CLIENT: School Holiday Youth Voyage
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20220627
FROM: Cairns to Townsville
DATE: 28 June 2022
POSITION: Mourilyan Harbour
REPORT BY: Red Watch
Today we travelled 40 nautical miles in 14.5 hours. We arose at 6:00 in the morning to the sound of a bugle and the lights in the kitchen. As some of us struggled to pull ourselves out of bed, we managed to put down some cold breakfast and we eventually got everyone on deck. By 7:00, after preparing the sails, we set off on our days adventure.
Sailing in the morning started off slow, as the winds where high and the swell was large. This beginning stage of the trip managed to nearly knock of half of the crew because of sea sickness. With the remnants of a crew, we managed to perform the necessary tacking and sail raising.
Speaking of sail raising, today is the first day we managed to raise all the sails fully. It was around lunch when the wind died down and that meant two things; the water was a little calmer, so the ship was heeling less, and with less wind it allowed us to raise the main sail.
As the day went on, the crew began to rise more, as people finally got their sea legs. Around 2 o’clock, Xavier took the helm, and kept the helm for nearly 4 hours. As the day progressed, things evened out and the sailing became smoother, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The wind quite quickly began changing direction, and it meant that we started heading due east, when we wanted to be heading due south, so you can see where the problem is there.
We managed to muster the crew again and everyone pulled through in a huge effort to tack all the sails, and we eventually got back to the right heading. We kept sailing on into the night, and it revealed a new beauty of the sea. The sea had some bio-luminescent algae, and when combined with the crashing of the hull on the ocean, it led to the sea around the ship being a pleasant dull blue. The darkness was eventually contrasted by the lights of Mourilyan Harbour, and with one final team effort, we managed to drop anchor, ahead of a well-deserved long nights rest. Xavier, Miles, and Bridie