1st Volunteer Day of the New Year, and Harvey Gamage Gives us a Picture of what We might Be doing in a year

 Six of us mustered on a chilly but bright Saturday morning.  Cold enough to make it unpleasant spending the day on deck, so we found projects on the punch list to give us some time below. 

 Bryan assigned half to mark-off and cut out sections of dacron from an old donated sail for a replacement mainsail for the dory. Another group gathered around Bryan in the Saloon head as he led a demonstration in disassembling, clearing out debris, and reinstalling new valves and seals for the toilet pump. The graphic lesson learned-(the description discreetly glossed over here)- was the icky consequence of somebody's flushing a paper towel down the toilet. 

Volunteers also welcomed back Hunter, who had returned to the schooner after a month-long holiday vacation with his family in the Dominican Republic. He wasted no time in reminding  deckhands why he was missed.  While volunteers laid out and cut dacron, or gained new appreciation for the mechanics of a working toilet, Hunter left to provision for  lunch, that turned into a rich, buttery, potatoes and Ham au Gratin.

Over lunch, Bryan took the opportunity to explain the presence of the Maine Schooner Harvey Gamage, which had been docked there.  She had just taken on 20 students, a diverse mix of high school juniors and seniors and cast off for a 3 month semester at sea, featuring a curriculum  and itinerary that we had always talked about operating in partnership with the International African American Museum.  Its worthwhile to check out this link to see what they will be accomplishing: Civil Rights and the African Diaspora at Sea

Our city news paper, Post and Courier, published on Saturday,  a front-page article of what Harvey Gamage will be doing.  Check this out:  Post and Courier: Students on a Voyage of History, Adventure

After securing from lunch below, Volunteer deckhands ran out the fire main hose, grabbed deck brushes and scrubbed the deck of accumulated grime and bird droppings; lastly, walked the deck to check that nothing was out of place for the American Bureau of Shipping Survey, due aboard on Thursday.