Swimming in a Wineglass -5- Young Endeavour Voyage

2030 3/2/17

Watches Kept:

• 1800-2000 Last Dog

• Early morning swing off course yard
• Then in to the beach
• Climbed Dove Mountain to lookout
• Weighed anchor about 1400
• Will sail overnight
• Massive nap
• Dolphins

Swimming in Wineglass Bay before being ferried back to the ship. Guess which person is me.  Photo Credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?

Waking up to "Take a chance on me" was fantastic. 

Wineglass Bay was beautiful so I went for a swim up to the waist (still pretty cold) before coming back.  

Watched dolphins from the bowsprit - its so cool that every day they have come to see us and swim in the wave before the prow.  

Found a pink bruise over my eye; guessing I was elbowed while heaving in on the sheets (though I didn't notice at the time). 

Water was cool but not as icy as Lake Macquarie in winter.  

Contemplating positions for command day (when youth crew take control of the ship for 24h).  I like having a bit of responsibility but total decision making scares me a bit.  Still I'm thinking Sail Master (second-in-command), Navigator or Watch leader (manages one of the three watches (or groups) of deck hands whilst its their turn on watch).  I'd also be find to be a basic deckhand.

View of Wineglass Bay from the lookout.  Photo Credit: Jimmy Potter

Sailing made Easy -4- Young Endeavour Voyage

2/2/17
(written 2030 3/2/17)

Watches Kept:

• anchor watch 0100-0200
• 1600-1800 First Dog
• anchor watch 2200-2300 (means uninterrupted sleep Yay!)

• weighed anchor at St Helens point (i.e. pulled up the anchor to leave)
• sailed to wineglass bay, manning the helm as we entered
• watched film about Peking (fully rigged barque ship)

Photo from:
 https://www.amazon.com/Peking-Battles-Cape-Horn/dp/0930248066

How am I feeling? 

So tired by the time I got to bed. 

Setting the sails and climbing the masts in the morning was a good workout, stretched out all my muscles.  I did some stretching nearing sunset in wineglass which was much needed.  

The size and beating that the Peking took (in the film) was incredible.  

Climbed the tops'il yard (the middle one) to undo gaskets and it was stupidly easy after the high seas.  Helming in to wineglass was a huge highlight and the view of the whole coast was beautiful.  Sat on the bowsprit for a full hour, watching the other boats around us, including the "Enterprise", a smaller, tubbier tall ship.

I think this is by the entrance to Wineglass Bay.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

Beautiful Binalong -3- Young Endeavour Voyage

2200 1/2/17

Watches Kept:

• prev. day 2000-0000 First Watch
• 0800-1200 Morning Watch

• sea-furled the course sail (tied it up)
• shore trip to beautiful Binalong
• 3-way chats
• changed positions to near St Helens

Course yard is the lowest horizontal beam, but it has the biggest and heaviest square sail. Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?

Great, the vibe on the ship is fantastic with no one sick now that we've reached the eastern side of Tassie.  

Our watch had the fastest speed/furthest distance travelled last night (29.9 nm or 7.5 kts the whole way).  

The crust of salt on my rain jacket after being left out on
 deck in Bass Strait.  I could never forget that it was salt water that
 was spraying across the ship.  It would dry on all surfaces into salt
and sting my face.  

Food is a great joy atm, the cook Marcos is fantastic (I was galleyhand yesterday and this morning).  Makes not being sick double worth it.  

Binalong was beautiful: turquoise water and fiery orange moss on the rocks and white-white sand.  The bay was called the Bay of Fires, which could have been due to the moss (but actually because there were fires blazing on the shore when the English decided to name it). Had a lovely mocha from the restaurant and sat in the sun on the beach.  The wind and swell had picked up by the return trip in the shore boat and I was splashed all over with salt.

Aloft in the dark and topsy turvy -2- Young Endeavour Voyage

1827 31/1/17

Watches Kept:

• 0000-0400 Middle watch a.k.a. "the guts"
• 1200-1600 Afternoon watch

• Was watch leader for white
• Undid gaskets on t'gallant s'il
• learnt how to set square s'ils
• 1st round of rope races
• chef's assistant

Imogen and me, climbing in the dark.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?

Still very glad I haven't succumbed to seasickness, however there were a few dizzy moments while idle below deck.  But right now the wind is still pushing us along quickly and the sun is shining so I'm happy.  Proud that I climbed to and undid the gaskets (the ropes holding the sail down) so high up on a tilting ship.  

The seasickers all lined up on the lee side of the deck and slept like the dead there.  They still look utterly hopeless.  The ones who didn't lie in the string of 5-8 people but sat up, staring silently at the horizon, were almost worse.  

Though of course the MOST exciting thing was undoing the gaskets on the t'gallant.  It was by far the scariest thing I've ever done.  

View of the deck from aloft.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

Getting under Sail -1- Young Endeavour Voyage

1830 30/1/17

• No watches kept yet.  

• Climbed to the topgallant (pronounced t'gallant)
• Learnt calls ("White watch standby to set the main s'il") and tacking positions (heads'ils). 
• Got the ship under sail- Yay!

The t'gallant is the top horizontal beam (horizontal beams are called yards). The heads'ils are those at the front of the ship.  You can see one of them (the jib in fact) flapping in the foreground here.  Photo credit: Jimmy Potter

How am I feeling?
At this point I'm glad to be under sail.
Can't help my awe at the size of the sails.
Very glad not to be seasick.
We're on a pretty steady 15 degree keel, bobbing over the swell and its pretty comfortable until you're under the ship and trying to eat dinner or put on a harness.
We can see Victoria on the left (port side) and are on a starboard tack through/across bass strait from Port Phillip Bay.

The ripples and smooth whirlpools of THE RIP out of Port Phillip Bay were quite spectacular.

We got the entire Youth Crew on to haul on the jib sheet (i.e. a rope connected to the jib sail).  At the same time as 17 people were trying to pull on one rope the ship tilted towards them.  I rescued two drink bottles that made the leap for the sea.

You Know You Love Me xoxo

When did the world turn into the set of Gossip Girl?  When did my life get tossed in the air like a giant Blair Waldorf salad?  And the jokes on me because I'm the latecomer, party-pooper, girl who takes three months to make up her mind.  Yeah I'm that girl.  The fool girl who puts her foot in it.

And the crux of the matter is this:

I kissed a guy only to find out he's sleeping with my best friend.  

Yeah ouch.

Actually ouch doesn't really cover it.  There's a gif somewhere on the internet of some actor literally pulling bunches of hair from their head in a purple rage that just about describes how it feels.  And did I mention that this mess has got to be all my fault?

So this is me: some blue-eyed damsel, pretty new to the world, so naive she probably should have been put in a convent years ago for her own protection.

And then there's my best friend: a golden locked Rapunzel living up on the fourth floor of a city tower.

And then there's the other best friend- the guy: a tall Robin Hood with a laptop but no good intentions.

The three of us were the closest of close: to the point where personal space doesn't really exist and who cares if you're wearing clothes or not right?

That was until shit hit the fan.

One rowdy Thursday evening me, eyes wide, walked in on my two best friends kissing.  I thought the honey-coloured drinks had gotten to their heads.  I went home.  Little did I know what my friends were up to without me.

The next day I bounced into Rapunzel's tower at midday to find two sleepy, hungover friends - one of them a shirtless Robin Hood.  Nothing of course was thought of it, especially when Rapunzel looked me in the eye and said everything between her and Robin Hood was normal.   And I, naive little chickadee that I am, sat on Rapunzel's bed and ate lunch with them like all was hunky dory.

And there was nothing weird about Robin Hood giving me a lift home after lunch.  Nothing weird about the way he pulled the passenger seat back all the way so that sitting behind me he could wrap his arms around me and whisper in my ear...

Yeah everything was normal... sort of... in the way where everything is abnormal instead.

A couple of friendly meetings later it became time for another small gathering involving that golden liquid: alcohol.  It was a rowdy Wednesday this time and poor little me had had enough of alcohol for a while.  I decided to bus it in and out for a brief rendezvous.   And guess what happened after I left the tower?

So as it happens I once again bounced into the tower the next day completely unawares.  It was afternoon tea time with two hungover friends and another shirtless Robin Hood.  Life as normal right?  Again I sat on that bed with the two of them.   Eating, talking, laughing.  I don't know how I'm so dim.

Now I may be dim at this stuff but I do pretty well at university.   So when Friday brought about another planned drinking event I passed in favour of passing university and finishing an assignment.  Two drunk individuals did in fact go however, out to the back woods of the city.  And afterwards they stumbled back to Robin Hood's hideout under the stars.  I think we know what happened next.

The following night I put on my best and most foolish pinafore and ventured into the back woods myself.  It was a night that was planning to be just me, Robin Hood and a gaggle of distinguished friends.  Though the golden liquor ran quickly the whole night I steered clear once again, preferring the company of better friends.  Notably Robin Hood did the same.

At this point in time I still valued friendship - believed it and trusted in it.  So when it got late I followed Robin Hood to his hideout under those same pretty stars.  I could say I was starry-eyed: surely there is no other explanation for the foolishness that followed.  We were so close.   Think of the closest you've ever been to someone without kissing them and then subtract ten centimeters.  So I kissed him.  Why ever not, I thought, and did it without regrets.

In that exact same spot.

I was so utterly oblivious that the other shoe was about to drop- with a spiked steel toe.

It didn't take long.  Not twelve hours later Rapunzel confesses all that has occurred and my stomach drops.  I should have known.  Why trust anyone when they'll obviously just let you down?

Now I'm stuck under Gossip Gil's thumb in a situation like a damn Celtic knot with thorns.   What am I going to do with myself?

When in Rome I guess...

I shall have to learn from the Blair Bitch herself.

I'll close this window and start my scheming.

Robin Hood

you'll be the first to go

xoxo

Gossip Girl

The Girls in Brisbane

Some shorter and longer anecdotes from our trip to Brisbane:

 Sunday.  No appetite but navigating Brissy seems Sinch.  Warm day, bed and book- just perfect :)

Monday.  Lounging in deck chairs surrounded by that humid spring heat watching the rainbow playground clamber over the soft fall.  Fake beach a solid mirage amidst the city.  Skyline BRISBANE Skyline.  Yummy all day breakfast omelette 7.50.  Thongs digging into my feet.  :D ^.^ :P

Tuesday.  Getting lost in the car. Griffith uni.  City cat 33 degrees, 3 hours, putting me to sleep.  Appetite :) kebab $4 at West End

Wednesday.  The queen street mall and we're hummingbird shopping. Our eyes flit from store to store and we walking but never stopping.  Aromas of at least seven kingdoms in a marvelous food market- a bubbling yummy concoction that's too hot to touch.  

South bank is just as lesuirely as always; like a cool breath upon a harried soul.  Even though my feet feel like over grilled fish we meander through QAG(the art gallery) until my eyes are permanently wide and my elbow are getting cold from the air conditioning.  At night we experience some night life on boundary street at the beach burrito.  Warm air and frozen margaritas, that's the life.

Thursday.

Busy streets, to a gigantum Moreton Bay, whipped green toilet water rising beach less towards us in the most disturbing fashion.  A cute water park; slides and mushrooms. 

Hell in circles past Roma Street and all I wanted to do was get out and take a picture of the spectacular blue storm clouds behind the sky scrapers and cathedrals.  Unnatural as though it was trying to pass for a cloudless sky to those city dwellers so focused on their work.  And still it was dark as though you could fall through it into some new dimension.  Stuck yet as the rain begins on the right side of the river traffic jams hard, all the cogs locked into stasis.  An object slams my window and turning I watch splinters of white dart away.  The size of my fist shattering a second time on the black road.  White ice.  A rageful motorist launching their fury off the bridge above at me.  Or not I find mere minutes later.

Smashing onto my side of the car is everything mother nature can throw.  Fist sized balls of ice sound like viking hammers.  Thrashing trees and twigs thwack the windscreen.  Rain sloshes and splashes on every side. Stuck still.  Red brake lights sneer at me through a wall of Grey and we might as well be stuck in a cyclone.  A tiny tin car, fragile glass windows just being hammered by divine fury.  Please don't break.  Please don't break.  Please.  Its not like I can hear anything over the storm.  Can't go forwards, can't go backwards, no way to go around.  My sister almost two in the backseat awoke in terror.  I masked my panic and helplessness with those reassuring adult smiles that lie and lie and lie.  There was nothing more to do.

Like countless others even as the storm eased we were blown off course, battered driftwood far from home.  You're always told: "Don't drive through floodwaters" but we had nowhere else to go.  In my mind I replayed images of dirty rvers in the road just like that one about those cars that rose u predictably.  A branch like that once carried on the flood or one larger, dangerous half a tree swept down to pummel the exhausted refugees.  Finally, tsunami, flood or cyclone I used to watch cars picked up like toy boats sickenly turning upon their side, or drowned under in waters to unknowable to fear.    The fuel light again shone.  My eyes were skewered when I glanced right, the shattered shards of the plastic window guard crushed beneath its onslaught.

Perhaps chaos could describe what we saw through the dropping rain.  The trees had to have been  savaged to provide such a litter along the streets.   A tin shed and a corrigated patio- one slumped exhausted on the path and the second a twisted traffic stop.  But over the panic that fluttered every heart - why what had occured- a steely layer of boredom grew at the unmoved tail lights before me.  Stuck somewhere new but stuck fast, not even the rain left to convince you that peak hour requires patience.

Is there anything that can make you feel better after such an experience?  Strangely the devastation around us.  We pass into a new street and there a typical two storey hotel faces mournfully south.  The top floor windows smashed right in.  One two three four five six.  Busted blank holes.  And its not the only one. We pick them here there and everywhere, glass joining the leaves upon the street.

To the north the clouds are angelic.  The fluff and catch the last of the sun, rimming a perfect blue.  A tease.  Then south that steel grey sheeted the sky still in warning.  Go home it screamed while you can.

Then.  Blackout across eighty two thousand homes.  The city still burns over the river, painting the night sky red.  Top side of the street well light, packed with hungry people with no way to cook for themselves. And then like a slammed door across the bustling footpath the lights stop.   Supreme darkness has taken the lower end.   There you just glimpse the writhing of bodies.  In the dark they move the same as us.  But it is inky there and so we turn back.  These traffic lights are on, shiny green.  Yah, go!