of YE from their deep slumber after a particularly tiring day of the Community Day Sail. Activities included end-of-voyage chats for the watches, harbour furling the square sails, eating as much home made pizza, cooked by master chef Ash, as we possibly could and knocking over final command day tasks including the Slide Show. It was up on deck for a quick head count to make sure everyone was out of their ‘racks’ and ready for their final day onboard. Breakfast was followed by the morning brief on the plan for the day and then the Staff Crew weighed anchor and got us underway while the Youth Crew laid aloft for a quick harbour cruise. Navigator Seb piloted the Ship from our Athol Bay anchorage, past Fort Dennison under the Harbour Bridge, where we fired the Ship’s saluting cannon, and then into Balls Head Bay to our berth. We berthed at HMAS Waterhen at 1000 to the warm welcome of friends and family of the Youthies, waiting on the wharf for us. Once we had secured the ship alongside we invited our guests onboard, allowed them a walk around the ship to see where the Youthies had lived and worked for the last eleven days, and then we gathered everyone at midships. Sail Master Sara spoke about our adventures during the voyage and then I presented the Voyage Completion certificates to the youth crew and the Young Endeavour Award to Liv for her outstanding hard work on in undertaking the voyage and her dedication to helping her fellow youth crew members to achieve their voyage goals. We then farewelled the Youth Crew of V04/24 after a fantastic challenging and enjoyable voyage. Thank you for following our adventures and hope you enjoyed hearing about them. Yours, aye, Captain Mike

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Day 10 – Community Day Sail Sydney Harbour

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

V04/24

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Day 9 – Command Day Part 2

Ahoy from Sydney! For today’s Captain’s Log: the Youthies took over and completed several tasks including singing the national anthem in three different tunes as well as giving salty sea facts to start the day in a nautical way. We finally made it! After a long and weary effort of the command team and watches, we were able to fully sail into Sydney Harbour. At approximately 11:50 we anchored in Hunters Bay. To celebrate we had a groovtastic disco in the 12 berth due to excessive rainfall but the youthies made it work, having a blast dancing to Billie Jean. Afterwards, the youthies as well as the staff reflected on our efforts during command day, following the handover of the ship to the Staffies, where we highlighted what we did well, what we could improve on and what lessons we can take back to our normal lives, of which there are many. Continuing on from the previous log, with command day still ongoing. We encountered multiple problems. One of which being that mother nature didn’t bless us and gave us little to no wind to work with. However with the efforts of the Youthies we were able to successfully gather up to 8 knots of speed after a 4am tack in which the youthies persevered despite a lack of sleep enabling us to make our way into Sydney. Before our reflection the Youthies finished their day strong with a ‘Happy Hour’ cleaning session and one final dance. The afternoon was spent relaxing and recharging from ‘Command Day’, going aloft and furling the square sails. For dinner, Ash prepared a barbecue with steak, sausages, chicken kebabs with buns and an assortment of salads with a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The Youthies are looking forward to the Community Day Sail tomorrow which will be a great opportunity to give back to Australia and put our sailing knowledge to the test. We have learned many lessons during ‘Command Day’, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and together a crew of 24 youth were able to sail a tall ship into the harbour of Sydney. Today’s score: 9 camels and a donkey (Amazing) Until next time Rock on! Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt. P.S. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little bro, love Lil xx P.S.S. Kai, sorry I didn’t do the thing for Meg. I just remembered and will do it when back.

Thank you Tarvi, Kaeden and Matt for your narrative of today's events. Intentions are to remain at anchor in Hunters Bay, just off HMAS Penguin, home of the RAN Diving School, a place close to my heart, having spent many a day there under training as a young Officer! The plan is to weigh anchor and proceed to HMAS Waterhen, in Waverton, to pick up our Community Day Sailors from the Windgap Foundation and take them for a sail around the harbour for 3 hours. The Youth Crew will help us host our visitors and give them an experience of Young Endeavour. We will drop them back to Waverton and then proceed to anchor in the harbour where we will have a good view of the Bridge and the Opera House for the Youth Crew's last night onboard. Until tomorrow. Yours Aye, Captain Mike

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Day 8 – Command Day

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