CLIENT: Cairns School Holiday Voyage
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20190702
FROM: Cairns To: Cairns
DATE: 2 July 2019
POSITION: Fitzroy Is
REPORT BY: Blue Watch
We began the day in a drizzle, there was an air of excitement as we walked towards the beautiful tall ship berthed in the Yorkeys knob harbour. Before we boarded the ship we handed our bags to the hardened crew; we were joined by the travellers who arrived the previous evening. We were then split into the three different watches (groups): Red, White and blue. The leader of Blue watch, Les, gave us a tour of the upper and lower decks, we were introduced to the cramped quarters and small shared bathroom. All the groups then had a safety briefing from the skipper Bill, followed by an emergency exit drill. We then went back into our watches to begin the potential voyage of a lifetime.
Blue watch was in charge of raising the Jib and stay, the smaller triangular sails on the bow. We set sail with an original destination of Apollo Cay, but due to favourable winds, made the hard run to Fitzroy Island. During the day’s journey we participated in a number of activities, including: helming, port (left) and starboard (right) lookouts, sitting on the bow sprit (front of ship), coiling rope and tacked the ship. When we finally arrived at Fitzroy Island around four thirty in the afternoon, we dropped anchor and cleaned up before going for a quick swim. We then returned for an amazing dinner of chicken legs, rice and gravy, we then had apple pie for dessert. With our days’ work completed, we kicked back and enjoyed the evening with our new crew.