Summer Volunteer Daze; Stuff happens-We fix it. Short Crews still making a difference.

 Ahh, summer vacation! Everywhere, everyone shifts routines to include just getting away, or just kicking back, and sorta, in a sense, virtually getting away.  Even if its from your year-round fun stuff, like schooner stuff (okay, I"m a little prejudiced here), there's still good, in just getting. away. from. it. In fact I'm about to get away from it myself, for the next 3 weeks, seriously away-helping a sailing buddy deliver his sloop from Newport down to Yorktown VA, then link up with darling daughter for our annual father-daughter Newport Folk Festival weekend, interspersed with small reunions with other Tall Ship Sailors in the area. 

And so

these past few Saturday Volunteer Days aboard Spirit of South Carolina have been understandably, well, sparse. And I won't lie, it brings a bit of frustration. As is the point of crewing aboard a traditionally rigged wooden sailing vessel, virtually nothing can be accomplished by one person alone. Everything requires shipmates to work together, synchronized. These ships are purposely designed with that in mind. It translates to;  eight hands to launch and retrieve the rescue boat; seven hands to cast off lines and push the ship off the dock; five hands to send over the gangway.. I won't mention raising sail.

Therefore,

Our Maintenance Punch List (the to-do list I revise for each Saturday) must necessarily restrict itself to projects that can be advanced by one or two deckhands. Yes,, it's hot.. damn hot!, but the awning rigged over mid--ships makes the deck more than bearable.  This past Saturday, on the 28th, three of us, myself, Tony Marchesani, just returned from the Chesapeake, and Walter Barton faced the work of triaging the list to work we could advance between the three of us.  On this date the situation of "important and urgent" as a priority, wrote the list for us. Tony found the first one.

On boarding the gangway and looking back from the deck, Tony noticed a critical situation.  The gangway rails, in the last king tide accentuated by swells,  tilted beyond their limited arc, pressing and deforming the wood rails on the dock, and forcing out three lag bolts, securing the gangway base to the dock. Basically the gangway base holding the dock-end of the gangway was attached to the dock by only one serviceable lag bolt. Tony made this his individual project.

Tony confirming the depth for driving a
new lag screw supporting the gangway.

It took about a half-hour of prep just gathering the tools,,  a socket set, power drills, assorted bits,, searching the schooners collection of stainless steel lag bolts for three viable replacements, running extension cords from below decks. Once set up, Tony made fairly quick work of it,  tapping out and removing broken screws, pre-drilling three clean holes, and driving in three replacement lag bolts, all of course while hanging over the edge of the dock, under the gangway. 

Bryan tackled the next "important and urgent task", the repair of the step-up railed platform that enabled boarders to step up from the dock onto the gangway to embark/disembark the schooner. It had been deformed by pressure from the gangway rails, stripping out lag screws all over the frame. The job was simple enough, more tedious than anything. Bryan started by searching the three possible lockers to located and stage his corded power drills/drivers, extension cords,, replacement 4 inch lag wood screws. All set up, Bryan releveled each brace and rail in the platform, then drove the four-inch hex-head screws into new fresh wood for improved boat. Additionally, Bryan down-rigged the sliding handrail that designer Danny Johnson had created to bridge the gap between gangway rail and dock platform. That would go home with him to mill out and extend the sliding slot to fit the new platform with the gangway. 

Walter with using a ball peen hammer
as lever to twist down
 the compression of his glued joint.

Walter's project was a continuation of an individual task he'd started three weeks prior;  the refinishing of the top half of the mainsail gaff spar, which was suffering significant varnish peeling and beginnings of UV damage.  In the past two weekends, Walter and other volunteer shipmates had sanded to wood the entire top-half of the 22 foot douglas fir spar stretched out on the deck just forward of the cockpit.  Once sanded, they started wiping on a coat of Interlux Schooner Varnish diluted with two parts of paint thinner, penetrate and seal the wood. The following week, was three more coats of the thinned varnish until it stopped absorbing and formed a hard satin sheen.  In between coats, Walter took on the task of repairing the schooner's iconic folding cane chair, originally  fished from the harbor in Bermuda. The cross member had pulled out.  Coating both surfaces with Tite Bond III, Walter applied a double eye-spliced rope "tourniquet" to tighten the two legs together. 

 Now, on this Saturday, Walter scuffed the surface, tacked it down, started the first coat of undiluted Schooner Varnish, daubing on gobs of varnish with a sponge brush then dry brushing it back over the previous band finely feathering it into the earlier band. In the hot sun and steady breeze, the first and two successive coats "kicked" such that Walter was able to boast the application of one then two successive hot coats of gloss varnish by quitting time.

The New Possible? New Purpose for Spirit of South Carolina in Charleston's Maritime Heritage

 It started as just another chance to go Sailing

Today I was editing some old video footage from 18 years ago. Me and four other fellas, all sailors of some sort were together delivering a Hunter-31 sloop from New London, Connecticut, down the eastern coast to Charleston-12 days, four days off-shore-off-soundings, and then into the Intra-Coastal Waterway at Norfolk for the rest of the passage.  

2007-coming ashore-The crew
and me on the Battery

The video footage had it's cringe-worthy moments as the 5 of us, 12 days out, wooted, backslapped, pointed at dolphins, and wildly celebrated as we passed under the Ben Sawyer Bridge and out into to the harbor towards the Ashley Marina and the sloop's new home.  It was my first time setting foot in Charleston, and it just now occurred to me-I came  sea. 

For next 8 years, living in St. Louis, I returned to Charleston once, or twice a year to go sailing, with my old Army buddy, the Hunter's skipper. My wife, Jane came along too, not to sail, she won't do that-my fault- long story. But our attraction to the area grew, just like everyone else from "off", the charm of the city, the culture, big water,long beaches, wide porches, slow living,, and the history.  

So, after 8 years of visits, we talked ourself into moving here, Mount Pleasant to be more exact. In the first six months, I quit/retired from my second career, enthusiastically explored the low-country from Hilton Head to Georgetown, soaking up historical lore, diving into the seafood, the breweries, pretty much wallowing in it. And I also sought out the schooner, SSV Spirit of South Carolina. She was the solution to a sixth-grade childhood fantasy that never died.

Something about Traditionally Rigged Wooden Sailing Ships

During my next 10 years  as deckhand, to now, I spent countless hours digging into the schooners' history, how did she came about,? Why was she built in the first place? Why does she look like she does?  What happened to her that led to her bankruptcy? What about all those other tall ships out there, why do they exist? How do they do it? I mean, be successful?

 Thanks, if you're still with me.  I'm getting to the point.

While aboard Spirit and also aboard four other schooners with their crews, I spent time in other ports up and down the coast. I noticed the extent to how "Maritime Heritage" defines those places. By that I mean, how has the inheritance of their history and their connection to the sea influenced how they see themselves; thru their art, commerce, language, festivals and tourism, stories, folklore, jokes, music.  Oh, and tall ships. They seem to be interwoven thru all of it. 

Gone to Look for Charleston's Maritime Heritage

Back in Charleston, on deck, I've got the best view of the Harbor, all 360 degrees of past, present, and future. I can't help but make comparisons. Charleston is as rich in history, and a connection to the sea, as any port on the east coast,  and low country so large that there's a saying, I think it's gullah-geechee "so much water here down south that the ocean comes out of the rivers' mouth."[listen to the Shovel and Rope song:  "Stono River Blues"].  Plus. we had pirates. All of that underpins what this area is today.  But the thing is,, at most of it appears to be a secret.  It's just not visible, or understood. The curation of the City's heritage is merit-worthy, but its all focused landward. The success of the new International African American Museum is a gem, but it too, appears to be almost totally focused landward.

The College of Charleston's "Carolina, Low Country and the Atlantic World" began a collaboration with Spirit of South Carolina in 2019 before COVID-19 forced a virtual shut-down of the student involvement.  That collaboration would've been the first Maritime Heritage-oriented initiative of any sizable scope. I"m currently reaching out again to that entity.

In the meantime, I've discovered a new thread of heretofore untold stories. "The Seaborne Underground Railroad".  The euphemism is pretty clear.  For 100 years there was a heavily used route for escaped African-American slaves northward by sea,  a large part of it, thru Charleston. Two recent books document the stories.
They relate a scale of movement at least as great as the better known Underground Railroad and the heroic characters involved such as Harriet Tubman, and  William Still. "Sailing to Freedom", published in 2021, has been discussed in a previous blog entry.  "Freedom Ship" published only months ago documents highly personal accounts up and down the coast ,not only slaves escaping, but  the horror of free African American sailors being "blackbirded" in southern ports, the practice of kidnapping legally free black sailors and selling them into slavery. Suffice to say that the stories that make up the Seaborne Underground railway are equally inspiring, and  heartbreaking.  And they are stories of our own city, our sea port, and ancestors. 

Spirit of South Carolina should be a Living-active-experience of Charleston's Maritime Heritage

As Volunteers we have an opportunity to fill a huge vacuum. No one else is doing this. We have capability of telling these stories, using the deck of Spirit of South Carolina as the platform, to reinforce them thru demonstrating and hands-on experience of the life aboard and skills that operated such vessels while. It takes only our time, to learn the stories, and pass them on to visitors who come aboard, or maybe just dockside, maybe just a 10-minute overview, or a half-hour hands-on reenactment of sorts.   Carin Bloom, instigator of the Bloom Six-Knot Challenge, and Historian-reenactor is helping to organize the Stories and the material.

And this isn't the only topic on Charleston's Maritime Heritage.. Look for  "Charleston Pilots, and Development of the Harbor", coming soon.

This doesn't have to wait for shipyard or Certificate of inspection. The time can be a four-hour shift, morning or afternoon, on dock or on deck. 15-minute to 1/2 hour tours depending on depth and experience to explore, and the mentioning of a donation to the schooner.   

And it should be a welcome diversion from maintenance.  

Look for Signup opportunities.  Be prepared for some self-study. The materials are available at this blog. See right side column of Resources and other Materials for Book links and downloadable Talking points as they are posted.                                                                           

Schooners and Maritime Literature

 Thanks to Ken Fonville who stepped aboard Saturday afternoon the 13th,  to pump the Forecastle bilge after no one else had signed up. Bryan Oliver showed up the previous Wednesday afternoon ostensibly to evaluate the effects of the week's rains, before he departed for St. Louis and Father's Day.  Good thing too. It seems that the slippery overhand knots he used to lash the rolled up awning along it's guy line, had loosened, leaving the unraveling awning flapping in the breeze, not very shipshape,, so lesson learned,, "highwayman's cutaway".

So, without much else than that to relate, it's a worthy moment to share a couple of very worthy books..

If you're following this blog you've likely a more than passing fancy of the world of "Tall Ships".. I sure do.. like since 6th grade.  But even if you're not at my extreme end of the spectrum, if you have a curiosity for more insight into that world, the mariners who sail them today, and in recent past, the trainees, student's who crew them. What's the attraction? What are they really like?  Why do they still exist? What's their justification? Aren't they risky? Why take that risk?

Well, I found the most articulate, literate, inspiring answers to those questions, and more, in a book, ironically, about Tall Ships that sank.

Daniel S. Parrott, late Captain of the topsail schooner(-Baltimore Clipper-Privateer) "SSV Pride of Baltimore II", wrote this book, published waaayyy back in 2003. It's an unvarnished amazingly detailed historical record of the sinking of five Traditionally Rigged Sailing Ships, from 1957 to 1995. One of them, "Albatross" was dramatized in the feature movie, "White Squall".  He vividly re-creates each final voyage and then explores the roles played by ship stability, structural integrity, ship-handling, weather, human error, and standards of risk in tragedies at sea. Finally, the lessons-learned. 

Available on Amazon Books
 and other resellers

My personal copy is stained with yellow highlighting page by page of memorable quote-worthy perspectives.  Capt Parrott's amazingly detailed analysis is well written, with a style alternately gripping, and poetic...means it's a page-turner. 

My copy will be on board in the Saloon library for a limited time, should any of you care to peruse. You'll be getting excerpts anyway,, like this one.. If you're a sailor, you'll take a deep breath:

"There are moments all sailors store in a sort of communal emotional archive bound up with the physical sensations of sailing. There is the alarm when one first feels wind fill a sail.  The boat beneath comes suddenly alive with heeling and speed, as if one were astride an unpredictable beast. Even on a pond left by a retreating glacier, the ecstasy of acceleration and the fear of capsize co-mingle in an instant of triumph and panic. Then there is the storm, often anticipated with gusto by the neophyte and less so by the seasoned sailor. In a building sea and a rising wind the bow lifts and smashes into a curled wave, pounding downward with a violence of purpose that buckles the knee and sends torrents of green water aft and into your seaboots.  If one is possessed of a constitution disinclined to feed a perfectly good dinner to the fish at such moments, the jarring exuberance suggests that this is life as it should be lived: rigorous, exhilarating, bare-knuckled.

There is also a catalog of more sublime moments that weave rapture with achievement: sunsets followed by the green flash, plotting a passable celestial fix, quiet anchorages, crossing an ocean, island landfalls, trade-wind passages, and dolphins lunging under the bow mere inches from the surging stem as the ship muscles through the seas with athletic vitality. And then there comes a moment, perhaps aloft beyond the sight of land, beneath the stars as night relieves twilight. Out on the footrope one feels at once solitary yet in communion with the vast splendor of sea and sky and creation, alone in thought, yet part of a community of shipmates as an organ is to a body. You pause with a fistful of canvas and glance back at the rail of phosphorescence roiled to life by the turbulence of the keel scribing its way across miles of latitude and longitude like the blade of an ice skate traversing a small round pond..

..These ships always did transport more than cargo. Whatever ostensible purpose they served in the past, sailing ships are vehicles of human experience and dreams, and not only for sailors...  We cling to them through art, literature, museums or by actually going to sea.."

It goes on.. 

Coming UP:  Stories of the Seaborne Underground Railroad. and how vessels like Spirit of South Carolina played a part.

Steamy Saturday and another check'-offed the Maintenance Punch List.

 This Saturday, 7 June, was sunny, hot, humid, breezeless,, what else can I say describe the situation four of us volunteers faced as we mustered together at 0900 onto the deck in the brilliant sunlight. The good thing was, we had a specific job to do, to keep us focused away from this sultry morning.  Ken Fonville took on the task of posting the National Colors on the transom, then hoisting the Palmetto Flag and Tall Ship's America courtesy flag up the mainmast. It was the resurrection of a maritime tradition we had allowed to lapse for several months.. Now onlookers knew that Spirit of South Carolina was indeed alive. Lance Halderman rinsed out the igloo water jug then filled it over a big chunk of ice Bryan Oliver  had picked up at Harris Teeter on the way down. Walter Barton and Bryan teamed up to lower the gang way a reasonable amount to make disembarking and reembarking manageable. The last task, and most critical, was to rig up the deck awning over midships.  Actually only the port side could be rigged, due to the starboard gangway setup. Already half rigged up, it was an easy four minute drill to unroll the awning from its lashing, hoist up the lifts and belay on the sheer pole, tie off the apron line extending between the shrouds, then tensioning the come-along strap on the main shroud.. Voila! Shade!  

Next came our focus single project.  The prior week, Lance and Tim Kolb had completed sanding the boat hooks, now waiting for linseed oil. and had started grinding off old peeling varnish  on the main gaff. Unfortunately, the sticky-backed sanding disks, the only ones left in the locker would not adhere to the hook and loop style orbital sanding pad, and they could complete only two square feet before muster off at lunch.  

Now Nick Swarts and Lance went below to bring out two orbital sanders, a handful of assorted sanding disks,  extension cords.  With everything powered up. Lance and Nick started grinding way at the old, blackened and flaking layers of varnish.  Meanwhile, Ken and Bryan conducted their own search for any remaining remnants of thinner, and varnish left over from previous projects.  The heat and absence of any breeze made the open deck oppressive, so crew took regular breaks filling up bottles from the ice water igloo, and stretching out under the awning.  

Ken Fonville securing the thinner after mixing up
 a pint of thinned varnish for the first three coats.
Nick is starting at the aft end.

Now onto the home stretch, Ken mixes up a diluted mixture of thinner and varnish while Bryan, Lance and Nick use the remaining thinner to tack down the surface of the gaff, taking off all sawdust  and sanding debris. Bryan and Ken stretch out a drop cloth under the gaff.  Once tacked down, Lance and Nick with clean rags, soaked in the thinned varnish start on opposite ends to apply it down the length.  

Bryan and Lance starting from opposite ends
 of the main gaff,  wipe on successive coats
 of thinned down varnish for sealant.

The thinned varnish soaks in quickly, and dries as fast, allowing for applying a second coat.  Meanwhile, everyone else starts securing tools, hardware, rags,  and deletris to trash cans.  As Bryan laid down the third coat to set in the sun, remaining crew disembarked. Next week, maybe one more thinned coat, then the varnish, full steam. 

The gaff will be saved.. ;-)

We Happy Few This Weekend.. and it Worked.

 [This entry published a week late,, have mercy on the editor] This past Saturday the 31st of May disrupted the normal rhythm of Volunteer effort with the annual Salute to Veteran's Regatta, hosted by the Charleston Offshore Racing Association, and sponsored by Blackbaud. Over 130 competitors in over 35 sailing vessels of all sized competed. 

At least six current or past Volunteers participated, including myself.  There would have been more, I'm certain, if our Navy contingent had been better informed.  As it was, Volunteers, Lance Halderman, and Tim Kolb, and I believe David Reid, all mustered Saturday morning on deck.  While the Punchlist was full, it turns out a shortage of tools and materials frustrated some of the effort. Nevertheless, Lance and Tim finished sanding the three boat hook staffs-now waiting  for the linseed oil now on order.  

The Gangway configured at High Tide, just clears the cap rail.
No worries, one can simply step across from the dock
 to the rail, or we set two aluminum "gangplanks across."

We also adjusted and set marking twine in the starboard bow and stern falls - to mark point around the belaying pin that will keep the gangway sufficiently high to clear the schooner's cap rail at high tide. Of course, the low tide situation results in the gangway resting a full seven to eight feet above the deck. In the days when the schooner had a liveaboard crew, someone was always responsible for adjusting the gangway twice per day to insure it's accessibility.  

Emma pauses in making the bow falls fast
to expose the position of the black marker twine
 at the belaying pin, marking the correct length
 for the bow falls.

In an unusual arrangement that turned out just dad-burned pleasant, Volunteers Benji Norman, Emma Etheredge, and Kevin Mirise, making his first appearance, mustered on board on Sunday afternoon, 4PM, and stayed for over three hours. The weather was mild, seas were calm perfect on deck, and the late Sunday afternoon vibe..perfect for a Scavenger Hunt. But first, Benji and Emma, tested their memories from their first time last week, and took charge of handling the bow and stern falls for the gangway, carefully taking lines off, controlling strain, safely easing and hauling, finally taking the line back to the pin, making fast, coiling and hanging.  

Bryan then explained to the three, the significance of "The Scavenger Hunt". The object is: given a list of tools, hardware, and consumables, and a map of below-decks and on-deck,   find the location of each of the objects by their location. The second part of the exercise involved an illustration of the mainsail rigging, and the Head rig, with numbered points designating a part of the sail, rigging, or spars. Objective, match the numbers with the name of the object.  

Both these exercises were aimed at accelerating  the familiarization of new deckhand volunteers with where things are, and what things are called-the two most challenging memory tasks of any new person coming aboard such vessel. 

The Six Knot Challenge; from left..
 Round Turn and 2 half-hitches,
  Bowline,
Figure-eight Stopper,
Highwayman's Cutaway,
 Sheetbend,
Slippery Reef Knot

 The last segment of the evening was devoted to introducing the Bloom Knot Challenge. Bryan arranged six ropes of a fathom's length (six feet) along the fife rail, and explained, then demonstrated the six most common knots  used aboard the schooner.  The Challenge is to complete all six knots within 30 seconds.  Kevin, having a bit of a background already in the "arts" gave it a go, and on first try, without trying,  came within 25 seconds of hitting the 30 second mark. His could very well be the next name to go on the plaque in the schooner's saloon.  Unless Nick shows up.

2 h

Dismasting of the Mexican Sail Training Barque Cuauhtemoc

 

Here's the latest link produced on YouTube by Sal Mercogliano- a maritime historian at Campbell University and former Merchant Mariner. He's highly recommended by a number of us for his depth in Casualty Analysis. He's been following this via a number of YouTube entries as this situation unfolded.  

  breaks down a vSal Mercogliano's Latest Analysis of the Cuauhtemoc's dismastingideo showing the entire voyage of the Mexican Navy sail training ship om the South Stre

et Seaport to its allision with the Brooklyn Bridge and was the Controllable Pitch Propeller system the root cause?

Publicity.. You take it where you can get it.

With no budget, no one on Spirit of South Carolina's team performing in a role as Marketing-publicist-Business Developer-"mouthpiece" or whatever,, the publicity, visibility, brand, of our schooner is built on, well, just us volunteers, really. We tell her story, invite walk-ups aboard for a tour, somehow manage to throw the schooner's name into conversations we are having with who'ever might be interested. 

Every once in a while, an opportunity drops on us. In this case a request for a magazine photo shoot.  If you've been aboard since 2020, there has been two. Given the  readership, and chance to be on a cover.. well, it's a big deal.  Free publicity. 

Last month, Ken Fonville greeted Photographer Mark Staff and his team on board to set up a special shoot for a feature article in the  Summer edition of  "Charleston Women".  The magazine is Charleston Women is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on the needs and desires of women who are business leaders, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, neighbors, wives, sisters and much more.  Mark had earlier coordinated coming on board, with Bryan Oliver, who would be out of town. So Ken stepped up to host the event, whatever that might be .

Ken was probably set back momentarily at what happened next.  Mark's work is a serious production. The shoot showcased nine women. According to Ken's recollection, an entire ensemble climbed down the gangway and began stalking the deck  first to identify their "set", then looking for the best angles to compose their shots, lighting equipment, bringing aboard the "Talent", in this case, nine Charleston women business leaders/entrepreneurs, make-up-wardrobe, and of course.. catering.  

The results were pretty impressive, given the deck was largely stripped of rigging. No matter,, his staging crew gathered up loose gear and arranged it in places that would create an effect.  The results of his work are in the cover  below.  You can access the digital magazine at:

read.charlestonwomen.com/charleston-women/summer2025/6/#zoom=true

New Volunteers on the way to filling in gaps left by some of our stalwarts..

We didn't get chance to bid Fair Winds to Nick Swarts, who recently signed on to the Denis Sullivan's crew for the passage to Boston,, I understand they departed Thunderbolt Shipyard on Saturday. Bittersweet, losing a volunteer like that, but it's also a Good thing, for the reputation of  Spirit's Volunteer Crew.  We train deckhands.  . I'll have him try to keep us posted.  Nick had been helping them out on occasion during their shipyard period out there.  

This past Saturday, the 24th, two new Volunteers, Benji, Norman, and Emma Etheridge mustered aboard along with Ken Fonville, and David Reid. They were all on time.  Bos'n Bryan was not.  It took him longer than expected to ghost across the Wando from Remley point, and down-river in his Beetle Cat, "Sean-O". finally docking at 0930.  Actually he confessed to a particularly disorganized up-rigging process on the catboat's trailer before even launching. After all it had been several months since she was in the water. .. of which very little seeped into her bilges during the passages, less than a quart after six months in stocks,, a testament to solid planking and caulking.

While Bryan was working his way down-channel, Ken led Benji and Emma thru an on-deck orientation. Shortly afterwards Ken disembarked to shift over to the final intensifying coordination of  the Salute to Veteran's Regatta. 

Bryan segued the orientation from history of the vessel, and what her intended mission has always been,  into an introduction and practice in safe line handling. In the course of conversation about what Spirit of South Carolina does, Benji and Emma's core professional competence in Marketing came up.  It's an essential component that's been absent from Spirit South Carolina for the past three years.  Given current absence of any visible activity in that area, there's a void that needs filling. 

Five of us was a decent number by which to make some progress, but not enough to launch the RIB rescue boat.With that in the water we can inspect the hull, maneuver the hull away from the yokohama's and possibly reset them for good.  Provide some Coxwain skills training to those interested..  Then there's Dory, that needs some exercise.  

Can we get six next week? or later, after Memorial Day? Hope so.

Practical Navigator USCG Approved Online Learning Now Available to Spirit of South Carolina Volunteers

Volunteering aboard Spirit of South Carolina is part service and part education. You can't spend even one day without learning something new, from varnishing techniques, or proper application of increasingly finer sandpaper grits to realizing the impacts of weather, tides, or a poorly made knot, boxing the compass, not to mention an entirely new language.  Some Volunteers even aspire to picking up skills and sea time that will advance them closer to gaining a license.  Now with Spirit of South Carolina's new status as a designated Partner Organization by Practical Navigator, our Crew, including Volunteer Crew, can take their skill building and Mariner education to a new level. 

Practical Navigator is offering the following USCG approved courses at a Deep Discount, or even at now charge for qualified Volunteers

• Able Seafarer (ne; Able-Bodied Seaman-AB
• 100 Ton Master or Operator of  Uninspected Passenger Vessels
• 100 to 200 ton upgrade (master or mate)
• Sailing Endorsement
• Assisted Towing Endorsement
• Sailing Endorsement
• Assistance Towing Endorsement
• Radar Observer Unlimited and Combined Radar/ARPA
• Radar Recertification
• Lifeboat Operator (PSC) - Limited - for Tall Ships Members
​

Active Volunteers who have completed 50 Volunteer Hours (as documented via the Volunteer attendance Log) can now can gain access at steep discounts($100) to a Complete library of USCG approved Mariner Credential online courses, including personalized instructor guidance;

Active Volunteers completing 100 hours are eligible for Free Tuition for one course. Spirit of South Carolina is allocated 5 slots per year at no charge.

To register for courses and obtain a deep ($100) discount:

Volunteers must first complete 50 Volunteer Hours, documented in the Volunteer Log.

• The Volunteer must first contact  the Volunteer Coordinator(bryan@spiritofsc.org, or text 314-409-0433) with Intent to enroll. 
• On confirmation from Volunteer Coordinator, the Volunteer should contact  Instructor at Practical Navigator who will confirm your eligibility and guide you thru the enrollment process.

To Register for Free Courses (Volunteers with 100 documented hours)

• The Volunteer must first confirm 100 Volunteer hours in the Volunteer Log, and contact  the Volunteer Coordinator(bryan@spiritofsc.org, or text 314-409-0433) with Intent to enroll. 
• On confirmation from Volunteer Coordinator, the Volunteer should contact  Instructor at Practical Navigator who will confirm your eligibility and guide you thru the enrollment process.
​

 

Spirit of South Carolina Hosts Charleston Collegiate 8th Graders Aboard

In spite of our Schooner's apparent Limbo status, these past few months, Spirit of South Carolina has still found ways to execute her mission.  This last April 16th, she hosted onboard, thirty 8th-grade students from Charleston Collegiate School for an orientation and 2-hour educational program. 

Boatswain(Bos'un) Bryan Oliver points out
 the berthing arrangement
during the group's orientation.

Hosted jointly by the LowCountry Maritime School, and Spirit of South Carolina, three facilitators, presented an introductory 15 minute orientation and tour of the Schooner.

 Following the orientation, students organized into three watches and rotated thru three 300-minute  learning sessions.

  

LCMS Director Sam Gervais illustrates
 the ship's sail plan.

On the Quarterdeck, LCMS Director, Sam Gervais  gave a more detailed explanation of Sail Trim on a schooner, steering, knots and seamanship.  

CAPT Heath Hackett pointing out buoys
 along the channel entrance

Below in the Saloon, Capt Heath Hackett, Project Manager for the Spirit of South Carolina led students thru simple navigation techniques on hard charts spread over the table. 

Bo'sun Bryan explaining a Schooner

Forward at the Sampson Posts, Boatswain and Volunteer Coordinator, Bryan Oliver led students thro a historical perspective, including the evolution of commerce in the harbor, contributions of Enslaved African Americans to the economy of the harbor, and their developing a "Seaborne Underground Railroad, in which escaping slaves found their way north to freedom. 

Bryan pointing out the route
 of the runaway Container Vessel last year,
 and the Pilot-in-Command's role
in avoiding catastrophe

Finally, Bryan wove into the conversation the significance of Harbor Bar Pilots, and their evolution over the past 300 years.

The experience proved the viability of hosting students aboard for bespoke programs, in spite of her decks constrained with lashed down spars and gear in preparation for a movement to Shipyard.

New Volunteer -T-Shirts are Here.

 

They are here, and will be ready to issue possibly as early as April 25.. Look for the email. Due to the generous Grant to Spirit of South Carolina's Volunteers by  the local chapter of America's Boating Club, funding was allocated for a supply of T-Shirts to be awarded FREE to Volunteers who have given 50 Volunteer Hours of Service. Printed on Indigo blue, the shirts display  on the front, the "Volunteer Crew " designation, with a large silhouette of Spirit of South Carolina under full sail on the reverse.  Volunteers currently documented with at least 50 hours of volunteer time, may pick up their shirt at the next Volunteer Day after recognition of their time.

For the past four years, a multi-colored Volunteer T-shirt has been available.  Due to the absence of any Volunteer Operations Budget, those T-shirts have been available only for sale at cost.  Those shirts will still be available at the same cost of $20.

Small Volunteer Team makes big gains. First Attempt at the Bloom Knot Challenge.

 Spring  Break? Race Week? Something was competing with our Volunteer Day.  Again this week, just four of us mustered Saturday morning. with another four we could've easily sent over the small boat to exercise her engine, test her new patch, and inspect the schooner's hull for next maintenance projects. As it was, all we could do was evaluate the excellent patch job done last week by Tony Marchesani and Walter Barton.  A totally custom job, made challenging by the leak's proximity to a high seam, and a deep convex surface at aft end of the boat's starboard pontoon. All indications indicated she was holding nicely,, a professional looking job too! 

But with just the four of us, Tony, Walter, Nick Swarts, and Bryan Oliver, we were left to the last pre-shipyard down-rig project: overhauling, two-blocking, and and stowing the remaining running rigging tackles below in the forecastle. It took spud wrenches,  marlinspikes, a 28-inch adjustable crescent and most of a can of Breakfree to loosen the 10-year rusty nuts from their shackle bolts. Finally, both the mainsheets transom turning blocks, and quarter-tackle blocks, along with their gasket-coiled lines were labeled and handed down into the forecastle berth until someone else  in shipyard was ready to hand them back up for scuffing sanding and oiling. 

All but Nick and Bryan were left after Lunch. ..Fine with Nick who laid out six fathom length three-strand ropes, worked on fine tuning his knot speed tying techniques. By 2pm Nick announced he was ready to  take on the Bloom 6-Knot Challenge;  six knots  completed to a standard in 30 seconds. Bowline, Round Turn-2 half-hitches, Figure-8 stopper, Slippery Reef knot, Highwayman's Cutaway, and Sheetbend.  

Nick was now the first Volunteer to attempt the Challenge after Carin Bloom first took on the Challenge at the Georgetowne  Wooden Boat show in October and  started the ongoing Challenge for all deckhands. If he met the standard, he would be the second name, under Carin's to be engraved on the plaque now displayed in the Saloon.

 Skeptically, Bryan watched Nick arrange his six different ropes out in front of the Fife Rail, all laid out without any bights or loops that would facilitate a "head-start." Bryan explained the rules. He would start the stop-watch as Nicks hand touched the first rope, and stop the watch as Nick dropped the last rope. Each knot would be inspected according to the standards of the Crew Manual and Ashley's Book of Knots.

Nick reached for the first, and in one smooth movement effortlessly worked the round turn and two half-hitches, an impressive start. The second- highwayman's cutaway again a seamless effort, looking promising.  the third, on the  figure-eight stopper knot Nick took an extra pull.  So far he was on track, at just under 18 seconds. His fourth, the sheet bend, a supposedly simple bending of two different rope ends, created a few seconds confusion, the fifth, a slippery reef knot, perhaps the most complex, was smooth, but required an extra tug. By now the stopwatch was approaching 38 seconds. As he finished his bowline, and dropped it, the time stopped at 45 seconds.. 

Frustrated, but not disheartened, we retraced each of his knots, identifying where time was lost, and where his technique faltered. Un-phased, Nick insisted on trying again.. This time he dropped two seconds off his previous time, but on two knots, continued to falter.  After one more try, we called it a day.    We agreed on some conclusions.. the Challenge is reachable, but quickly weeds out the careless, and punishes those who have not mastered the intricacies of how a particular knot works,, the kind of insights at over centuries, master mariners have absorbed with experience that enables them to instinctively choose and work the right knot, under any conditions. 

Here's hoping more volunteers step up too. The Six-Knot Challenge is worthy of bragging rights, beyond our Schooner.

Five Volunteers join Denis Sullivan Crew to Sail her to Savannah

SSV Denis Sullivan in
Charleston Harbor last year.

 When the Sailing School Vessel,, Schooner Denis Sullivan visits Charleston twice a year, she has benefited from the on-shore support of Spirit of South Carolina Volunteers, everything some simple maintenance support to transportation for crew, to  connecting with other shore-based maintenance resources.

On the schooner's visit this past week, arriving Monday afternoon, 7 April, Denis Sullivan was able to gain a berth by "rafting up" to Spirit of South Carolina for three days.  Denis Sullivan acknowledged the support from Spirit's Volunteers, by offering the opportunity for volunteers to sail with their crew to Savannah-Thunderbolt Shipyard- a 21-hour overnight passage. 

Five Volunteers accepted the invitation. On Sunday afternoon at 1300, Bryan Oliver, Walter Barton, Nicholas Swarts, Sam Sablotsky and brother Levi Sablotsky climbed aboard Denis Sullivan, and joined the crew for which, all but one, would be their first ever off-shore passage aboard a traditionally rigged schooner. Total souls on-board numbered 12.

As the last of us boarded and stowed our gear into assigned bunks, the Mate mustered volunteers on deck for a deck orientation and assignments to the station bill-for Fire, abandon ship, and Man Overboard. 

Around 1400,  Capt Flansburg directed his mate to begin taking off docklines. "From the get-go", Captain and crew demonstrated the next level of sailing seamanship.  As last lines were cast off, with volunteers laying on the halyards with the rest of the crew, the Fore staysail was set, followed by the Foresail and Mainsail.  Thanks to a slack high tide, and a light westerly breeze, Denis Sullivan sailed off the dock.  The Captain didn't bother to fire up the two diesels until we were in the channel southeast bound to Ft. Sumter.  While there was a light favorable breeze, the modern-day necessity of keeping our schedule required a speed over ground (SOG) of at least 5 knots or more. 

Nick Swarts, 1st of the five volunteers
 to take over the helm

Passing through the Jettys, the Mate, assigned watch positions, with B watch set at 1500. Captain Flansburg relaxed his watch discipline a bit due to the short duration of the voyage and proximity to the coast.  He didn't require a Lookout forward; that role fulfilled by the quarterdeck. Bilge checks occurred once during the watch, not once an hour. Otherwise, Volunteers took turns at the helm for an hour, and hourly taking the ship's position and plotting it on a huge chart below in the chartroom.  

As we came abreast of Redbuoy #14, the Capt directed new course of 215 degrees, roughly paralleling the coast approximately 9 miles off-shore. The sea state remained at 1 foot, with apparent wind on our nose at approximately the same speed as our SOG, no not much help.  The function of our sail set became more for stability-less rolling than actually powering the ship.  

At 1600, the watch changed to begin the full four-hour set.  Capt Flansburg led the watch with deckhands, Autumn, Sofia(Engineer), and Volunteer Bryan. Bryan started the watch on the helm for the first hour, to be relieved just in time as supper was being prepped.  Originally, our own Ray Krugger had agreed to come on board as Cook for the passage. However, he'd been preempted by a higher priority and had to bow out. That left the crew, with a pantry and larder full of left overs for the remaining 2 days to Thunderbolt. No worries.  Sofia found six frozen pizza's and baked them to perfection, making up a huge salad to go along, and a pitcher of passion fruit/lemonade punch.  Volunteer Walter's donated bag of fresh brownies topped off the event. 

Sam Sabotsky and brother Levi at Supper 

Denis Sullivan followed the same meal scheduling as most tall ships, synchronizing to a change of watch. In this case, Supper was set around 2000 hrs,  the change from the Captains watch and A Watch.  The Oncoming watch would get the first seating,  at 1930, a half-hour prior to their watch change.  The off-going watch would get theirs at 2000, as they were relieved from their watch. The "idle" watch would bring up the rear, following the relieved  watch.  Each crew member was responsible for washing and putting away their own utensils, as well as at least  one common utensils/(sauce pan, baking pan, etc). 

As A Watch took the deck at 2000, the expected full moon had not yet risen. Sky was still cloudless and stars started to appear. Sea state was calm, less than a foot high, winds so slight the apparent wind remained on our nose just filling the sails for stability. For the evening, Capt directed dousing the Fore staysail, so we remained under Foresail alone. 

Bryan's view of his guide point
steering towards the Sea buoy
 at Wassaw Sound 

At watch change at 0400, the full moon had been up a few hours, brightening the sky, blanking out most constellations, yet providing the perfect guide for the helmsman, an alternative spot to align with the compass heading, then 225 degrees.  Bryan at the helm was able to steer for most of his trick, by keeping the moon centered between the fore and mainmast port shrouds, thus avoiding the eye strain and occasional hypnotic effect  of constantly staring at the compass dial.

By sun-up, Denis Sullivan was approaching the Sea buoy for Wassaw Sound where we would round well to the south, then steer north up into the sound, and the Wilmington river.  Our speed had been slowed to just over a knot or two, to better time our arrival at the Wassaw  sound bar, and high tide.   Those on deck  strained eyeballs gazing to the east at the anticipated sunrise and possibility of sighting the split second green flash as the sun's upper limb first cleared the horizon.  But wasn't to be. 

Breakfast spread was an interesting melange of everything left in the fridge and freezer., of which there was plenty.. left up to the diner's imagination.  

All luff hanks cut, foot robands loosed,
 the staysail hangs loosely before being
laid out on deck.

Post breakfast as all was being washed and put away, Jeremy's watch with Sam, Levi, Walter,and Bryan stepping, down rigged the Fore staysail, flaking, and rolling it up on the deck, then stowing below in an empty bunk.  The headrig was now clear of canvas, and ready for total downrig the next day when the Shipwright arrived to take charge.

Now the Mate directs laying out of docklines. We'll be docking bow on, and port side-to. on a low floating dock, and remain there for the shipyard project, no hauling out needed. The major project of unstepping the bowsprit would be accomplished from that location.

Volunteers retrieve and help bend on heaving lines and set all the sausage fenders off the port rail as low as possible. Capt Flansburg eases the schooner off the ICW channel into the fairway, then a hard left, slowly into the slip, ghosting to within two feet of the dock before sending lines over. Within the next five minutes, the schooner is made fast, double lines sent over, finished with engines.  

Sam, Levi, Walter and Nick at final Muster.

Capt Flansburg musters the crew to lay out the priorities for the rest of the day. Volunteers go below to clear out their berths, fold up linens and bedding, and stage gear on the dock. 

Denis Sullivan's crew, Sofia, Capt Flansburg,
 Hunt, Methven, and Autumn, Jeremy's Fist.

The schooner's Executive Director, Jill Hughes, comes aboard to start planning for the projects, but before getting too far, calls another muster. This time it's for a crew photo on the fore deck, and engineer Sofia presenting to each Volunteer a crew T-shirt.    

As things wind down, casual conversation between crew and volunteers leads to offer to send anyone interested up the foremast. The offer is immediately taken up by all the Volunteers. 

Nick just back down a step
 after slapping the trestle trees
 above him.

So for the next half-hour, one after another, all five volunteers bend on a hip harness with a safety line and brake, and climb up to the trestle trees, at top of the foremast. For all five volunteers it's the first time ever, reaching that height.  Sam climbed half way over the trestle trees before backing down when his lanky frame wouldn't quite bend sufficiently around one corner.

Salley Davidson, Walter's sister, is waiting with transportation to get volunteers back to Charleston, so most load up. Bryan is hanging back to wait for Chris Sosnowski , due in at 1500 to pick up stragglers.

Every one is cleared and safely home 3 hours later, with a few bragging rights.

Spirit's RIB (Rescue Boat/Dinghy/Small Boat/Tender-we call her all those things) gets a Patch.

 On Saturday, the 12th, only three volunteers mustered on deck, but it was enough to take on the one salient project needing to be done, soon...which was the repair of our Small Boat. The prior week, Bos'un Bryan had purchased the correct rubber patching cement kit, along with squares of rubber patch material. While Bryan Oliver disappeared below to start prepping for his part in educating 35 Charleston Collegiate Students next week, 

Toy shows off his plan for clamping
and pressure-plating the patch (
out of site below the corner)

Walter applies a second clamp over the two
opposing wood pressure plates
covering the patch.

The project entailed an intricate sequence of scraping, sanding, roughing both surfaces;  followed by an even covering of adhesive allowed to become tacky, thus starting the placement of the patch, even pressuring it all over the subject leak area. This latter step was awkward, given that the seep was in the apex of a rounded end of the boat's pontoon. Some Ingenius use of c-clamps, and soft (rotte) plywood that curved to the shape, enabled the even pressurization all over the patch.  With that done, all left was for the patch area to cure for seven days before removing.

For Something a little Different but Just as Significant.

Boatyard volunteers just finished stacking
 old Bevin's Skiffs for transport to another film set.

 On occasion, this blog has mentioned, even endorsed the Volunteer opportunities open at the Low Country Maritime School. This organization, headed by Sam Gervais has  for several years, partnered with local schools to take on boat building projects as an applied education in numerous academic disciplines.  Students under tutelage
of Sam and the School's Residing Shipwright, Rachel Berquist, coach students thru the construction of a "Bevin's Skiff", a historic classic, period,  simple skiff that for generations was the working (also rigged for sail) fishing boat in the low country .

 The Society has recently expanded their curriculum to the finishing of Remote Control racing sailboat kits.  Additionally, the Society leases out it's stalls to different boatwrights for their own projects.  I, myself have taken advantage of this by leasing out a stall to restore my "Beetle Cat" to proper trim.

Perry Gervais gets his first look
at one of Colton's new "old" water craft.

Well, one of the regulars with a semi permanent construction site here is Colton Bayne, a respected Shipwright in his own right, happens to be the son of Mark Bayne, the Shipwright who build Spirit of South Carolina. Colton accepted a commission by a group of film producers to build a pair of authentic "Bateaux" . 

These would be fully working props for a documentary film around the African American contribution to Maritime commerce in the low country. Bateaux (French for "boat") were built by enslaved African American boatmen. Simple, functional, they were perfectly suited as fishing boats or cargo carriers between the plantations up and down the coasts to Charleston. 

Brandon Clark, Perry Gervais and Sam Gervais
 complete the strapping down of the two
 bateaux for transport.

He actually completed them in around three weeks. On a recent Wednesday four of us volunteers teamed up with the LCMS staff to get them out of their stall and loaded on to a trailer for transportation to a launch spot for first sea trials before turning them over to the movie prop people for final cosmetic work to transform them back to the year 1865.

Volunteers Welcome the Schooner Denis Sullivan.

 Tuesday Afternoon about 1800 hours.

The Sailing School Vessel Denis Sullivan,  eight days out of St Croix, with a crew including about 14 Ashley Hall students, arrived in Charleston Tuesday, at 1800. Originally scheduled to sail, and arrive here on the 10th, Capt Chris Flansberg made the decision to make all propulsion available to get into Charleston ahead of the large weather front. Denis Sullivan made it by about 3 hours. If you'd been tracking on Shipfinder, MarineTraffic, or some other AIS tracker, you'd have noticed they were averaging about 9.7 knots most of the way.

Denis Sullivan has become a regularly twice annual visitor to Charleston on her way back and forth from her summer cruising grounds around St. Croix. Capt Flansberg has been Mate, and in command of Spirit of South Carolina in 2016, so is familiar with the ship and this port.

Six Volunteers mustered aboard Spirit of South Carolina in time to take lines and assist Denis Sullivan's crew in rafting up next to us. Waiting on the dock and observing the whole process were about  fifty Ashley Hall student family members. 

Old Salt Volunteer Chris Sosnowski checks the path
 down the gangway one last time before
 bringing up the families.

Chris Sosnowski took charge of the dock keeping the gangway and near area clear of enthusiastic welcomers and organizing their safe orderly boarding when the word came.

Nick Swarts, Lance Halderman, Dale Maxwell, Ken Fonville, and alum, Michael(Adam) Reed , lined up the length of Spirit's port rail to take heaving lines as they came across  in turn, from Denis Sullivan. 

Captain Chris Flansberg, in command, working with his Mate, Mak, and Bryan Oliver on Spirit's deck, expertly warped the ship back and forth, shifted lines over directly to the dock cleats, finally softly nudging the big green schooner close on, padded with eight fenders. 

Dale Maxwell and Nick Swarts finish lashing together
 the two gang planks spanning the two ships.

Now the crew shifted to readying the gangway, lowering a foot to align with our deck steps. Maxwell and Lance brought aboard two salvaged aluminum gang planks to stretch across the space between the two schooner's cap rails. 

Dale, Nick and Ken Fonville, ready to assist
Ashley Hall families over the rails to welcome home
 their daughters.

With all in place, Chris Sosnowski began sending shore visitors down the gang way.  Nick, Swarts and Maxwell, and Ken Fonville helped them cross over the gang plank and safely onto Denis Sullivan's deck and a reunion with their daughters.

Denis Sullivan is scheduled to depart Charleston Sunday at 1300 for Thunderbolt Marine in Savannah. Capt Flansberg has invited Spirit of South Carolina Volunteers to join the passage as guest crew. Five of us have volunteered for that experience.