Gold

Australia

I took this film photo of my two Blue Watch teammates on our first night shift, 8 pm to 12 am, which was the first day of my 7-day Gold Award Voyage from Manly to Fraser Island. To the left is Grace and to the right is Jess, with whom I have become great friends with over the sailing trip. It was our first anchor watch in Tangalooma, Moreton Island, and we were still trying to get familiarised with all the equipment on the ship and the various names of the parts of the ship. We bonded over tying different knots: figure of eight, reef knot, bowline and round turn and trying out skills like helming. Although it had been only a day, we had already become good friends and were thrilled to stay up late at night to complete the watch. It felt surreal as Day 1 passed just like that! The photo captures our friendship and how we grew from knowing absolutely nothing about sailing to gaining so much knowledge about it.

Participant