QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective.”

[Henry David Thoreau]

AN UPDATE FROM THE CAPTAIN

The ship is at anchor in Monkey Mia and we have just sent the trainees from the first Christ Church Grammar voyage over to the shore for the bus home. We departed Fremantle about two weeks ago and have been lucky to have two excellent voyages so far.

The voyage north from Fremantle was a calm one with light winds and only a swell on the quarter to hinder us, rolling us around in a corkscrewing motion. We managed to sail for all but 12 hours with the predominantly southerly winds working in our favour. The trainees were a mixed bunch from all over the state who got on very well together. The voyage lived up to its title of “trip of the year”.  It’s the voyage the crew look forward to the most, because it’s one of the few chances we get to leave Fremantle with a destination, and that destination being down wind makes it even better.

The last trip was filled with year 8 trainees from Christ Church Grammar boys school. The trainees were a lovely group who were enthusiastic and well behaved from the moment they arrived. For these trips we also carry a Programme Facilitator who works with the Mate to keep the trainees busy. We had perfect weather for the first few days but had a low pressure system come through bringing squalls with 50-60 knots of wind at times, all in the middle of the night of course! 

We were running downwind at 12kn at one point. The trainees enjoyed the squalls and took every opportunity to take the helm in a storm, giving them a great story to tell the families.  We sheltered from the worst of the weather and spent the final day at anchor in a bay with the uninspiring name Hopeless Reach. The trainees were up early this morning, a 0400 start was required to get them packed, fed and the ship clean before departing at 0630.  

So after a few more jobs to be done we are all off to bed for some much needed sleep before the next group arrives. 

- Captain Sarah.
10th May 2013

National Volunteer Week

To be a volunteer takes a special kind of person with a certain kind of character. Leeuwin has had the pleasure of meeting many of these unique types of people over the years, and we fondly refer to them (or to you if you are one of them reading this) as our awesome family of Red Shirts.

I always find myself in awe when I see the constant stream of new and old, volunteers coming through the office doors every week – so eager to dedicate their time; even when in most cases they don’t have a lot of it. These are people that are almost always incredibly busy with their own lives yet when they find even a week of time off, are straight back to our beautiful blue barquentine, and signing up for whatever it is they can help out with.

Now I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that volunteering with Leeuwin, isn’t exactly the worst type of volunteering you could get. I guess there isn’t a lot to complain about when you get the opportunity to spend the day out on the water, breeze rushing through your hair and sun on your back as you join your mates in making every sail an enjoyable and smooth one for passengers and trainees. But this is only a small part of the reasons our red shirts come back time and time again. As I’m sure you would all agree, Leeuwin isn’t like other organizations and work places with a formal, stranger-like feel. Once you catch “the bug” and become a ‘Leeuwinite,’ crew and volunteers alike, you are part of the family. 

Today marks the first day of National volunteers week, and on this occasion we want to say a big thank you to all of our many volunteers. Whether you’ve been a Red-shirt in past, or you are one of our regulars – we couldn’t do what we do, without you. There is a quote that reads “You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” I can’t express enough how much this describes some of our volunteers. For anyone who has been on one of our youth explorer voyages, and been lucky enough to have one of our awesome red-shirts as their watch leader, (or any of the other crew positions for that matter) you will understand how inspiring they are. Whether it is displaying patience and understanding during difficult situations, where no-one is paying them to be there, or in ways that often go unnoticed, but their affects can be enough to change a young person’s whole perspective on life. All of our volunteers dedicate their time to making a difference and sometimes that difference can change someone’s life. 

So thank you to all of you who have been involved over the years, regularly or even on the odd occasion. To all of you who help out in our shed, who lead others during voyages, who pop into the office or come from near or far to crew our day sails – we couldn’t continue to challenge and inspire the youth of WA without you!

As Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist once said:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

FOND FAREWELLS AND WARM WELCOMES

There is a change in the weather and a change in the winds at the Leeuwin office this month, with fond farewells and warm welcomes in the air.

After almost four years of coordinating our REDiculously amazing red shirts, our volunteer coordinator Adrian is saying goodbye to the corner office with the best view and moving on to pursue new adventures. After moving from New Zealand to the warm (hot!) skies of WA, Adrian joined our team in 2009 as volunteer coordinator and voyage relations manager.

"I quickly came to realise how energetic our Red shirt mob were and just how enthusiastic you all were to come sailing and it was great dealing with you all and getting to know the faces at Leeuwin," he said. "I have met many great people, all with the same mindset of wanting to give back... which is a very easy group to work with!"

Adrian has had a great experience over the past few years and is looking forward to joining the ranks on the ship as a volunteer himself at some stage. A fond farewell to him and we look forward to seeing him on the ship instead of waving us goodbye from the  dock very soon!

With the farewell of one awesome Leeuwin-ite we welcome another familiar face to the office. One of our longtime volunteers, Ali (a.k.a Mouse) as stepped into Adrian's role and will be our go-to-girl for anything Volunteer related. Ali has been around Leeuwin for 8 years, having completed her first Youth Explorer Voyage in 2005. Since then she has volunteered on multiple voyages, day sails, been a member of our social crew and helped out in the office during day-sail season. Ali is looking forward to working closely with our Volunteers and we are very pleased to have her on board!

LEEUWIN MIGHT STRIKE LUCKY WITH METEOR SHOWER

The lucky people on the Leeuwin might get treated to a natural sky show tomorrow night, with the Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower set to peak this year on May 4th and 5th. 
 

The ship is currently up at iconic Monkey Mia after just having finished a Youth Explorer Voyage today. The crew and our red shirts will be joined by the first group of Christ Church Grammar Year 8s who will board the ship tomorrow night.

It was around this time on past year 8 camps on the Leeuwin that CCGS teacher David Proudlove got to witness "Gasps of amazement as two boys, posted on the midnight to 0400 hours night watch, were treated to meteor showers across an indigo-tinged, inky black sky with distant lightning storms flashing through towering clouds far to the south-west." 

The shower runs annually from April 19 to May 28 and is set to peak late tomorrow night and early Sunday morning. It is common knowledge that meteor showers are best seen from dark locations away from lights and pollution - and we couldn't think of a better place to be watching it than in the middle of the ocean sat up on deck!!

For anyone who is in to their astrology, the Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky. The Eta Aquarids is an above average shower, capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour during its peak. It is produced by dust particles left behind by Comet Halley.

Here's hoping that the ship gets a magical view tomorrow night and for the rest of us who can only wish they were there... guess we will have to attempt to find the next best place to watch!

MONKEY MIA BOUND

It’s that time of year again. 

The time were some lucky sailors boarded our favourite three masted barquentine and set off on a seven day journey bound for the pristine destination of Monkey Mia located in the heart of the Shark Bay world heritage region of WA.

Onlookers and parents watched as the full ship of crew and trainees waved goodbye from the ports on Saturday, which marked the start of the challenging week ahead. On board were 37 people who have come from suburbs all across WA; everywhere from the southern suburbs of Perth to the coastal cities of Esperance and Geraldton.  Youth explorer voyage 1309 ran as another challenging adventure week with participants getting the chance to climb the 33 metre high masts, haul the lines and watch the magnificent sails fill with wind, steer, navigate and keep watch during all hours of the night. The Captain and crew say the Monkey Mia voyages are always a great trip. With the change of scenery from our usual Fremantle to Fremantle voyage course; it’s not uncommon to see some incredible wildlife out there; a much more diverse variety of ocean life.  

The ship will remain in Monkey Mia for 6 weeks, with Perth school, Christ Church Grammar, chartering several voyages over that time to run their year 8 camps. On the 9^th of June residents and visitors of Monkey Mia along with many keen travellers who have made their way up especially, will be swapping their cars and the bus for a journey back home to Perth of an adventurous kind by tall ship. The returning voyage will be the only adult voyage the Leeuwin run this year and promises to be a challenge for the team lucky enough to be on it. The Monkey Mia voyages always make for a brilliant sail because of the winds we are working with,” said Captain Sarah. Our beautiful ship will return to Freo on the 16^th.