The crux of SV Lord
Nelson’s “Sail the World” program was to be present at the International Fleet
Review in Sydney. We were actually specifically invited to this event that
marks 100years of the Australian Navy and happened to coincide with JST’s 35th
year! Over 800 sailing vessels (not including the warships) had congregated for
the event which saw the war ships, tall ships and submarines anchored around Sydney
Harbour.
The 5th October was the big day and it started
early so we could move to our designated anchorage. It was a glorious sunny day
(not like last time we sailed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge) and the day sail
crew quickly became involved in helming the ship and putting up a bit of sail
for show. We were anchored next to Garden point and came in just as they
started the 100 gun salute. This made it slightly more difficult than usual to
hear the engine commands from the Captain!
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| 100 gun salute |
We then stayed at anchor and enjoyed various air shows and
carried out some cheeky maintenance on our sails (that needed attention after
the stormy Bass Strait crossing)….Infact, I spent half the day up the mast
helping out myself as I finished my engineering work early and the Chief gave
me leave to “enjoy the day”….But I’m not very good at sitting still, so I
helped the Bosun instead!
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| Our anchorage "next door neighbors" ready for Prince Harry |
Eventually, the Royal Barge approached. There was no visible
sign of Prince Harry, but we were slightly embarrassed when the Barge sailed
all the way around us so that Harry would have had a perfect view of the
rubbish bins that we keep on the Stern platform….Oh well. We sounded our horn
and the whole crew gave the Royal Barge three cheers as it went past.
We stayed anchored up for the evening so that we could watch
the firework display. From our position we could just see the Harbour Bridge so
we got a great view. It really was something else!
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| There were so many fireworks it was hard to know where to look! |
Our wonderful day sail crew departed via water taxi after
the fireworks (and a lot of beer) and we remained anchored overnight. We were
all exhausted but still had to turn the clocks forward an hour and get up early
again to sail back to our berth and prepare for open ship. It was another long
day, but we had 4002 visitors onto Nelly over the course of the day! It was
fantastic to be able to show her off and great to see so many people fall in love with her.
After some hard sailing, the fleet review and two days of Open Ship, I am happy to spend some time on leave.....Blue Mountains here I come!
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