Best Endeavours
Image Richard Bennett
Realistically a baby born today in Australia will, if they live to be 85, spend about a 28-30 years of their life sleeping. That’s ok…sleep is good!. They will then spend around 28-30 years doing all the normal things that people get do when they are awake like eating, driving, sport, exercise and socialising… but perhaps most worryingly they will also spend a solid 22-28 years staring at a screen.
The relevance of these rough stats was brought home to me this week when I read of the impending retirement of the YOUNG ENDEAVOUR. Tall ships sail training offers something increasingly rare in our screen-saturated world: experiences that can’t be replicated digitally.
The physical demands of sail training create immediate, tangible consequences. When you’re hauling on a line or climbing the rig, there’s no undo button. This builds genuine competence and confidence in a way that virtual achievements simply don’t. Young people discover capabilities they didn’t know they had, often surprising themselves with their own courage and strength.
The enforced disconnection is itself educational. Without constant digital distraction, trainees develop a rare deeper focus and learn to be present with their surroundings and crewmates. They experience the necessary boredom we all have felt at sea and then the reward of getting past that, to find a tangible connection to the world around them.
Tall ships also create a unique social laboratory. Crew members must cooperate intensely to keep the ship safe and functioning, regardless of their backgrounds or whether they particularly like each other. This teaches collaboration and communication skills that are harder to develop when you can simply log off or switch channels.
There’s also something profound about learning through an ancient technology that still works. Understanding how wind, water, rope, and wood interact to propel a massive vessel gives the crew a connection to human ingenuity across centuries. It’s humbling and empowering simultaneously.
The YOUNG ENDEAVOUR is a brigantine-rigged tall ship which was gifted by the United Kingdom in 1988 to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary. It’s crewed and maintained by the Royal Australian Navy but is used mainly for a youth development program.
Built in Lowestoft, England, and launched 2nd June 1987 and the sailed straight to Australia officially being handed over to Australia on 25 January 1988.
Crew STS Young Endeavour at time of handover to Australia
She has completed four circumnavigations of Australia and two world voyages.
More than 14,000 young Australians have participated in the 600+ voyages since 1988. Now that’s what I called impact!
Later this year the original vessel is being phased out and will be replaced by a new, larger sail training ship designed by Dykstra Naval Architects and being built at the Birdon shipyard in Port Macquarie. She will be a 52m steel barquentine, called the Young Endeavour II. The rig is made up of three masts with square sails on the foremast and fore-and-aft sails on the fore, main and mizzen masts blending classic sail training with improved handling and performance. The new ship will carry up to 42 youth crew per voyage, compared with about 24 on the original Young Endeavour. It’s also designed for more voyages per year, meaning a higher total number of participants over its life.
Dykstra Naval Architects’ plan of the Young Endeavour II.
From Our ABC on 12.01.26 by Sophie Jaggers
Sail training ship 'Young Endeavour' docks in Hobart for the last time, as mission nears end.
For 16-year-old Isobelle Huntir, sailing into Hobart atop the rigging of a tall ship was "a peak moment."
"Being there with all my new friends, it was a great feeling being up in the wind and seeing all of Hobart," she said.
Isobelle is one of 24 young people who returned from a 10-day voyage aboard the Young Endeavour on Monday morning, a sail training ship that hosts a youth development program for Australians aged 16-23.
"This was a very amazing trip and I just got to meet so many new people and make new connections, which was great. It really built my confidence up," Isobelle said.
It's the last time the 38-year-old vessel will dock in Hobart as a sail training ship, with the tall ship due to be replaced by a newer boat later this year.
For almost 40 years, the ship has hosted the Young Endeavour youth development program, encouraging young people to build life skills, alongside sailing expertise.
Read on HERE