G’day Canada!

Situation at 20:00Last night all hands enjoyed a quiet night at anchor in preparation for what will likely devcelop into a very busy commandday today and tomorrow. At 09:00, Captain John mustered the Ship’s Company a’midships for the short ceremony turning command of YOUNG ENDEAVOUR over to Captain Elisha and the rest of the Youth Crew.Before long the Youth Crew had assembled the small boat that the Beach Assault Tream (BAT) would use to claim Balmoral Beach forthe youth of Australia. As the intrepid foursome commenced their long paddle ashore they were cheered on by their shipmates manning the yards. Once ashore, they proceeded to convince, coax, coerce andconjole 105 local residents to join them in singing the National Anthem. This was a terrific effort by the BAT and they certainly will be long remembered at Balmoral Beach. With the BAT safely back onboard, the Ship sailed at 11:30 and before long was clear of Sydney Heads and Captain Elisha and herCrew were sailing merrily along under five sails and heading towards their first waypoint. So far they have succeeded in passing through one waypoint and are well positioned to achieve at least two more asthey shape a course to their destination off Port Kembla. All members of the Youth Crew have contributed to getting the Ship this far.There were upperdeck activities this afternoon which saw Sao biscuitseaten with gusto and the Chefs have produced two meals which have been described as ‘…interesting’. Overnight the real challenge will be to keep alert and focussed on the aim of their mission. They willneed to draw upon teamwork, tolerance and cooperation if they are to be successful.With the aid of the internet, a school group in Kelowna, British Columbia CANADA are following the progress of YOUNG ENDEAVOURas part of their grade nine social studies class. They are studying latitude and longitude and using the Ship’s position reports as practical examples of these navigation coordinates. A big YOUNGENDEAVOUR G’Day from all hands to Mr Howard’s class at Dr. Knox Middle School. There is no sign of the Big Dipper, but the Southern Cross is lighting up the sky. The distance from Kelowna (49 50 N, 11929 W) to YOUNG ENDEAVOUR (33 55 S, 151 25 E) is 6872 nautical miles.YOUNG ENDEAVOUR Fact File: The Ship is fitted with a state of the art Global Positioning System for navigation. In addition, the Ship’s Officers are trained in celestrial and coastal navigationusing traditional methods such as the sextant.YOUNG ENDEAVOUR Glossary: Latitude- Parallels of latitude are lines of position that are parallel to the equator and extend to the North and South poles. One degree of latitude equals 60 nautical mile. From the equator to each pole is 90 degrees. Latitude allows Ship’s to determine how far they are North or South of the equator.Longitude- Meridans of longitude are lines of position that form a circle by passing through the North and South poles. They aredescribed as being either East or West of the prime meridian which passes through Greenwich England. The Earth is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, 180 degrees East and 180 degrees West of the prime meridian. Longitude allows Ship’s to determine how far East or West of Greenwich they are.Thought of the day: A gentleman is one who thinks more of other people’s feelings than his own rights and more of other people’s rights than of his own feeling. Matthew Henry Buckham.Yours, AyeJohn CowanLCDR, RAN