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.