Day 9 – Command Day

Ahoy Shipmates…Command Day has arrived so I’m on holidays…over to Captain Michael.

Captains Log 27 Oct 18
Hours on the Young Endeavour- 192
Days without WiFi- 8
Years of memories- Infinite

This morning we woke up to a classic Australian melody, â€œhome among the gumtreesâ€ originally performed by John Williams, sung by blue watch. After elections the night before everyone was a bit weary eyed after staying up from all the excitement, that was until this mornings â€œZumbaâ€ class led by Maddie from Blue watch, followed by a game of evolution. The combination of dance moves with working out, and walking around making egg, chicken and dinosaurs noises was a perfect way to kick off the morning in Broken Bay.
Following our morning â€œstretchâ€ we got straight into an English breakfast prepared by our youthies, the classic eggs, beans, mushrooms, fennel sausage, and of course for the 8th day in a row, bacon.
The excitement had only begun after we had finished stuffing our faces, to our shock in the morning brief Nanna Lamington had been stuffing her face all night too. Yet another hilarious skit performed by the staffies which was followed by a catchy sing and dance.
Happy hour was definitely the Happiest hour we have had so far this voyage, Phil playing his hillbilly tunes getting everyone in the mood get moving, it was almost counterproductive because they were so good, the longer we took to clean the longer we could party with the happiest guy in the world.
After Happy Hour we Kenny then proceeded to hand over the ship to us, an absolute honour and privilege that I will never forget, 100% goes down as the best moment so far in this voyage and will be treasured for as long as I live. As my generation grew up on TV shows, I thought it was only fitting first words as captain was the Spongebob Squarepants theme song which as you may know goes â€œAre you ready kidsâ€ â€˜Aye aye captainâ€™ â€œI cant hear youâ€ â€˜AYE AYE CAPTAINâ€™, which definitely drew an overwhelming response.

We decided to weigh anchor or as the Youthie Watch officer and Navigator put it â€œskedaddle skedoodledâ€ over to another part of Broken Bay where we could open the pool and have a swim. Before we could do that we had to have lunch (more bacon) and climb aloft the foremast to get a picture as one of our tasks, fitting as many youthies on the Yards as possible. We decided to cast the gaskets while we were up there killing 2 birds with one stone, only to have the engineer think he left them off overnight and put them back on while we were on the rope swing. The rope swing was definitely a highlight in the trip for everyone with Guv showing everyone how its done with a perfect backflip, posture 10, dismount 10, landing 10, old man points 10. We saw a variety of backflips, bellyflops and one unfortunate and painful coordination). Definitely the best pool Iâ€™ve been in so far.
Directly after our swim we got stuck straight into making a hammock to fit all of us Youthies on, which ironically, the number 26 came up once more. Somehow we crafted this beaut of a hammock which didnâ€™t collapse with 26 of the GOD WATCH on it.
Trying to get on the road (water) as soon as possible we hooked straight into setting for sail. There was a bit of miscommunication although Iâ€™m glad we were almost too early on a sail than too late, even though we ended up going backwards for a few seconds. While we were setting all of the fore and aft sails we had 2 whales completely breaching in front of us, a spectacular sight to see during our first ever unassisted sail.
Iâ€™d like to say thank you to the Young Endeavour scheme on behalf of my crew. This has been the most unforgettable, unreal, unbelievable experienceof our lives. All of the staff crew from Captain Kenny, Hortolena, Salty, and Nanna lamington, to chef Zacharii and the watch leaders. You have provided us all with such valuable information; youâ€™ve taught us more than how to sail, we have learnt more about ourselves than we could have expected to on this voyage and for that we appreciate this opportunity so sail the Young Endeavour.
â€œits not about the destination, its about the journeyâ€ â€“ Barrack Obama
Goodbye for now and I would wish to see you all on the high seas another time.

– Captain Payne

Latitude/Longitude:

33 44s / 151 32e

Conditions:

Wind: SE at 13 knots Weather: Overcast Swell: SE at 1.5m Course: 185 true Speed: 4 knots Location: East of Sydney

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

19 February 2024

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 9 – Command Day

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