Cold Saturday morning encourages a mix of finishing on-deck projects and taking on others down below.

 The Saturday forecast of high 30s to low 40's dampened hopes of getting a good coat of white over Dory's hull today. But that didn't stop us from adjusting.  Dallas Spencer, joined Bryan Oliver for the trek back to his car to load up and haul back to the dock a pair of bronze 4-blade propellers, once used to drive Spirit of South Carolina north to Newport. Now they were salvage.   

Once set aside on the dock, the pair went aboard and aft to the lazarette, where Bryan dove in and hauled out the remnants of 1/2" vintage 3-strand he planned to use for training volunteers for the envisioned  Bloom Knot Challenge.    Returning from some holidays time off, Dallas brought aboard from the dock, a pair of Dory's oars to lace on the oarlock leathers, and adjust the Turks head knots he had created for each end.

 Lance Halderman started the day with grabbing a roll of 2'inch blue masking tape, and applying a line down both sides of Dory's gunwale undersides to protect them from our next paint application. 

 Meanwhile, Ken Fonville took on the task of inspecting the five bilges. As he completed that task, Lance, finished with his taping job, joined Ken in the Engine Room to pump out the Forecastle bilge. 

Danny Johnson arrived on the dock somewhere in all this activity,  made a few recommendations to Bryan with a plan about building a short step/covering for the cleat protruding at the foot of the gangway. Danny then guided Bryan down to the onboard end of the gangway, pointing to the issue with the two suspension lines holding up that end.  They had been run thru short tubes and made off in bowlines.  Unfortunately the sharp edges of the tubes had been gradually cutting into the lines. Additionally they connected to the gangway five inches inside the rail post, creating a potential trip hazard for unsuspecting boarders. 

He had another plan.

Bryan pointed out some scrap rope in the rope locker,  Scott Cross had just arrived so the two teamed up to work some creative rigging, which Danny swore would solve both problems of the chaffing, and the foot obstacle at the end of the gangway. 

All that activity took up about 40 minutes.  Weather was sunny, but uncomfortably cold-breezy, so the crew climbed below for the second half of the morning,, some basic marlinspike skill building. Dallas brought down to the saloon table the 40-foot 1/2" rope recovered from the lazarette, looped in five foot lengths.  

Dallas works a Turks Head
while waiting for shipmates
 to finish their last whipping. 

Ken Fonville recovers a loose needle,
while Scott Cross finishes up the last whipping.

Bryan started the demo/practical exercise with a show-and tell of the contents of the Sail Repair Bag. followed by a demonstration of two types of end whipping.  The objective would be the creation from one long scrap rope, six 5'foot lengths of whipped-end "practice ropes" for use in the Bloom Knot Challenge.   For the remainder of the morning, the crew sat around the saloon table  with a sailors palm and needle, whipping the ends of rope sections, til all six were ready for use. 

Finally came the proofing.  All hands gathered around the fife rail where Bryan explained how the Knot Challenge would work. Six designated knots from the Deckhand Skills Checklist must be completed to a standard within 30 seconds.  The challenge would be open to all Volunteers. Participants who successfully met the challenge will have their name engraved on brass plates on an oak plaque mounted on a common  place in the Saloon.