NORTH ATLANTIC BLUES

Today on board the Young Endeavour we continued with another instalment of a Sunday at Seaâ€¦ on Thursday. With a number of the youth crew and staffies still down with Mindello Belly we had another relaxed day on board.After a standard wakey wakey from Blue watch, we rolled out of bed into another scrumptious breakfast from Marcos and his galley crew with a special appearance from banana pancakes (a crew favourite). After an attempt to find the maple syrup we called it quits and gave up to find out it had vanish to the upper decks to be devoured by those availing themselves of the beautiful morning view and breakfast.White watch then relieved a overly hungry Red watch who bailed out early to make sure they didnâ€™t miss out on the aforementioned pancakes. We then eased into watch with some riddles and friendly conversation. Even after 40 days there are still things we are getting to know about each other.Jump forward to morning brief which today included a bucket full of all the personal items that have accumulated in the bridge. Hopefully those items vanish in the next day or so. Happy hour again involved a full wipe down of all the ships surfaces in an attempt of eradicate the potential sharing of whatever charming bug boarded with us in Mindello.Next up, we enjoyed a video on celestial navigation presented by Dr Karl in a truly amazing â€˜celestial shirtâ€™. One by one the numbers viewing in the galley dropped off as the heat and complexity of ideas grew. The lure of shade and what small amount of breeze remained grew too great for the majority. Hopefully the clouds clear off a bit so we can put our growing nav knowledge to use.Cue another great lunch of toasties, curry and salad. With food in our bellies, the great migration occurred with the crew sprawled out in the patches of shade on deck to sleep away the afternoon. Amongst the crew there was book reading, washing, napping and even some sneaky PT for some. Its surprising how fast 5 hours can vanish when you have a cheeky nap for 4.5…Into dinner and we found ourselves back up on watch. After a day of virtually no wind and nothing happening, we get on watch and up it comes. Up the foremast to loosen the gaskets on the topsail and topgallant, as well as on deck setting the forestaysail and the jib. Lets hope that the wind sticks around well into the night to smash out some sailing and hopefully shut down the iron headsail.Â Sam: My thoughts and prayers with the SA rovers. Gone too soon. Hoping everyone is doing ok and is there to support each other. Diamantina Scouts enjoy the school holidays and get keen for Bootsâ€™ sailing night in term 4. Miss you guys!Caitlin: Hi to all back home â€“ sorry itâ€™s been so long – missing you all like crazy!!! Love to all the humans, and cuddles to all my babies!! Super excited for our big win tomorrow!! Hope you all enjoy the craziness, and will be thinking of you all celebrating!!Â *fingers and toes crossed* xxxxxxxDan: Big shout out to Mum and Dad, Happy Wedding Anniversary! Love you guys to the moon and back, Have a great time in Paris! Thanks for being so awesome! XX Also Good luck with your Exams Ed; Iâ€™m sure youâ€™re going to smash them! Hope everything is going smoothly for you on the Farm Tess, Give the menagerie a hug from me! XXAmy: A big hello to my fam! Loving being back at sea- I managed to avoid Cape Verdigris (the lurgy!), and the constant melting sun is reminding me of long hot days on the equator… this time sans iguanas and salmonella! Missing you all a heap, and wishing you could see the sun set over this ocean with me. Sending buckets of love your way, love you all so much xxxxx. PS. Dyn and Wen- The Waifs and Kate M-H came on shuffle today, made me miss you two like crazy!Liv: Heya all! Sorry I didnâ€™t get to call again before I left Mindelo. I have been struck down with the sickness over the last few days but Iâ€™ve taken a turn for the better and am definitely on the mend, thank goodness. No seasickness again either! (Thanks Nanna). Thinking of you all back home and wishing you all well thoughts. CJ, was great to chat with you the other day and I cannot wait to show you some of the photos Iâ€™ve been taking out here. Iâ€™ve been getting a little training from our fearless sail master Dougie. Love to you all and I will check in again soon. xoxoRowan: Hi everyone, unfortunately I canâ€™t hear/read any replies, but at least I can get messages to you! Â To Rei, love you, and I look forward to getting back and trying to make everything better.Â Same goes out to Sia.Â Sorry for making a hash of everything (seems to be my MO), but Iâ€™ll fix everything as best I can as soon as Iâ€™m back.Â Promise.Â To Jo, love you lots, no idea where the hell you are (as per bloody usual), but I look forward to giving you a bell when I get back to NZ.Â To Scumbag, hope you had a good trip, and fingers crossed we can fix it all with Iesha (seems to have gotten messy).Â To WSM, donâ€™t get too mad at dad for the deposit.Â Having a good time out here, apart from the boxing match with food poisoning I have had over the last few days, but on the plus side itâ€™s helped with the weight loss!Â Anyway, love to everyone, all around the world, and Iâ€™ll chat to you all when Iâ€™m back.Â

Latitude/Longitude:

11 degrees 51 minutes North / 26 degrees 34 minutes West

Conditions:

Ongoing upset tummies

AUTHOR: Commanding Officer STS Young Endeavour

You might also be interested in

V04/24

19 February 2024

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

V04/24

19 February 2024

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

THE VOYAGE

Latest Captain’s Log

BEFORE YOU APPLY

Apply for Financial Assistance

FOR GUARDIANS

Youth Safety & Mental Health

FOR ORGANISATIONS

Scholarships for Local Youth

ABOUT US

The Young Endeavour Youth Scheme

OUR COMMUNITY

Make a Donation

NORTH ATLANTIC BLUES

Latitude/Longitude:

Conditions:

You might also be interested in

Ready to set sail?

More Information

Donations

Contact Us

1800 020 444

Keep in Touch

1800 020 444