Volunteer Deckhand Training Day  Kicks off a Resurrected Volunteer Program.

Just last Saturday, March 16, eight Volunteers for Spirit of South Carolina reported aboard for a day of deckhand training with the professional crew.  Only two, Joe Gorman, and Phil Frandino, from the Ships original corps of volunteers,  had much schooner deck-hand experience, having  participated in her early building, fitting out, and sailing her early programs.  The rest were basically starting from scratch.  Miki and Chuck Waring, Ken Fonville, Jonathan Shew, Sean McQuilken, and Meryl Huckabey turned out to be a pretty motivated bunch.  By the end of the day, they could boast of accomplishments they had not expected to make so soon.
Thanks to Charley Porzelt, the Mate, who led the training for the day, taking advantage of Joe and Phil as coaches, everyone received a full day of hands-on demonstration, practices, and do-overs to get it right,, rope-handling, essential knots, Docking procedures, and heaving line techniques, hoisting, dropping, and fish-furling both headsails.  A welcome hot lunch of  Chicken Enchiladas put out by Chef Hunter, made for a well-deserved break.
A few of the many positive comments by participants in the experience.
"the most thorough and professional instruction day ever spent in my many hours on gaff schooners."
"Charlie did an excellent job of having us practice and get comfortable doing various tasks.   
I'm definitely feeling a lot more comfortable being able to be a functional member of her crew."

All that effort was not just for fun, the ultimate goal is to build a sufficient corps of Volunteers that can supplement the professional crew when needed.  Saturday's training was just a start of a steady path for Volunteers to acquire the skills and demonstrate their readiness to work beside the professionals.
If you'd like to join in. start by putting your name with a time period into our Volunteer Calendar at right.  There's plenty of things to do making the ship ready, that could use your help, and in the process, you'll pick up skills and have them documented.  If you have difficulty opening and editing the calendar, review the "Instructions for editing the Volunteer Calendar" in the green column.