The Second Season for the Spirit is underway and booked solid. After completing the March Ed sails in Charleston Harbor, she has voyaged down to Dataw Island to host the Beaufort area schools for the next two weeks. Before leaving on Monday, Spirit entered the CORA race on Saturday, March 29th and what a grand sail it was. After sitting in the doldrums with near zero wind for a couple of hours, the weather front decided to move through and provide some really great wind that catapulted the Spirit from almost dead last to second place heeled over to the gunwales and passing race boat after race boat. After getting becalmed in the lee of a huge container ship inbound, we again heeled over and was closing on the lead boat when a belaying pin for the main sail halyard broke in half under the tension of the sails (unreefed in a 30-40 knot breeze). Discretion being the better part of valor, CORA shortened the race, we pulled in the jib and staysail and called it a day as the weather continued to worsen. After arriving at City Marina for the post race get-together, we all had stories to tell. See the video clips of our adventure below and some pics taken during the race.
Current volunteer needs -- if you can help out on any of the below, please call or email me or Jennifer Holtsclaw. Here's what we need for now:
We have the following urgent volunteer needs:
1. Starting this Friday (April 4th), through Sunday (April 6th), the ship is operating out of Dataw Island doing educational sails for schools in the Beaufort area. We would like to give the crew a break from the long days by standing watch the entire weekend – if you can stand any watch between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, email me back or call 843-819-8734 and let me know what you can handle. Stay on board and have some fun.
2. Sunday at Dataw Island we are hosting a reception for the Dataw Island people who are helping us out (and who also are potential donors!). We need about 10 volunteers to assist during the open ship from 12-4 pm, followed by a VIP reception from 5-7 pm. Email Jennifer Holtsclaw or me or call 843-819-8734 if you can help out on this event.
3. HarborFest is just around the corner –the HarborFest Volunteer Director, Georgia Nettles, needs you, so please respond. If you can’t help, please find someone who can!! If you can help call the main office at 722-1030 and leave a message for Georgia Nettles, or go to the website and fill out and submit the volunteer form at: http://www.charlestonharborfest.org/involve-volunteer.html
Thanks again for all your help.
Yours in Spirit,
Dewey Teske
jeteske@sbcglobal.net
1 comment:
Hey Tom, Joe, Dewey, Nelson, Reggie, Steve, Dan, Anna, Amy, Carey, Chris, Nicole, etc, etc, etc.,
Could you come out to the ship and help us load, stow, clean, swab, shine, polish, varnish, sweep, pound nails, tie knots, coil lines, prep food, prep drinks, bag ice, check bilges, wrap chafe, take off chafe, man fenders, man lines, wash down salt, squeegee rails, recycle recycables, offload trash, place gangway, pull gangway, tuck in your shirt, wear your hat, smile, offer assistance, shoot the breeze, Just don’t say how much it costs to run this ship!
“Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”
Summer of 2007, first summer of sailing, drought in S.C., sweltering doldrum heat and humidity without the relief of rain and wind…,cancelled teacher indoctrination sails, but the volunteers showed up and the crew was there to teach and assist them! Paid crew, Sam, Beth, Jamie, Nitro, livin’ aboard with NO A/C! Sheesh! Why? To prep for the fall, winter, and spring DOGGONE successful initial seasons of the SPIRIT OF SC educational programs, spearheaded by the Director of Education, Principessa Piwinski, and superbly Mastered by El Capitano’s Tony Arrow and Sterling Bryson and maintained by Chief Engineer Ben Hall, the ship presented a formidable, effective, efficient, platform of nautical expertise and education tailored so all of SC’s citizens could experience this priceless opportunity.
So, on and on it went. Donor sails in winter cold, damp wetness, threatening skies, crew-paid and volunteer, ready, willing, able to present the mission of allowing so many others unfamiliar with the nautical realm, an experience to live and never forget, as these folks take a line in their hands and raise a 2000 pound sail, take a 3 and half foot wheel and pilot a 140 foot schooner, feel the power of wind and wave on their vessel and realize, control is an illusion, and we must bond as crewmates to make a sail beautifully successful. Winter yard haul outs, down on bended knees and back breaking caulking, making a custom built ship better, crew, volunteer and paid, working side by side.
Educating folks not used to being seasick on an offshore passage, stating, “This is what you signed up for. Life is not supposed to be easy, comfortable, restful all the time. How do you learn, without making mistakes, facing adversity in the face of fear? This is our mission, to allow you to experience some things that you normally don’t come face to face with on a day to day basis; pain, discomfort, exhaustion, fear.” So, when landfall arrives, you collect yourself for a moment, or two, or three, and then realize….”WOW, What did I just do? That was AMAZING.” Then, you realize, other things in life aren’t all that problematic, all that difficult, all that confounding. Maybe not a REVELATION, being on the SPIRIT of SC, but you sure can come away with a Great Big, AH HAH, THAT'S WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT!
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