CLIENT: Silver Youth Voyage
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20230625
FROM: Cairns to Cairns
DATE: 25 June 2023
POSITION: Fitzroy Is
REPORT: White Watch
With the other half of our crew joining us this morning at the Cairns Marina, we made our bunks, showed the newcomers around and began to learn the ropes, literally. We started off easy with simple knots and backstay practice while Phil the Skipper motored us out of the marina. The three watches, blue, white, and red assigned their Bosuns to prep the sails for raising. White efficiently raised mainsail the other watches raised the foresails.
We began to head for Fitzroy Island, rotating watches over the five-hour sail. We learned to navigate while rotating through multiple positions. We learned how to tack and each had a few turns trying this. We also relaxed in the net at the front of the boat and watched the ocean as we sailed. While we weren’t on watch we napped in the bunks and on the bowsprit soaking up the sunny weather.
Once we had arrived at Fitzroy Island, all hands-on deck to lower the sails ready to snorkel on the coral beach. The snorkelers reported turtles, lionfish and more sea life while others dived off of the boat and swam in the blue water. We spent our afternoon relaxing and then preparing for the knot tying competition that white watch completed in a champion 62 seconds.
As the sun set, the watches rolled through the gally thanking our Cook Cath for our chicken, veggies and rice we had for dinner. The night consisted of uno games, chatter and dessert.