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.
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