Volunteers Mustering on Saturday receive New Directions and New Priorites

Friday afternoon, the 1st of November, I had a hunch that something was up.  The schooner was deserted when I came onto the dock. The gangway was suspended a good 10 feet above the deck to keep it clear of the caprail as high tide, so I decided to just toss the packet I'd brought with me down into the forecastle hatch.  Then I noticed it.  A huge mass of canvas roughly folded up on the port side of the foremast. Looking forward towards the headrig, the jibstay was bare.  No text or voicemail messages from the Mate, Eva, to fill in the big blank in the mental picture I was trying to paint of what the heck was going on.  Oh, well, I would surely know soon enough tomorrow morning when Volunteers mustered for our regular Saturday Volunteer Day. 

Saturday at  0900, nine of us came down the gangway to muster around Eva who was waiting for us.  Without waiting for my dramatic gesticulating towards the canvas pile, Eva announced that we would be "Downrigging the Ship."  The context needed no explanation. Sometime in the future, sooner than later, the schooner must be delivered to a Shipyard for it's ten-year interval inspection and scheduled maintenance.  The most significant component, being a total downrigging-including unstepping the masts, to look deeply for signs of deterioration, anywhere.

As a distraction;  All gathered on port rail
 to send off SSV Denis Sullivan, bound south

And, so, our new priority of work aboard would be to prepare the schooner for shipyard; taking down, taking off, inventorying, stowing, repairing, pre-inspecting anything that would save us time, and therefore money spent in space rental, shipyard labor, etc.  

Eva gave us our instructions for the day; down rig the rest of the headrig-Jumbo, halyards, lifts, downhauls, booms, blocks and tackles; lay out and measure and log all lines for possible replacements.

and then,,

Do it again for the foresail.

Tony Marchesani, Walter Barton, and Ken Fonville grabbed up already coiled headrigging lines, and brought them onto the dock for laying out and measuring.  Lance Halderman, Adam Reed, Sam Slablotsky and brother, Levy, teamed up with Eva flake-fold the jib, then Jumbo sail, roll, tie-down, then stow them below in one of the forecastle berths. Next task, start cutting lashings on the foresail.

Foresail neatly rolled on the deck,
Eva orchestrates the foresail boom downrigging. 

Meanwhile, Bryan stole away with two new Volunteers, Racheal Peterson, and Nolan  to conduct their orientation on deck and below.  As more lines were spilled down onto the decks from their tackles, idle hands coiled them, and immediately stuck large masking tape tabs on the coils, labeling them with markers. 

Jumbo Boom, Foresail gaff

As lunch time approached, all the canvas, jib, jumbo, and foresail had been flaked, rolled, and stowed below in the Forecastle. A few volunteers bowed out for other weekend chores, four elected to share costs for some Harris Teeter Sandwiches, and the pace slowed to a stop, for a few moments. Then then the Mate estimated sufficient non-constructive time had passed, and called out Muster on Deck;  this time to down-rig the foresail-boom and gaff. By 1400, all spars, canvas, and running rigging, had been labeled, coiled and stowed below.  Spars laid out under the port rail for lashing down later.          

Next time; The mainmast rigging.

And after that,, well, the Mate has a plan, I"m sure of it.. and all the while, the front office is hunting up shipyards with availability, traditional wooden shipwright talent,,  and capacity.

 

Spirit of South Carolina Settles into a Dockside Routine.

 With our Georgetown cruise behind us, the crew and officers settled into a dockside routine of maintenance, oriented short-term on addressing issues known and discovered in the course of our off-shore passage, and additional items to resolve which identified in a recent Coast Guard Inspection for our upgrade COI to 200 miles Offshore.  That rating will come in conjunction with her next  haul-out and dry dock, which will also include unstepping the masts. Date/Time/ and location for all that are being negotiated as we speak.

And so four of us mustered at 0900, this last Saturday morning to start up the routine. Tony Marchesani appeared after a long hiatus, as well as Lance Halderman, Walter Barton, Ryan Smith, and a little later, Carin Bloom. Mate Eva, reviewed the current Punchlist and added a few priority projects to it, which, of course went to the top of the list. 

 The Mate was charged with identifying needs of the ship, to make her totally seaworthy, and self-sustaining. And so our first project(s) was to conduct a hardware inventory of everything, starting at the three primary large lockers on deck and dock;  Rope Locker, Tool Locker, DockBox Paint locker.  That took up half the morning.  Before we lost volunteers to other commitments, Eva organized the crew on deck to raise the foresail about five feet, shake out the deep reef that had been previously set in a week ago, than line up to harbor furl. With the foresail now neatly burrito'd, the crew lined up on the mainsail to do the same.   

With those priority projects finishing up, Mate Eva departed to make some hiring and procuring calls and do other Mate stuff, Bryan lay below in the Saloon to lay out lunch.  Bryan had brought aboard some brisket and Southwest beans, all smoked and slow-cooked the prior afternoon, so spread that out with sandwich buns in the Saloon  along with some HT potato salad.  

Following lunch, while Walter hung back to clean up in the Saloon and Galley, the rest of the crew gathered in the cockpit, as Bryan dove deep into the lazarette to pick thru and identify all the contents, shouting them up to Lance who duly listed them, then consolidated all the lists in the Saloon for the Mate when she returned. 

It made for a fairly productive day, Next day projects are going to include identifying and patching the air leak in the tender, inventorying the remaining lockers, 

I'm anticipating there'll be other inventories to be conducted;  all the berth locker contents, for power tools, and hardware, 

The SignUp Genius now includes Volunteer options to sign up on weekdays , in addition to the regularly scheduled Saturdays; the intent being to enable individual volunteers to come aboard and take on an individual project.  By signing up ahead of time, Mate,Eva, and Bryan can coordinate and assign an appropriate project.

So C'MON DOWN!  There's plenty to do.

Cruise to Georgetown will begat its share of remembrance, sea stories, tall tales, lessons learned, and a sense of urgency for moving ahead.

 I'm sure I wasn't the only one that afternoon of the 17th, planning to go aboard early who was dreading the thought of crossing the gap between dock to cap rail, which occasionally spread to over 8 feet.  So, I was joyful for what I saw. For what had to be the best news for the crew that boarded our schooner on Thursday night  and early the next morning for Muster,.  The  new gangway. YES!.  A new gangway had been installed just earlier that day, sporting a new contraption overhead,  Capt Bobby made a name for it, which I haven't yet retained in memory.   The gangway had been shortened to 12 feet, from about 16, making it less a risk to gouge the butterfly hatch when up against the pilings. 

 Especially pleased were those of us who later formed a bucket brigade across the gangway to pass over several big boxes, crates, and bags of groceries and bottled water, that Cook, Ray Krugger carted over from his provisioning journey.  A few of us dropped off our gear into a berth Thursday evening, Dallas Spencer, Steve Folwell, Nick Swarts.  Our new Chief Mate, Eva Keyes arrived too, after leaving Maine and home town of Boston, selecting her berth. Getting settled in and into the evening, four of us in consensus decided to try Big John's Pub, for finding some dinner and a beverage.  Eva, Bryan, Nick, and Steve piled into Bryan's car in the Maritime Center Parking lot, raced the three blocks to the Harris Teeter Parking where Bryan stashed his wheels for the weekend. Hiking the remaining 3 blocks  the happy trio found plenty of room in the tavern, and sat down to agonize over the menu choice which was various ways to notch up an "O" riginal burger. and fries if you wanted.  Beer selection wasn't bad, as would've been the spirits behind the bar ,, but it wasn't payday, so.. By 10 Pm we were back in our berths, to peacefully await a 0700 muster and an unclear time for breakfast from Ray. 

The Quarterdeck Officers;
 Capt Bobby, Capt Will, and Mate, Eva 

With muster at 0700, the rest of the crew boarded,  Dallas Spencer, The two co-Captains, Bobby and Will Ventress, Dan Maurin, Carin Bloom and Dave Brennan. Ray brought along the final provisions to start breakfast, which would be served underway. By 0815 we had cast off and begun motoring down the north channel, past Ft. Sumter, and into the Jetties.  At that time, Capt Bobby directed Bryan to "cat the anchor, which was executed, and the anchor hung off the starboard cathead ready to drop in a minute's notice.

Schooner Denis Sullivan inbound
 to Charleston

 Halfway down the jetties we were pleasantly surprised to see an approaching tall ship sail,, three masts full, to be exact.  Bobby's check of the AIS revealed it to be Denis Sullivan, likely to put into port for students, and then southbound to the Caribbean for the winter. 

As we made the turn to the north, Bos'un Bryan requested of the Captain, for permission to assemble the crew for a Burial at Sea.  The family of Old Salt Volunteer Joe Gorman, who had passed away two years prior, had asked if the Spirit of South Carolina would be in a position to take Joe's cremated ashes to sea. Well, of course. 

Bryan spread out over the saloon butterfly hatch, the flag of South Carolina, and placed in the center a small box, specifically made for the occasion, containing the ashes of Joe Gorman.  The Mate called for a Muster, midships, lee rail, then "Hats Off" as the crew gathered in a small circle next to the starboard main shrouds.  Bryan recited a Eulogy for Joe, then handed off to Dallas Spencer who read the traditional Benediction for Burial at Sea.  Carin Bloom sang two verses of "The Leaving Shanty" for departed mariners, while Bryan removed he Reef knot over the box and passed the box to Dave Brennan at the Main Shrouds.  The Mate, Eva, directed Carin "Sound Eight Bells", Change of Watch, as Dave held out the box over the cap rail and scattered its contents over the water. As the last of the ashes left the box, Bryan shouted after them "Fair Winds, Joe!", and the rest of the crew followed with "And Following Seas!, Joe."   

Dan Maurin shot much video of he proceedings with will be given to Joe's widow, Barbara, and their family, along with Joe's box. And of course, a copy for the ship.  Click here for Joe Gorman's Ceremony at Sea.

Securing from the Burial at Sea Ceremony, Capt Bobby offered the option to raise sail, requiring us to tack out to sea for several miles before tacking back towards Winyah Bay. While sailing was always preferable, the consequence was we would not arrive to drop anchor until well into Saturday afternoon.  The consensus was to set sail.  Mate Eva set the crew to tying in a deep reef in the foresail, which turned out to be fairly arduous, digging thru folds of harbor-furled heavy canvas to find 24 pairs of  reef nettles, pulling them out on both sides, pushing the starboard nettles under the bolt rope to port side then slippery reef-knotting them. Meanwhile Mate Eva secured lashings from the rope locker and set to lashing down the tack then climbing up the foresheet to ride the foreboom and lash down the deep reef clew cringle.  

Dan Maurin takes the helm maintaining a heading
 for the mouth of Winyah Bay, another 30 miles north.

Shortly thereafter, due to some unforeseen constraints in Georgetown, the afterguard made the decision to motor straight for Winyah Bay, and so we continued on.. Ray called up from the Galley-announcing lunch, a savory Tomato Vegetable soup, and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  

Darkness fell as we motored into Winyah Bay,  and Ray called on deck for Dinner, a Shrimp/rice risotto thing, which he barely completed before the generator shut down again, and depowering his stove/oven.  We continued for another few hours to the lights of Lands End Marina, on the eastern edge of Georgetown. Capt Bobby reduced speed  while Mate Eva and Bryan with Nick on the brake wheel, prepped to release the anchor on command. Capt Bobby slowed, then reversed engines over his chosen spot and gave the order to drop anchor in approx 25 feet. About 120 feet or so of chain played out, in fits and spurts, when Nick screwed down the brake on the Wildcat. Pawls were set on the windlass and a chain stopper hook rigged.  Capt Bobby backed down on the anchor to set it. and we were in for the night.  Dallas Spencer on a tight work schedule disembarked to return home, and the Navy's work.

Next morning the Trawler Cruiser Blue Jacket rafted up to us, an acquaintance of Capt Will.   With the generator still kaput, Ray was forced into his breakfast and dessert pastries to serve up along with a fresh fruit assortment. 

Billy Creighton's Sea Chest

The first crew team overside in the tender was Dave Brennen, departing for medical appointments, and  Carin with her sea chest and folding table off to find the Show.  She would be locating our allotted space on the Main of the Wooden Boat Show, set up her display and assume the persona of Billy Creighton, early 19th century English Mariner. Just across from her, the Knot Tyer's Guild was set up with Old Salt Volunteer Danny Machowski providing education and coaching in the finer arts thereof. By the end of the day, "Billy Creighton had crossed over to the booth, tried out a few refresher knots, then promptly entered the competition for Tying six knots successfully in under 30 seconds.

British 1805 Mariner, Billy Creighton
 wins Gold in besting several
 other mariners for 6 knots
tied in 30 seconds. 

 At end of the day, She, I mean, He climbed back on the deck of the schooner, sporting the medallion for winning the competition. 
 

In other news, Bos'n Bryan Oliver coming ashore was quickly accosted by two Old Salts of Spirit of South Carolina, Shipwright Kenny Blyth, and First Volunteer Coordinator, Reg Brown.  The trio retired to a waterside tavern for an afternoon reunion.

Bos'n Bryan reunites in Georgetown with Old Salt
 Shipwright Kenny Blyth and Reg Brown

Missions ashore completed, the crew filtered back to the schooner where Ray had prepared hot dogs and a pretty darned good pasta salad.  Bryan broke out a bottle of aged Barbados Rum and toasts were offered up to our Schooner, the Festival, to that strange Brit sailor who brought back a medallion for knot-tying. 

 A good day with a good ending, but no not quite.  There was a nice town out there full of great people and not a few pretty good taverns still open, and so the crew did what sailors in port do. About eight of us tendered back to the dock, stuffed into an Uber Expedition, and rode the short distance thru the quiet Georgetown neighborhoods to the main street, locating our target. the Tavern "Buzz's Roost" perfectly situated on the water.  Will led the crew thru the maze of booths, tables, and almost had us a perfect spot on the water until discovering it had only 4 chairs, so back inside. All seated, menus passed, beverage selections made, appetizers ordered.   More toasts, much banter about the sail up, a remembrance of Joe, on our second round when some kerfuffle was noticed back near the kitchen, someone shouted "Everybody Out!" twice,, is was enough that Will promptly stood up, as did we all as a group, looking at one another as to whether this was something serious..  Turned out out it was only sort of serious, the head staff was managing it, and so we slowly sat back down. In the meantime a different waitress, at request of our regular server, hurried over and handed us our whole bill, asking us to settle up.  It was happening across the room, so Capt Bobby settled,  and we all filed out the door to the apologies of the wait staff for the scene.  Alls well, but much joking as Will offered up that the race to get us the check was the appearance of a 'bunch of sailors out there, immediately standing up together as the shouting started, as if we were taking advantage of the confusion to stiff our bill.

Coming out of the Roof, different phones searched for Ubers, or Lyfts, anything,, at 10 pm, the place had become deserted, the only available vehicle over 30 minutes away.. Somebody made the decision to just hike back.  And so we started back, a distance of one and a half miles. strung out in a loose column, some of us moving a little slower than others, based on, well, you know... 

Arrived at the marina, all standing, and transferred to the schooner in two trips. Lights out and pretty darned quiet aboard by midnite.

Morning  turn-to and breakfast would be leisurely with anchor weighing not planned till well after lunch. Walter Barton arrived at the marina to fill out our return crew.  The Generator was remaining cantankerous, forcing Ray into  warming leftovers  with help of our neighbors on the trawler, including getting our coffee brewed.  To Blue Jacket we are indebted. 

Mate Eva took overall charge of weighing and catting the anchor while Bryan led the Windlass pumping team. Anchor secured, Capt Bobby pointed the schooner down the bay and by 2 pm we were under way.  

Carin Bloom at the helm homeward bound,
with Steve, Will, Eva and Walter, kibitzing.

Discussion was held on the quarter deck as to whether to take advantage of favorable winds out at sea and raise sail. The mate Eva had previously inspected the headsails, and observing the crew, advised against it. There was a risk of further damage to sails, and the naturally intricate drill of jibing the huge main and foresails would be a challenge at best for an inexperienced crew.  

Captains Bobby and Will left command to Eva while they worked on jury-rigging a water intake to the generator cooling system. As a result, there was intermittent AC power for a small portion of the time, but not sufficient to power the galley.. So cold cuts, and charcouterie  for lunch, and dinner.  The schooner followed a course straight for the jetties. Motoring with the wind, made the seas much more calm then the outbound passage, Friday. As on the outward passage, a  cloudless sky made for great star sighting till a huge moon arose.  

We rounded the jetties at approximately midnight,  set out docklines and stod by to launch the tender as we passed Patriots Point, all well illuminated.  Approaching our dock was a bit more spooky. It was not well illuminated. Tender was launched, Nick as coxwain, took Dan Maurin across to take our lines.

With a slight ebb tide, and light breeze behind us, Capt Bobby lined up well north of our dock and eased the schooner into a shallow "landing" approach, bringing us to within 10 feet, an easy hea4ving line throw. Even in the dark, lines went across in order, 3, 4, then 1 and lastly 2, as Capt Bobby eased forward, while Bryan checked # 3, Eva lined the gangway up with midships, and everything snugged up in unison.  Another smooth, seemingly effortless docking.  Next came the handling of the new-fangled gangway whatchamacallit, rigging it across the gangway falls, suspending the gangway below. That drill, too, was executed almost flawlessly.  The time was 0230, Monday morning.  

All hands released immediately. A few remained for on board to depart later in the morning.  A lot was learned, and the Punch List of maintenance to-do's and routines and drills to adjust, and finally, lots more training to execute.  I"ll explain later.

Six Days and the Crew Focus Sharpens on the details for a successful cruise to Georgetown, and North Carolina communities get a nice donation.

 Its like any new project, particularly a complex one,, the closer you get to execution, the sharper your focus becomes , and the more to-do's, issues, and details become visible that need to be prioritized and resolved.  Our crew for Georgetown now reduced to a complement of 12 with drop-outs,and add-ins, will be converging the day before cast-off, and a few coming aboard for the first time, the day of. That's 12 souls with skills and experience ranging from vast to well, almost never-ever.  

However, before our crew could board with their personal gear, space needed to be made below for them. ,  In the past 9 months, most of the 28 berths in the forecastle and saloon had been made into staging areas for tools, cords, paint supplies, cases and crates of catering dinnerware, glassware, utensils and all kinds of hardware. Additionally, the head in the forecastle remained inoperable pending a good clean-up and rebuilding of the flushing pump. So, the challenge became, the freeing up as many saloon berths as possible.

So, this past Saturday, with guidance and priorities set by Capt Bobby, Bos'un-Bryan, Dan Maurin, Dallas Spencer, Lance Halderman and Walter Barton climbed aboard, using their best trapeze moves. [The gangway remains non-operational, necessitating boarding either by tender-ferrying , or stretching from the dock across to the Main shrouds, high overhead of the rolling yokohama's.]  Dallas and Lance stayed on the dock the first hour to advance the repair of the Dory's oarlocks and caprail, to make her ready for launch. 

The rest mustered on deck to clear the remaining hardware, miscellany out of the saloon berths, then hunt down, bag-up, and stage on deck every last piece of the existing bed linen, pillows and blankets. One of Capt Bobby's priorities was to rid the ship of the old stuff.  Walter Barton had proposed just the right solution.  Most of the bedding was perfectly usable, and recently laundered in volunteer's laundry rooms. He and his wife and a few others had been gathering household goods to deliver north into the devastated communities in North Carolina. Volunteers staged a fire-brigade-style line from below decks onto the deck then up onto the dock where approximately 40 bagged sets of linens, pillows, and blankets, were piled onto dock carts, and rolled to Walters waiting SUV.  

As the bulky stuff was cleared from below decks, the effort shifted to the odd hardware piles remaining scattered across six different berths..  Some of it went to the dock for storage, some went to the garbage, some  was consolidated into other bunks, but the net result was, that we freed up another half-dozen berths for their intended use. 

As the below decks operation was coming to a stopping point, Dallas had shifted from the Dory to the damaged 8 feet of starboard cap-rail gouged by the broken gangway. With a couple of recently procured exotic-looking rasps, and experience from his two weeks at the Wooden Boat School in Brookline Maine, Dallas chiseled, scraped and smoothed out the damaged areas, readying them for the next step of some 120 grit, and coats of Australian Timber Oil. 

In the course of the morning, Capt Bobby gave us a better picture of the near term activities for the vessel.  It's now been over a year since our last COI Inspection. We are due for another one, which may be a bit more involved since it will certify the ship from In-shore to(hopefully) Off-shore operation sailing. Without it we are unable to carry passengers out to sea. The preparation for-and COI sail are being scheduled.   

In the interim. the schooner is not authorized for paying passengers.  So in this interim, Capt Bobby is planning for a number of training sails, similar to our cruise to Georgetown. At the other end of this cycle is the delivering of the schooner to shipyard in late Spring 2025 for a few months, for it's 10-Year Inspection. which will involve really in-depth, mast-unstepping examinations; shipyard location, not yet confirmed.

Ten Days till Georgetowne and Counting Down

This past Saturday the 5th was the first chance of start resolving the suddenly burgeoning  Punch List, courtesy of Tropical Storm Helene. Five of us mustered in the Saloon, with Capt Bobby to review the list and share news, the best of which was.. Our new Mate has a name, and a resume..   She is Eva Keyes, and has been a mate on at least three different schooners if I counted correctly.  One of those was Harvey Gamage, out of Portland. Some of you involved in her last couple of ports of call likely may have met.  She remembers Spirit of South Carolina.  

With that news some additional variables fell out regarding our Cruise to the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show.  We'll be sailing with a max complement of 11 sailors and Capt Bobby.  His plan is to cast off around 0800 hours Friday morning, to make our anchorage by 1900.  

The Boat Show officially kicks off at 1100 along the waterfront Street. We anchor well outside, in vicinity of their Marina, where water is sufficient to carry our 12 ft depth.  Crew will ferry ashore in the tender .  The rest of this is pure conjecture on my part, pending decisions made by the Captain:

We can expect some" Liberty" time to go ashore to enjoy the Boat Show. 

We can also expect to set an anchor/deck watch 24 hours/day(usually a one-person job). 

It's very likely we may have a table, - we can expect to staff a table in the exhibition area, where we may have our sandwich board,, our Recruiting Brochures,. If had power from somewhere, maybe a TV screen looping some video footage, 

It's a component of our Volunteer Role to be a storyteller. Now will be our opportunity. Mostly it would require two of us, on a 2-hour shift as Storytellers, (material to be ingested, absorbed, memorized, so as to be competent story tellers of  Spirit's History, where she comes from, and her mission. The schooner's role in representing the maritime culture of South Carolina thru stories about:

• Schooners and the Seaborne Underground Railroad, 
• Francis Elizabeth and Piloting in the 19th Century- and now.
• Spirit of South Carolina's ties to the Schooner Yacht America

It oughta  be fun.  We expect to sail for other appearances up and down the coast.

This past weekend deserves some attention.  We put a good dent in the Helene Punchlist.

Steve Folwell teamed up with Capt Bobby to wrestle out the two old-worn out dorm refrigerators from the Galley, then lowered down the companion hatch two new refrigerators.  Unfortunately both were of higher capacity, and, consequently greater volume and density then the earlier-antique-y rust boxes they replaced. Only one would fit.  So, while Steve wrestled with blocks and shims to wedge into place one of the refrigerators,  Capt Bobby strategized options for placement of the second-larger refrigerator. 

Another significant punch list project lay hidden in the nicely harbor-furled roll of the Jumbo sail. In the last cruise to the sea buoy, the jib sheet's clew shackle had chafed a spot in the middle of the sail, expanding it into a  squared tear.   Turns out the clew should never have been rigged that way, only requiring the jib sheet pendants to cow hitch directly into the clew cringle.  This, Bryan resolved quickly with help of Lance and Walter. Now to fix the tears.

 Bryan challenged Lance to some herringbone stitching. 

Bryan and Lance stitching up the tear
in the Jumbo.

Walter disappeared into the saloon, coming up the stairs with the ship's Canvas Repair bag. Selecting two large canvas needles, a sailor's palm for each, and two fathoms of waxed nylon twine, the two laid out halfway down the jumbo boom to dig thru the folds and expose the torn section. For the next hour, until time to order lunch Bryan and Lance starting at opposite ends of the tear laid in stitch after stitch,,,, after stitch. only reloading twice each needle, the tears were joined, not necessarily prettily, but enough to hold together pending a correct sail fabric patch., 

 Once free from the jib sheets, Steve and Walter teamed up with a large socket set and breaker bars to take off the two bronze stanchion bases from the damaged cap rail.  Capt Bobby took charge of them for later transport to the Smithy.

Meanwhile Lance Halderman, and Bryan Oliver finished off a hugely symbolic and significant project, actually initiated by 100 Volunteer hours- Dallas Spencer when he basically made from scratch, a pair of boat tackles, traditionally stropped and tarred with a 4-to-1 purchase. Dallas completed rigging up the portside stern boat falls, at which time we ran out of Vintage 3-strand 1/2 rope. That left the bow falls gear languishing in the bo'sun's locker.. until earlier this week when a 250-foot spool of the right stuff arrived from New England.  So, once the correct length was laid out on the deck, cut and whipped, an eye splice turned in at one end over a thimble-it was rove thru the two double blocks. 

Lance on his second climb aloft
with bigger channel locks.

Next step was for Lance to lay aloft with a marlinspike and channel locks to break free the one shackle pin holding the top double becket block to it's pendant. Lance must've made about four round trips aloft trying different tools, more WD40, then something more powerful that escapes me, before we mutually agreed the pin was sufficiently seized that we couldn't attain the torque to break it, while it hung up in the air. 

As the day was closing down, our crew secured tools and finally departed, leaving Bryan staring up at the double becket block so far defying any attempt to dislodge it.  Only option left was to cut the pair of well-clapped on seizing's holding the five-foot long becket block pendant to the shrouds, about 10 feet above the running lights box, lower it down and get the block and shackle to the bench vise on the dock.  So, Bryan buckled on his rig and climbed about half-way up the shrouds, his personal best yet, and started sawing away on the double-round seizing's.  After ten minutes, the final wraps were severed and Bryan climbed back down with the stiffly rigid pendant. Reaching the deck, Bryan grabbed the small ball peen  hammer from the tool locker bag, "things that hammer", and walked across the deck carrying the pendant, to the starboard main shrouds.  Without the gangway, the crew was forced to stretch themselves across the chasm between the cap rail and the dock, usually at varying heights due to the tide.  He climbed up to the sheer pole before turning around to stretch out over the water, grab the piling and step across to the dock where the bench vice sat at the far end..  Three sharp blows of the hammer on the shackle ring, was enough to break the rusty hold of the shackle pin.  Returning to the deck, all parts now present, including the last shackle on board with apparently the exact size opening to admit the thimble end. Not so. The thimbles opening would not spread sufficiently to slip over the custom milled bronze round thimble in the block's strop. Another trip to the vice, with the ball peen hammer to pound the bronze ring "sidewall" sufficiently compressing it to allow the haul's thimble in to slip into the shackles thimble.  But now, where was the shackle pin? the one Lance had fought so hard with way up aloft, ?  Now, it was dark. it was after seven pm, and time to quit.. So the search for the misplaced shackle pin would wait till ..well,, later. 

The next morning, Sunday,, consumed with , or obsessed with, we're not sure, Bryan drove alone back to the Schooner just after lunch, boarded and started searching for the missing shackle pin, which he found almost immediately.  With all parts now accounted for the  block, bow falls bitter end, and shackle could be assembled and torqued; the mousing wire would have to wait to reinforcements arrived.  For now, Bryan's adrenalin was up to get this Bow Falls pendant  overhauled with the bow falls rope, then raised up and round-seized up again in it's position halfway up the foremast shroud. A sunday afternoon well-spent.  That would make four critical items struck from the Punch List. The next challenge would have to wait until Monday morning. 

"It's Always Something!" This time, her name's "Helene", and she's added to our maintenance "Punch List"

I just finished a drive from St. Louis home to Mt Pleasant three days ago, skirting the Tennessee-North Carolina-Georgia borders.  Sobering is an understatement.  Coupled with the news footage of the devastation visible even from the Interstate, is a jarring reminder of how relatively well we've fared here on the coast..this time.

 

Our swamped next door neighbor with damaged
 floating dock being salvaged.

Spirit of South Carolina fared better than many.  This was the scene when I walked down the dock Tuesday morning. I haven't heard the complete stories, but according to Capt Bobby, at one point, the floating docks rose higher than the fixed docks. (Dory survived on her cradle just fine, if you're asking). Coupled with winds 45 kts plus,  and wave action driving from the SSE, as I remember my PredictWind app, our Schooner rode pretty well, but not without  some injury.  The mechanics of those injuries will be discussed in subsequent crew gatherings with more lessons to be learned.  Stay tuned. 

Welcome to copy and paste: For now, our maintenance punch list has been revised so it now reads:

• Sand down and refinish 8-foot length of starboard caprail forward of gangway.
• Remove for repair/replacement, two damaged stanchions from the caprail (same area) 
• Repair with Herringbone stitch and sail tape(temporary), the hole center of the Jumbo.

• 

  Our starboard rail took a good scraping
  from the gangway pulled along the rail
   before being torn from the dock.

  Repair the air leak in the Tender (Capt Bobby may be ahead on this)
• Remove shackle from the Jib Clew, "Cow-hitch" the jib sheet pendant directly to the Jib clew.
• If available, measure out new rope (1/2") and up-rig "Spencer blocks" to port-side bow falls.
• Start Prepping for Georgetown Cruise.
• Clear out designated Saloon bunks for crew berths
• Deck Wash 
• Organize to rig rope lifelines between Fore and Main shrouds for going to sea.
• 
  

If you can lend a hand, and lay in on any of these projects, please select a date/time you're available and sign up with others. 

Click Here to SignupGenius

With our gangway no longer in operation, we are reduced to crossing from the dock to a shroud to get to the deck; fairly easy at high tide, more of a challenge as the ship lowers on the ebb, but still doable.

Something else to look forward to, next month.  This is a big deal.  For the first time since 2019, our crew will include a professional Tall Ship sailor.

Around 3 November, we're planning to welcome aboard our new Mate. Not yet authorized to provide a name, but I have seen the CV.  Turns out some of you older volunteers may have met this person at one time. Five years in tall ships, schooners mostly, South Pacific as well as east coast up to Maine as Mate.  This person knows our ship, thinks highly of her, and already knows what y'all do. Yes, I"ve been talking.  You can expect standards to go up a bit ;-).  But that's what Mates do.   

PS.  Since I can't be everywhere all the time, I"ve missed some Volunteer Activity( Last week's successful harbor charters), which as a result I've no visibility into what happened, to whom,  with whom, and generally how things went.  With a couple of donated photo's and a narrative  of what happened.. you too can be a productive Blogger.   I'll publish anything you contribute... mostly.

Gone to Sea! Spirit of South Carolina Breaks free of the Jetties!

 Woohoo!  For the first time since 2019, Spirit of South Carolina broke free of the coast.  Saturday morning, the 21st,  was an almost perfect day, fair winds-easterly, but less than 10 knots. We could've made good use of another 5 to10.  We did make good use of some other welcome help.  Coming on deck for the first time in four years, Ship's Cook, Ray Krugger and former First Mate, Charlie Porzelt came aboard to help out and provide some valuable perspective from their extensive experience aboard other tall ships as well as Spirit. 

After a muster at 0830, and organizing into 3 watches, the crew of  18 volunteers set to sea stowing the deck, launching the tender,  "dressing all four sails" and taking off the gangway. Under joint command of Bobby Nobles and Will Ventress,  we cast off around 0930 and made straight down the channel for the jetties. In another first, the crew raised the tender all the way onto the deck for sea-stowing. 

 Leaving Shutes Folly (Castle Pinkney) to starboard, Capt Bobby directed Bos'un Bryan to set the Main.  All three watches teamed up on the halyards downhauls, vangs, and sheets, raising all  four sails by the time we glided past Ft. Sumter.

Under Full Sail outbound past
 Sullivan's Island

 Now motor sailing to get beyond the jetties, the waters were still quiet until the last rocks passed our transom.  The  harbor ripples immediately increased to offshore swells, and Spirit of South Carolina began a subtle role, combined with a rise and fall.  The wind stayed constant around 10 knots, but dead on our nose, , forcing us to tack away from our charted course for the Sea Buoy- 19 nautical miles Southeast from Sullivans Island Light. So, Capt Bobby put the helm down, the crew hardened up sheets, and, under full sail she bore off to the South-Southeast on a beat. 

Now, for those of you have sailed you know that, though sails are all set and drawing, the work is only half-done. Our crew was largely newer volunteers, more than a few first-timers and visitors, so our "older salts", Nick Swarts, Nate Mack, Dave Brennan, and Carin Bloom took charge, The experienced hands each gathered three or more "waisters" around them, and together they coiled, and ballantined  15 separate piles of cordage now tangled in heaps the length of the deck.

An almost perfect Flat Coil
 of the Main Sheet

Once the deck resumed an orderly appearance, Bryan organized the three Watches around the three "stations" or duties of a standard Watch;  Helm. Forward Lookout, and Boat Checks.   For the next 90 minutes each group learned and practiced the responsibiliti


es, procedures, and protocols of "Standing Watch."   

As the Watch round-robins were concluding, Sea Cook Ray had taken charge of organizing the lunch provisions below in the salon. As the watches concluded, he roared up to the Bos'un that lunch was ready below. Crew eagerly piled down below for  sandwiches and beverages. 

As watches completed and secured from lunch, all had some time to just gaze around, back to the coast, now 10 miles to the northwest, and mostly below the horizon. The sun was warming  and intense, softened by the constant breeze, and the ship's 4.5 knots. Our sea state had grown to rolling swells of two feet, creating in the deck a siginificant yaw and roll, guaranteed to give every soul on board a "Sailor's Gait"  once they returned to terra firma. 

By 1500, Capt Bobby conferred with his officers on their progress.  As pleasant as the sail was we weren't making the progress needed to make the sea buoy and return to port by 1700.  Capt Bobby called to tack the schooner.  With even our new volunteers, crew quickly found and stood by their sheets. As Capt Bobby brought her head up into the wind, the headsails were first eased off, then backwinded to help get the bow across the wind.  the Fore and Main were sheeted in tightly, then allowed to pass over as the bow swung thru the wind.  Headsails then passed and sheeted in. Almost like clockwork. Amazing what an afternoon does.

One new drill remained to be exercised.

Mate, Charlie Porzelt conferred with Bos'un Bryan on state of the Preventer rigs, the tackles that would hold out a boom "preventing" an accidental jibe.. After Bryan's assurance they were operational, Charlie called out to rig the foresail preventer. Once set, the crew moved aft to the Mainmast and repeated the drill.

Now on a broad reach with wind over the starboard quarter, Spirit of South Carolina was at her best point of sail. Approaching six knots, even in the light breeze, she rode across the swells splitting then with spray exploding off the weather bow, and water boiling into the leeward scuppers, and sliding back off just as quickly. 

Hands to the headrig to furl the jib.

Shooting the jetties too soon - we were still relishing the ride, Capt Bobby directed crew to start taking in sail. Under Charlie Porzelt's direction, newer volunteers on the halyards did a decent job of lowering away while other shipmates lined up along the booms to flake as the sail lowered. 

By the time the tender was rigged and launched for docking, all sail was lowered and furled. New Volunteer Madison on dockline #3, reared back and let fly her heaving line in a perfect arc stretching it high over the head  Charlie Porzelt waiting on the dock;
. a first-time ever Perfect throw.  With

And... We're Back! and picking up a little speed.

 Nobody likes Dead-Air,, Radio stations hate it because it influences listeners to switch channels. Dead air in electronic communication on a network is at least, annoying, and at worst, a bit frightening, because listeners suddenly get silence where before there was information, direction, knowledge, or just plain chatter,, all a sudden,, quiet.. "something must be wrong, or we would've been warned."  

So, yeah,, after 24 August,, the Volunteer kind-a sorta went dark,, for 3 weeks.  My bad.  I doubt I warned anyone sufficiently, that I would be heading out on a two-week trip up to New York for my classmates' 50th year reunion, after-which, Jane and I would continue north up the Hudson River into the Adirondacks for some sightseeing.  

That did not mean there was nothing to write about.   Volunteer Saturdays continued, Special projects were taken on and advanced. Volunteers surpassed their 100 service hours (Dallas Spencer,(actually back in July,) and Ryan Smith-50 service hours.   New Volunteers tested the water.  and something else, notable..  Captain Bobby returned to take command; with that, a sharpened focus on priorities, like fixing once and for all those yokohama fenders.. getting more volunteers sharpened up to sail the schooner off shore. and building up revenue-generating charter sails.

Being incommunicado most of my vacation, on purpose, I had much catching up to do, starting with the two-day drive back home.  

The September 21st  Training Sail to the Sea Buoy is very much on, and signups are still open.  We'll take up to 30. There will be a waitlist. Priority aboard will go to the most competent volunteers, to build initial 1st string of Volunteer crew, capable of training other volunteers, Volunteers who will be able to return, not on their way out.  

Between now and then, there are needs for volunteers in small numbers to support the next five business day afternoons on board, with a Baker Motor Company's Teambuilding   Facilitator.  Details are sketchy, but I'll find out soon enough when I show up, how 'we'll support. 

We will cast off for a short period of time only to clear the dock space to make a final repair solution on those Yokohama's. That will require volunteer crew aboard ship, at least 9, and a separate crew of volunteers dockside and in the small boat, with tools to affect the final fastenings.

I'm supporting Capt Hobby's intent for a second. day-long Training Sail to the Sea Buoy. Hopefully a week or two before October 18. when our first really big show will occur.

Spirit of South Carolina is coordinating with the Festival committee of the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show, for us to make an official appearance. We will anchor outside the harbor (too shallow at their dock). We are marketing to fill up 10-15 berths with guest crew,  to complement our own, and pay for the privilege.     Volunteer crew will man every aspect of that four day cruise,, the passage to Georgetown, the anchorage and ferrying of guest crew ashore,  training of guest crew to perform crew duties, and the passage home.  Volunteers will signup  for that long weekend, in segments, depending on how much they can commit.   This will be our largest  and most public show to date; an off-shore passage, with passengers,, guest crew, learning from us, and receiving an unforgettable experience. 

  The ship isn't just wasting away; on the contrary.  our optempo is accelerating.     -                                                                               

Maintenance Punch List as of: August 24, 2024

Here's the link to the Maintenance Punch List as of 24 August. This list actually supersedes the hard copy currently in the Saloon.

 Maintenance PUNCH LIST as of 24 August

Shore Power regained, Progress picks up, and a New Volunteer Joins the Crew

The loss of shore power over the last two  weeks had crimped our style on a few levels, such that we agreed to concentrate our efforts in the morning, and muster off by noon. The  inability to run the fans below in the saloon and forecastle left those  spaces torridly stagnant and humid even with all hatches opened.  Worse, the lack of refrigeration  took away capacity to make our block ice in the freezer for our water jug topside, leaving us with warm drinking water for hydration.. Speaking of refrigeration, it's absence was sorely felt on discovering 150 lbs of frozen groceries, thawed out in the freezer; which had to be pulled out, bagged and carted to the dumpster.   Only the rigging up of the midships awning provided some respite.

So it was a welcome surprise that Saturday, when the five of us, tepidly stepped aboard, we notice the power had been restored.  Capt Heath had come aboard earlier in the week, and restored power by first cutting off all power from the distribution panel, then powering up from the dock pedestal, and one at a time,  bringing each circuit back on line. I guess even electrical power doesn't like being "shocked" by a suddenly large demand. 

Progress on the dory, turning her upright,
 sanding then varnishing her gunwales.

With fans below blowing, and all hatches opened the below decks environment soon became habitable, and Bryan organized the crew around three projects:  Ryan Smith, Tony Marchesani, Lance Halderman, and Steve Folwell set up power sanders, scrapers and varnish, onto the dock to work on the dory.  Wayne Burdick with  Brody Smith, pulled out of the foc'sle a role of salvage sunbrella awning to fashion a UV protecting wrap to cover the schooners topmast, which had been lying on the bench for three years.  

Jeff  inventorying the varied contents
 of the paint locker.

Bryan took new volunteer, Jeff Fabian in tow for an orientation tour of the ship, followed by first lessons in safe line handling and coiling, finally on the traditional New Volunteer Scavenger/Treasure Hunt, scouring the ship to identify location and contents of every storage area above and below deck. 

  

 Tony and Wayne secure the outer straps and come'a'long
before starting to roll the outer end, while Jeff observes.

As noon came around,  the crews secured tools and materials, then mustered under the awning to start the drill of furling it.  The crew made short work of it, down rigging the out board edge and rolling it up to the foresail gaff, where Bryan had staged five seine twine "gaskets, all set to spiral around  the furl and the gaff. 

With the awning now tightly furled onto the gaff and all gear and tools secured in their rightful places.  

In the coming two weeks, starting the 25th, Bryan will be traveling out of state,  so Volunteers will keep our momentum alive.  Bryan will leave behind a Punch List of projects simple enough for one or two Volunteers to tackle on their own schedule any day of the week.  Volunteers can find it on a clipboard, suspended above the Saloon Table, and Sign-up, via SignUp Genius, for any day of the week, time and duration of their choosing.

 

Saturday's Light Volunteer Turnout tackles aftermath of Betty

 On a typically sweltering, broiling Saturday morning, Four Volunteers braved the heat to come on down to the water and pitch in on something. As usual, Bryan, the first to climb down on the deck discovered that his agenda for the day was out the window.  

His first observation gave him a false sense of hope when he noticed the power cable had been taken out of its storage in the lazarette and run out from it's pedestal on the floating dock up and over the fixed doc and plugged in. That sent Bryan clambering down the saloon ladder hoping to switch on the powerful fan suspended over the saloon table and force the hotter sweltering stale air in the saloon up and out. The switch clicked, but the fan didn't.  neither were the two refrigerators.. All contents were warm. He didn't dare try the freezer.   So now the planned priority for the day shifted over to troubleshooting the power issue.  Help came walking down the dock in form of Tony Marchesani. While Tony stood by the pedestal to reset, Bryan tried a few sequence changes in the different Engine circuit breakers. Each sequence produced the same result, powering up the ship caused the circuit to break at the pedestal. 

Now Lance Halderman appeared. Using his recently acquired electrical engineering chops, he pointed out the possibility of moisture in the connections. Three cables, with two "extension" connections. A cursory disassembly revealed as a possibility of moisture. All disconnected and left to dry out. 

With that, By this time, Walter Barton walked in, in time for next visible issue  which had become apparent as Bryan and Tony looked over the side to inspect the handiwork of the team five days prior in resetting the Yokohama alignments on their respective pilings. What he saw made him sag a little.  There's always something!

Aft Yokohama with it's Pole "axle"
disappeared having shifted in three feet inside.

While the forward two Yokohama's remained in their position, centered on their assigned pilings, the The aftmost Yokohama had somehow slid forward, partly off it's pole by six feet, where it threatened to, once again, catch itself behind it piling rather than resting centered on it.

After end of the Yokohama with it's pole axis

 nearly all the way out.  

Apparently the combined action of current, and tide created a condition where the Yokohama, could almost float off it's pole axis, or at least sufficiently off center  to negate its use as a cushion again between the schooner and the piling. 

Using a spare 30 feet of line, the team rigged a lariat loop on the long end of the pole, snagging the loop against two bolt heads protruding out at the end. With a forward jerk, the team hoped to "shock" the pole an few inches at a time, back thru the center of the Yokohama so to expose the other end of  the pole at its  the opposite end. As the pole began to protrude a few inches out of the forward end, a second looped line snared the end, and upward pressure applied in order to take some weight of the pole off the axle, hopefully making it easier to jerk the pole a sufficient distance to recenter it in the Yokohama. With all three working together, one each on the two ends of the pole, lifting up, and the third with a long boat hook jabbing at the end of the Yokohama to force it back to center.  The team was partially successful in forcing back the Yokohama sufficiently that it now rested more centered on the piling.  A few more attempts and 3 long lag bolts into the pole to lock the Yokohama in place would stabilize it.

Now for the last pressing matter.. Up-rigging the foremast awning on port side. By late morning, the unshaded deck was a sort of hot skillet. Now the team shifted to lifting the bagged awning roll up out of the forecastle and staging it on deck.  Over the past month, various crew had become familiar with the up-rig process, benefiting from a detailed, illustrated instruction sheet, attached to the inside of the bag. In the next fifteen minutes the four had completely rigged up and tuned an effective awning, protecting and cooling the entire port side midships deck area.  After enjoying the shade, and rehydrating, the team  pulled up the gear and old sunbrella awning material that had been caught in the rain on Monday, and spread them under the awning to dry out, before restowing, which would have to occur sometime later.     Crew mustered off around 1 pm. 

No Rain, but then Rum, and then Really Serious Rain Sums up a Roller-coater Week

I was just thinking, in light of the weather decision on 31 July to cancel our Sail to the Sea Buoy. On Sunday August 4  I'll bet I wasn't the only one with a sardonic reaction to the placid weather that appeared over the harbor and approaches.  Tropical Storm Betty was still a day's watch off to the south. I was imagining us on board, already with Ft. Sumter abeam and busy with all hands hauling away halyards getting the mainsail peaked up-under full press, outward bound for the sea buoy. No doubt many of our "guest crew" from Charleston Offshore Racing Association(CORA), who had signed up for their first tall ship sailing experience, and expressed excitement at the opportunity, were just as disappointed. 

 Notwithstanding the weather decision to cancel our planned sail, it was a great day dream for a moment. And, it remains a viable goal for Spirit of South Carolina and her Volunteer Crew for the near future. All the cases for it to happen are still out there. And, I'm maintaining the original SignUp Roster of all the crew, so that all on it will be the first ones notified when this opportunity resurfaces.

So, for Sunday, to assuage the disappointment, I proposed to all participants, a Rum Tasting, on board for that Sunday afternoon. Seven accepted the proposal-four from CORA, Tim Vienneau and his wife, Scott Depung and friend, Carin Bloom, Nick Swarts and Bryan Oliver. Bryan brought aboard a diverse collection of nine rums ranging from "value-priced" to well-aged, silver-to gold-to dark, up to 18 years, representing distilleries from all over the Caribbean, to New England, and of course Charleston. With lotsa munchies scattered around the table as well as water for cleansing palates, hydrating, and rinsing, attendees tried out 1/2 ounce samplings. We compared and contrasted, discovered new ones, redefining our favorites while Carin and Bryan narrated on all topics of origins, economics, distilling secrets, and sordid history, including schooner rum runners. Carin proposed a toast to Black Tot Day, the occasion of the British Royal Navy pounding the tap into the last Barrel signifying the end of rum issued to Sailors. As a finale, Bryan offered up two different rum cocktails, each with their own stories,, one a Bermuda Swizzle from the 1920's, and the Original Rum Runner, six ingredients, four of them alcoholic. In moderation of course. With those in hand, most attendees gathered on deck to enjoy the light breeze, and most welcome temperature of mid '80's on the water. 

 Monday, the 5th, TS Betty, appeared on the southern horizon, as Capt Heath Hackett and a crew of four, along with Bos'un Bryan mustered at 0800 on deck to tie down anything on the dock that could blow or float away, and attack the issue of straying Yokohama's, once again trapped inside the dock pilings, and the schooner's hull, blown by wind and current, pressing against them, allowing no room to float out and re-center. 

Teammate, Jack Frazier relaxes in the headrig, waiting
 for Team mate Brian to climb out with more gaskets.

So the team started first on deck, adding additional gaskets to tighten up the furls on the sails, which were still a bit billowy from the last sail douse.

Heath Hackett (in red foulies) and team
 formulating a Plan A to clear the forward Yokohama
 out of it's pocket on the side of the piling. 

Within the first hour the first band of rain began sprinkling, rapidly building to soaking downpours sending us to sending below anything salvageable from exposure on the dock and closing off hatches. A few of us had foulies on board to throw on. Most just enjoyed(at first) a cooling soaking antidote to the summer's persistent 90 degree temp and 85% humidity.  At the same time Capt Heath attempted to start up the small boat engine prior to launching. A good move, since the engine, likely with water somewhere in the line, refused to kick over.- which sent him out on a search for a replacement "push boat". 

Meanwhile rest of the crew looked at methods to tension up the chain tethering each of the three Yokohama's together. Lariat loops were fashioned to snub around the chain linking the aft Yokohama to it's end piling. Snubbing the loop up on a chain link enabled us to stretch the chain longitudinally, thereby pressuring the Yokohama to float aft, and recenter on it's piling. Now it was waiting for Capt Heath and whatever push boat facsimile he could procure on this now dark gray skies, soaking raining mess. 

Bryan cheerfully waits for Capt Heath's Plan B
 push boat to appear on the horizon, 

Only a half-hour later, he appeared driving towards us around the Cruise terminal dock in a small Center console fisherman. I didn't ask where he got it. We had rigged a long tow rope off the port quarter to send over to him and he and his team mate, Richard He maneuvered close to take the line as Bryan tossed over. 

 Capt Heath, with Richard monitoring the tow cable on the little cleat, and the small fishermen made four attempts from various angles to pull the stern off the dock sufficiently to create sufficient space for the Yokohama blivits to float free of the pilings and rest properly outside of them. Each time, while the stern pulled off sufficiently, the bow countered, swinging into the dock, preventing the most forward Yokohama to clear it's piling. 

Frustrated, and accounting for the risk of damaging the little fisherman's ground tackle gear, Heath returned it to the dock. Meanwhile, on board, crew was discerning a slight expanding of the distance between dock pilings and the schooner's hull. Slightly diminishing wind, and tide transitioning appeared to be creating a time window in which the schooner was allowed to widen it's gap with the dock, sufficient for all the Yokohama's to float free of their pilings. Just as Capt Heath returned, the team had already taken the strain along two lines on the linked Yokohama's  pulling them [northwards] out and away from their pilings then centering on them.  The team rapidly tide off their "tag" lines to a piling to stabilize the Yokohama's in place.  

By now the crew had been working furiously on the dock and on deck, while totally soaked, and constantly wiping the rain out of their eyes. The temperate, cooling effect of the rain, ironically made for a much more temperate working environment, at the expense of soaking us down to, including anything in our pockets. With last of the gear on the dock stowed in the locker or slung under the lashed down dory the team took last look around, and slogged back up the dock to cars and a soggy ride home.

And Things Were Going So Well; then a Curve Ball, but maybe a base hit.

Bryan Oliver awards Nick Swarts
 his 50 Hours Pin; Shipmates, Lance and Tony
 provide the boisterous audience.

 First some catching up. A few weeks ago we recognized Nick Swarta, once a new Volunteer, but no longer, after racing past 50 hours of Volunteer Time. He's currently well on his way to 100 hours if  not already, and I haven't checked the Volunteer Log yesterday.  You'll see him often  crewing the small boat as Coxwain.  My lateness excuse was searching for this lost photo. 

Nick's in good company with a much welcomed stream of new Volunteers mustering with us over the past couple of months. 

.........................................

It was an exciting ten days-filled with a growing schedule of cruises, a growing roster of new volunteers that needed to be trained, and a sense of an increasing visibility of our schooner to the general public.  

Saturday, the 20th of July Coaches for Character Students,(Sponsored by Baker Motors) and their adult leadership came aboard for a Reward pleasure cruise.  Nevertheless, our crewmembers cajoled several of them into raising the headsails, and do some line handling and coiling.  

No sooner had we secured the ship after  putting our student visitors ashore, than a request came down from the Executive Assistance Office for another Impact Charleston Cruise for  Wednesday, July 24th. At that point the Volunteer program hit the limit all of us were  warning ourselves about- the capacity of volunteers to meet the cruise demand. As early as last year, the conversation around crewing with Volunteers, included an admonition, that to staff three harbor sails a week, would require a bench of at least 40 competent volunteers, with the concept that, out of that bench, a crew of 5 or so could easily be found for any given day.  We're still a ways from 40. And so it was, that Spirit of South Carolina was forced to decline a sailing opportunity for that Wednesday the 24, because of inability to bring aboard sufficient competent crew.  While unavoidable, it was not a good look for us, and reinforced the need for a sizeable build-up of crew capability.

The following Saturday, the 27th a regularly scheduled Volunteer Day was lightly attended, Dallas Spencer brought along his ship's carpenter tool kit, and proceeded to repair the Dory's inside gunwale that had been torn up in a previous incident of weather and a hard dock.  not surpisingly due the the highly anticipated promise of a serious All-Day Training cruise the following Sunday, 4 August, to the Sea Buoy and back, about 49 nautical miles. 

And to make it interesting, our Co-Captains invited aboard a large contingent from the Charleston Offshore Racing  Association. I initially viewed this change with dismay, since it upended plans for serious deck operations training at sea, including emergency drills.   However, the mental picture of  over 22 CORA sailors and skippers-modern day serious sailors, enthusiastically jumping in to learn halyard hauling, coiling, and tending-sailing the hard way.  This was a group from whom insinuations came that Spirit of South Carolina was no longer doing anything,, no longer worth a serious thought.. Ouch!  

This cruise would become a perfect opportunity to change some hearts, gain some badly needed moral support and visibility in the sailing community, and hopefully,, more volunteers.  Brilliant.

As Monday July 29, came along, Capt Heath Hackett, our Project Manager, pointed out the possibility of heavy weather moving up the coast around Sunday, risky enough to force a decision mid-week whether to go or cancel the cruise. 

Two days later, Wednesday a few Volunteers mustered  with our Co-Captains Will and Bobby to hoist one of them aloft for rigging inspection. Sam Sablotsky and brother Levi joined Carin Bloom and Bryan on deck to rig up the bosun's chairs on the peak halyards.  In that session Capt Bobby confirmed that earlier that day, he had declined a final offer from the organization for assuming command of Spirit of South Carolina as Captain.  An agreement could not be reached on compensation. And Wednesday would be his final day.  

Later that day, the Cruise to the Sea Buoy was cancelled.

Setback.

Ramifications extend to our ability to cast off, let alone schedule sailings, and generate revenue.

Insinuations and Allegations?  Who and what the heck happened?!  While tempting, we realistically have no time for them. They are distractions to what we signed on for, that is taking joy in something bigger than ourselves, the idea of stewarding a traditional Wooden Sailing Vessel, one of a kind, learning the skills, culture seamanship that she demands, , the best in us, as Alan Villiers would say.

 Spirit of South Carolina is still here. She still has purpose. We are the ones who board her and bring her to life.  

For a day or so, I was at a loss, but then I paid a visit to Colleen Flynn.

Colleen is the Executive Assistant to Mr. Baker, who leads our governing Board. Turns out she's been named Acting Executive Director,, a job position I thought had been vacant for 3 years. 

Colleen assured me that the game was still on.  Programs- underserved youth cruises, Team building cruises, other opportunities were still being sought, and tentatively scheduled. The serious search was on for a new Captain, and she was working on a scheme she wasn't quite ready to share yet, but had enthusiastic endorsement of her boss, and our Project Manager, Capt Heath.  In the short time we had at her office, we actually covered a number of topics, several of them relevant to Volunteers.   

The conclusion I reached was that she was bringing some new energy into the game.  So, we're holding our course.