Entering a period of Stasis instigated by the Holidays and Winter Weather.

 Schooner date 241216.

It's been 22 days since our last Blog entry. The schooner Spirit of South Carolina remains in stasis awaiting direction from high above.  External situations are beginning to take control. 

The Holidays. 

The crew is becoming preoccupied. Families, with grandchildren are arriving, Families are departing, to visit grandchildren. Musters over the past few Saturdays have shriveled to 2-maybe 3.  The Captain is currently on duty, but will go off cycle on 29 December, returning 9 February, unless contracted to return early.  The Disabled Roster is lengthening.

Mitigating strategies; 

The Annual Volunteer Appreciation Night, along with the Christmas Parade of Boats, on Dec 14th, was stymied by weather conditions; the Parade cancelled, and reducing Appreciation Night attendance to a happy few (Walter Barton, Steve Folwell, Capt Bobby, Capt Will, Danny Johnson,)who graciously came aboard to watch a disappointing Army Navy Football game (depending on your point of view).  Walter Barton's excellent Chili, plus a diverse round of beverages and snacks softened the blow. 

Short term objectives remain the same;  

• Deliver the Schooner to Stephens Towing-Shipyard along with a shipyard crew and contracted Shipwrights and Riggers. 
• Dockside-Repair and reconfigure the Yokohama  Dock Fenders to restrict their shifting off the pilings.

The second objective can occur immediately if sufficient volunteer crew (six) can muster to take her off the dock, and set her anchor in the Middle Ground, for "a few days" enabling a second crew to adjust the Yokohama fenders.

In the next week, Look for a request call for Volunteers who can be flexible to dedicate a 1/2 day, to take the schooner off, or return her to the dock, either week after Christmas or sometime in January. If January, the job might just as easily be motoring the schooner all the way to her shipyard on the Wadmalaw River.

In the meantime, Dory lies on the dock, within a day or two's effort of being ready to launch and go sailing.  Her missing rudder gudgeon is being replaced. some final light scraping and sanding can prep for another coat of white hull paint, gunwale varnish, and maybe a nice blue sheer line strip under her gunwale.  Dory is primarily the property and responsibility of volunteers. Consider some time in helping make her ready, and be one of the first to take her off the dock, either rowing or sailing.

Stay tuned.

Quiet Thanksgiving Weekend but Dory Benefits

 With morning temps starting out in the mid 30's and a 5 knot northerly on the docks, the weather wasn't exactly inviting.  It did moderate some as Tony Marchesani and Bryan Oliver mustered below in the Saloon to make coffee and decide what could be advanced.  

With Eva Keyes confirmed a non-return, Shipyard still a go, and feelers out among Bryan's tall-ship network for crew, riggers, and shipwright, things were overall positive.  Still, we were left with no clear sets of priorities.

But Dory was just sitting out on the dock, waiting to be finished up.  Over the past several weeks, Dallas Spencer had rebuilt half of her destroyed sapele gunwales and oarlock mounts, and restored her transom, which had been torn out while suffering high winds and wave actions pounding her against a dock earlier this summer. But her four-foot daggerboard and some thwart panels had apparently floated off when dory finall swamped. Her sail rig and canvas appeared to still be serviceable.   

Bryan quickly produced out of his dock cart, a completely new daggerboard, and two aft thwart panels. That settled it.. We threw ourselves into the Dory restoration. 

While Tony searched the ships collection of bronze fasteners to pre-drill and screw down the thwarts, Bryan made a quick errand to the Hardware Store for some wood filler to fair out the rough edges along the scarfs in the gunwale where Dallas had refashion new ones.
Next, we fitted and mounted two new oarlock bolsters Dallas had recreated. The daggerboard was slipped into its trunk to test for fit. Finally, a first coat of varnish was laid down along the entire gunwale.   With one more coat of varnish, a white coat over the hull and inboard, Dory will be ready to rig up and launch.  

One last small triumph, between Tony and Bryan, we searched our hardware boxes and identified the close-enough-to right size bolt and lock-nut combination, along with a little drilling/resizing holes to secure the gangway rails to the gangway.  

Dory's back story..according to Bryan.

In 2017, at start of the Tall Ship Challenge to Quebec City,  the first mate, Dan Cleveland, and Engineer Doug Faunt pooled their funds to purchase a "stitch-and-glue" boat kit from Chesapeake Bay Boats. Their intent was to build a small craft capable of both rowing and sailing, which will be shared across the crew for recreation, and with student/guest crew to  learn rudiments of sailing and seamanship.  

They chose a 16 foot, dory-style kit called a "Noreaster Dory". For two weeks, the entire kit, hung suspended over my head in my berth during the passage to Bermuda and on to Boston. Docked for the week in Boston, the Mate and Engineer  pulled down the kit, and laid its keel on Spirit of South Carolina's midships deck.  For the next two months of the cruise, which included ports of call in Quebec, Port Hawkesbury, Halifax, and a two-week biannual haul-out-shipyard in Belfast, Maine, the entire crew participated in stitching, gluing, fiber-glassing, painting and varnishing, and rigging her up. She took her maiden sail in Boston, the last stop before the return passage to Charleston.   

Dory deck-stowed coming
 into Kingston Harbor

For the next two years, "Dory" was lashed to the deck and accompanied the crew and students to the Caribbean, another shipyard and various harbor cruises, until COVID struck, the schooner was basically laid up, and became the domain of Volunteer caretakers. Care for Dory has been the responsibility and expense of Volunteers ever since.  Officially, she is regarded as a "Tender" vessel to the schooner, thereby avoiding legalities of registration. She even sports a burgee on occasion, a silhouette of a Cock, or chicken- the back story of which is known to a privileged few.  

Fully loaded crew on liberty, bound  the dock in downtown San Juan

We expect that Dory will be ready for sail again in the next two weeks,, not likely to go to Shipyard, but otherwise remaining at the Maritime Center under the Volunteer Coordinator for Volunteer use and practice. 

Dory's Burgee- created by 2d Mate, Tripp