Day 2 Hobart – Melbourne

Latitude; 43°06.2’S

Longitude; 147°25.6’E

Distance run in the last 4 ½ hours; 19.86

Average speed; 4.4KN

Weather; Winds blowing North by West, small seas and partially cloudy skies, temperature 22.8°

We continue on in flat calm, milk pond seas towards our anchorage at North West Bay, here we will continue on with the training of going aloft and learning the helming procedure. Meanwhile each watch is learning what the major emergencies might be on board and what they should do in such events. They are also getting taught the importance of the daily routine and just as importantly, learning their way around the ship.

By 1515 we reach our intended anchorage, the winds are so light it is hard to distinguish which direction the wind is blowing to allow us to know which way the ship should face while dropping the anchor. The bow should always point into the wind so that the ship is not swinging around while trying to drop the anchor. It is always an idea to look at other vessels that are already anchored for an indication in such situations, in our case this indicates that the wind is coming from the North.  

So Autumn time is officially here as we re-join the ship to Eastern Standard time and darkness is falling upon us a good hour earlier as the sun enters the Northern hemisphere. This makes the first day of training a little trickier with losing the light an hour earlier. Mainmast and Mizzenmast get to tackle the up and overs while Foremast learn about the correct helming procedure. Charlie B is celebrating his Birthday today and so Nigel and Fiona create him a superb Endeavour chocolate cake that all enjoy for their pudding.

I noticed a few shocked faces when the new crew get to string their hammocks and realise just how close they will become to their watch. Tonight the watches will be stood, but only an hour each as it is anchor watch and not all are required on deck for the four hours.

The morning brings us many early risers; however there doesn’t seem to be much complaining about sleep deprivation and getting to grips with the new experience of sleeping in a hammock. I think that they are just being polite as I heard a couple of good snorers…..

The Foremast get to go for their climb this morning before we heave up anchor and all make it up successfully. At 1030 the professional crew start to weigh anchor as the voyage crew have a morning meeting with Captain Ross and hear what the intended plan is.

There is a short, sharp low pressure heading this way which will reach dark and early on Saturday morning and is predicting to blow 30-40 knot winds and bringing us winds from the south west. Although the wind is coming from a good direction there is too much wind and so we are going to proceed down to Refuge Bay off Port Arthur to anchor tonight. The low pressure is expected to pass through fairly quickly and so we will leave Port Arthur Saturday morning to catch the tail end of the storm.

All’s well.

Bracing the Main course