December Update!!! December Update!!!!

It's the Holiday time of the Year! The Spirit's first and incredibly successful education sail season finished on Wednesday, December 5th. Bookings for next season are already brisk and few slots remain open! Well done to the crew and the office staff who made it happen...not to mention the volunteers who contributed to many sails, dockside events, and donor events.

The holiday season is rapidly approaching and this is a reminder of the Holiday Party on December 15th at 3 pm. At 2 pm there will be a volunteer appreciation ceremony to present rewards to volunteers who have reached their major hour milestones. There is also a new 750 hour level reward which will be presented to those who have reached that level.

Mark your calendars and be ready to sign up at the Holiday party for the watches we will be standing from Dec 23rd through Jan 1st. The ship will move to the City Boat Yard for a scheduled maintenance period and the seasonal crew will shrink -- so we have the wonderful opportunity to supplement the crew and stand overnight watches in that time frame. If you can't make it to the party, please email jeteske@sbcglobal.net to let me know when you can stand watches overnight.

Check out these pictures from the season--this is what it's all about!!!

Thanksgiving 2007 Update

Thanksgiving Update for Spirit

Hello valiant and faithful Spirit Volunteers! It is the week of Thanksgiving and all is well on the Spirit. See below for some upcoming events we need help with. You may have seen the latest email from Captain Arrow about the latest news.

The metal fixture repairs was an incredibly well orchestrated logistics exercise that resulted in the ship being off line for only two weeks! Every metal fixture was replaced in that time with galvanized fixtures. Many, many thanks to the volunteers who made speed runs back and forth between industrial sites, who stood watches, and who watched in awe as the crew put the ship back together!

Educational sails started in earnest again on November 5th and are continuing. The Sea Spray Scout program continues through December 7th and the ship will commence a Christmas stand-down followed by a deck replacement in January.

If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Maritime Center over Thanksgiving wear your volunteer garb and please greet the crew -- they have asked for volunteers to feel free to visit the ship, come on board, and look around. The crew sends their thanks to the volunteers. The crew may be the host for the crews of the Spirit of Massachusetts and the Westward for Thanksgiving dinner -- originally you may have heard we were asking for volunteers to stand watch, well now, since they will be onboard cooking, they won't need us on Thanksgiving day (or, come down and take the watch so they can cook without making ship tours!!)

Mark your calendars and Save the Date for December 15th – join the Spirit crew at the Maritime Center for the Foundation Christmas Party!!

There is plenty to do in the next few weeks – if you can help out with the following please email Dewey Teske – Jennifer Holtsclaw is out of town until mid-December, so Dewey will handle the volunteers for these events (assisted by Tom Sweeny!):

November 29th – Dockside tours – may involve some children in wheelchairs, need 6-8 volunteers to help out
November 30th – Donor sail at 3 pm – need 6-8 volunteers for crew, if you have been in training or already certified as crew and can help, email me
December 1st 4-8 pm – 8-10 volunteers to assist as host ship of the Parade of Lights for our guests the Charleston Power Squadron
December 6th – 11 am-2 pm -- need 8-10 volunteers to assist in the dockside tours for 60-80 corporate visitor tours – these visitors are corporate executives visiting Charleston

Again, email Dewey Teske if you can assist in any of the above. There also may be some more donor sails for training over the next few weeks. Also, the calendar has been shifted to our "old" calendars.net calendar -- link to it from the Blog.

Coming soon: Spirit Trivia Contest!! Stay tuned!

OCTOBER UPDATE

Dear Volunteers!!

October is almost gone--sorry about the delay in the BLOG update but it has beern a busy time. The Spirit has returned from the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show and is going through an unplanned maintenance period to replace metal fittings on the ship. This is not a huge thing, but it is something that must be taken care of. There will be about a 2 week hiatus as this repair work is done.

The ship is at the City Boatyard while undergoing the repairs. Educational sails scheduled during this time will be rescheduled and the transits from Georgetown to Dataw Island and then back to Charleston have been canceled.

The ship needs someone next week to go down to Savannah to pick up the new materials -- your expenses would be paid, but the exact day is not known -- if you can do this please call the ship directly at 843-737-3925.

Today's video Blog is a clip showing a blast from the Spirit cannon -- See Brad Jump!

How did the Volunteer Sails go? and UPDATE for September!!

Hello Spirit Volunteers!

I hope those of you who had the opportunity to sail last week enjoyed it. Please take the time to add a comment to the Blog about what you liked, or any neat stories relating your volunteering for Spirit and the sails combined.

The schedule is changing on an almost weekly basis, and I have been slow to update the calendar -- my wife broke her leg, so I have tended to the homefront -- I'll try to update it fully by Wednesday.

September 6th new volunteer training is still going down, but it will be at a different location -- the ship will be having an open ship event at the City Marina on september 6th from 2-5 pm, so we will have the training on board the Spirit so the crew can attend also. I can't think of a btter place for it to be done (assuming the weather cooperates).

The month of September may have the following sails (if you are qualifying as Volunteer Crew...which means you have finished your Dock Watch qualifications and have stood watches in port...these sails are opportunities to complete your underway qualifications, but you need to complete Dock Watch first):

September 8th -- Donor Sail
September 9th -- Shipwright Sail
September 12th -- Seabrook Island Group Daysail
September 21st -- Crew sail training underway(morning), Sponsor sail(afternoon)
September 22nd -- Donor Sail
September 23rd -- Stevens and Oswalt Sail
September 25th -- Docked at Daniel Island for "Captains Cup" Golf Tourney
September 27th -- Donor sail
September 28th -- SC Aquarium sail
September 29th -- Donor/Sponsor and Crew Family Sail

As you can see there are lots of sails, but on most of them there is not much space for volunteers. The Spirit does have a Coast Guard limit, so when you add passengers, plus our expert crew, then there are some slots left for training volunteers. Sometimes, crew members are left ashore (like when our Bosun Sam Upton went and got married!) so the qualified volunteer crew members and those in training are asked to joing the ship by Captain Arrow. Also, sometimes the sails are cancelled at the last minute due to weather or other considerations. So, keep the ship's cell hpone number handy or call the main office for confirmation of the schedule.

Many, many thanks to those who made it possible to do the 3 days of volunteer sails. Again, please put a comment on this Blog so others can experience how you felt about getting underway -- also if you have any pictures, please email them to me and I'll get them posted onto the Blog.

It's so nice to see the ship now fulfilling its mission -- October will start the Sea Spray Scout daysails -- if you know any 5th or 6th grade educators -- TELL THEM ABOUT THE PROGRAM!!

That's about it for now...I'll try to get that calendar updated.

Dewey Teske
Volunteer Coordinator

P.S. I'm toting up volunteer hours for August -- if you logged them in the Volunteer Hours Logbook kept onboard I;ve conted your hours -- if you have not put them in there, then put them in there, and then email me that you have logged them. These hours are important for grant and other funding proposals...besides we like to recognize our super volunteers at 50, 100, 250, and 500 hours, but the "official" logbook is where we keep the hours.

VOLUNTEER SAILS UPDATE! VOLUNTEER SAILS UPDATE!

Dear Volunteers!!

The Volunteer sails have all been shifted to a start time of 6 pm, rather than day sails to accommodate those of us not able to make it during the day! They have also added August 27th (Monday evening) to the sails. Remember -- the sails are August 27, 28, 29 and 30. The final rider list will be determined by the Captain and the Foundation staff based on hours/contributions to the project. However, I will pencil you in once you tell me the day you can make it and if you do get "bumped" by someone with a gazillion hours served, I will let you know. Even if you do not make these sails due to a low number of hours as a volunteer, there will be other opportunities in the future.

The calendar changes each week, so check here for updates.

DOCK WATCH AND VOLUNTEER TRAINING STARTS VERY SOON!!!!

Also, qualifying sessions for Dock watch and Volunteer Crew officially begins September 6th -- but I plan on being at the Maritime Center to start qualifications each Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm starting August 19th -- if you want to get started early please email me -- I'll be there no matter how many people show up -- it is designed for the "old hands" who want to qualify before the September 6th start session (which is designed for brand newbie volunteers). Again, please email me and download the qualification cards from the links at the right along with the Seamanship Manual (when you click the links the page that opens has them listed -- just click to oepn them or right click and "save target as" onto your computer. print them out and bring them with you.

COOK AND EDUCATOR POSITION -- PAID CREW FOR SPIRIT --

Straight from the horses mouth:

South Carolina Maritime Foundation http://www.scmaritime.org based in Charleston, SC, operates the Spirit of South Carolina and invites applications for the post of Cook/Educator .The Spirit of SC is looking for a cook/educator for the fall season. The position will be responsible for provisioning and providing meals for the crew, and participating in the educational programs. This live aboard position will also offer the opportunity to learn sailing and deck seamanship.The post is SeasonalApply by email or fax, Resume, Cover Letter and Three References to SoSC HRTel: Fax: 843-722-2243email: hr@scmaritime.org

EVENTS ARE FILLING FAST SO SEND IN YOU DIBS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:

First Day Festival is FULL
Community Open Ship on August 26th is cancelled due to the busy schedule!
Volunteer Sails continue to fill -- but keep sending me your requests...the new date of Monday August 27th is empty, so let's go sailing!! Email me the slots you want.

Look for another update soon.

Dewey Teske
Volunteer Coordinator

UPDATE!! UPDATE!! UPDATE!!

1. Volunteer sails -- get underway with the Spirit--August 28, 29, 30th. Download the invitation at the link on the right. Sails start at 6 pm and we hope to include as many volunteers as possible -- email Dewey Teske the day you want and we'll take it from there. It is possible we may add one more on the 27th, but it depends on the demand and the ship schedule. Higher hours get higher priority, but don't let that stop you from signing up.

2. Next volunteer needs (see the Blog and calendar links to the right) -- email Dewey Teske at jeteske@sbcglobal.net to sign up to help:
August 19 -- need 8-12 volunteers to help with the First Day Festival -- man the ship and help pass out free school stuff to the kids during the First Day Festival.
August 26th -- need 12-16 volunteers for merchandise sales and ship tours durig our first Community Open Ship -- this may not happen due to a possible sail being done instead, but we need to prepare for it
Week of October 14th through October 21st--Georgetown Wooden Boat Festival -- we will need 6-10 people each shift..this may seem far away, but it will be bigger than the Beaufort Waterfest.

3. Download the new Seamanship Manual for the Spirit of South Carolina -- use it for Volunteer Crew qualifications.

4. If you want to stand dock watches or qualify as volunteer crew -- email me! We will start standing overnight watches this week!! Download the draft qualification cards for these two exciting volunteer positions -- official training starts Sept 6th. if you have already stood Dock Watch while we were up at Charleston Boat Works and want to do it again, let me know immediately! See the links for the qualification cards on the right.

5. Check the Calendar and Blog regularly -- add your comments and stories for everyone else.

Thanks thanks thanks for all your help.

Yours in Spirit,

Dewey Teske

Welcome to the First Spirit of South Carolina Blog Post

Hello stalwart Spirit of South Carolina Volunteers!!

First, thanks again for all of your efforts on behalf of the Spirit of South Carolina. now that she is in the water and has completed many Educational Sails, the Captain and the Foundation are better able to realize how we can help out more. This Blog will serve as a gathering place to put out word about upcoming events, link to the volunteer calendar, enable you as volunteers to post some great stories and pictures (maybe even videos??). Feel free to post anything you would like -- questions, great ideas, and any news you hear about the Spirit or the Maritime Foundation.

As we move forward, the volunteers will be able to contribute in the same old ways we always have, but now we will be adding the third dimension of the possibility of qualifying as Volunteer Crew to serve if and when needed underway. So, here is how we all can help:

1. Special events -- these range from the biggie, the Charleston Maritime Festival, to the smallies, such as selling Spirit merchandise on the dock to educators/kids as they leave the ship after their wonderful educational sail (we have already raised 1000's of dollars from this alone). We also will be holding community open-ship events for which we will need to man the ship for tours. Fundraising events also will continue to need our help.

2. Dock Watch and Volunteer Crew -- this is the newest opportunity for volunteers to get onboard and really help out in port and underway as a supplemental crew member. Because of Coast Guard and some very strict safety considerations, this is a serious endeavor that requires completing a formal training program (using what is called a qualification card which is being developed and approved by the Captain and First Mate). To get underway with the educational programs it will require random drug testing and a thorough background check (right now the Foundation is trying to figure out how to pay for these -- if you are willing to pay for you own, please let me know!!). This training program will officially start on September 6th with a session at the library downtown -- stay tuned to this blog for more details as they develop.

3. Office administrative assistance -- the main office has many interesting tasks that we can help out with -- call Jessica Hancock at the main office at 722-1030 and see what is needed.

4. Special Projects -- the ship still needs many things; if you are handy with woodworking or other handy projects, contact Sterling Bryson, the First Mate, on the ship's phone to see how you can help.

5. Donations, donations, donations -- the ship is still not fully funded, so if you can spare a dime, or know someone who can make any kind of donation to the Foundation, then please break out that check book. If you are not already a member of the Foundation then dig down into your pocket and become a full-fledged paying member -- it is not expensive and you get to see the results of your donation firsthand. Follow the links on the Maritime Foundation site and get it done TODAY!!

There will be more to come on future blogs -- for right now, simply email me what you would like to do, or post it here on the blog. Feel free to explore the Volunteer Calendar (link on the links list to the left on this blog) and let me know if you would like to help out on any specific dates/times.

Thanks for taking time to visit the Volunteer blog -- let's get some good stories posted!

Yours in Spirit,

Dewey Teske