Some Clarity on the Volunteers Visiting the Ship during this COVID-19 outbreak.

If you sense that you've been getting mixed messages over the past week on the volunteer situation, I'll take the blame.  

I'm clarifying by posting below, appropriate excerpts from emails passed from Capt Cleveland and myself, which summarize the current situation regarding volunteers visiting the ship.

Bryan wrote: "Earlier this week, His Excellency, Gov McMaster, invoked a statute statewide limiting gatherings to no more than 3 people. However, he added a large caveat, giving local law enforcement broad flexibility as to enforcing the statute. 

On March 25, Hizonor Mayor Tecklenburg decreed that people of Charleston should stay at home unless they are going to specific destinations, and he listed five,, The Spirit of South Carolina not being one of them."

Captain Cleveland wrote: "The vessel is not deemed an essential business and therefore anyone attempting to go to it may see resistance from the police.  They have been given a loose range of decision making power.  I spoke with an officer at the grocery today to get more details and he basically said you’ll get a warning to go home if they don’t like the reason you’re out for.  Then a citation will come.  

I would ask until Bryan and I get a chance to choose a responsible decision that keeps the live-aboard crew and all our volunteers safe, but productivity on the vessel going, that you please not come down to the ship.

Again myself, the crew, and most of all our fine vessel appreciate everyone’s participation greatly." 

So, this means; Until further notice; Please do not come down to visit the ship without express clearance from Captain Cleveland or Chief Mate Charlie.   Ship's officers are formulating a policy that will hopefully allow for some productivity while keeping with the spirit of our local and state directives, and considerations for health of the crew on  board.

Spirit of South Carolina's Crew gets downsized. No Information on Ship's Future.

Below is a summary of an email sent out to the Volunteer Contact List on Friday evening, the 20th. As of  time of this posting, no new information is available regarding future operations.  So, as Volunteers we are continuing to march. 

The Board of Directors has reduced the payroll of the ship that basically now allows only for a Captain.  Period.  Captain Cleveland has negotiated to spread that reduced payroll amount among the three key crew:  Captain, Chief Mate, and Cook. , in hopes of retaining those positions at least for the short term.  

Our Schooner is still at the dock, technically ready to cast off and set sail.  She still needs taking care of. 

These things remain the same:  Capt Dan Cleveland’s vision that this ship have a deep bench of competent volunteers who now how to take care of her, and know how to sail her.   A few of us are even actively reaching out to potential corporate customers for additional programs.  All of you on this email list can have a hand in making that happen. I believe we make a difference.

I propose we stay our course;  Ship’s Maintenance and deck hand training.

Last Volunteer Day we split the day between maintenance tasks and building up deck hand skills. No reason not to keep to that heading.  But of course, there’s the complication:

Our city is dealing with COVID-19. Social distancing, self-quarantining-meaning no groups >10.

This Weekend is sort of shot. But starting next week with Monday, the 23d, I propose we resume a routine, that allows for small groups of volunteers to report aboard to help the  crew finish up, and take over the remaining projects planned for the remainder of March, and even April.  In the meantime, planned harbor sails that generate revenue, pending the College of Charleston locking in their proposed programs, just might help turn a corner.

With all the closures, many of us are now with unexpected time on our hands. If you have some free hours these coming weekdays-and are in excellent health of course-which you can devote to some projects/deckhand skills training, please let me know as soon as possible.  I’ll work out a schedule that keeps us to a small group at any given time.. Same goes for the scheduled Volunteer Days on alternating weekend days.  Again, it will be a small group <10.

To keep maintain everyone’s motivation to contribute, I’ll be a gatekeeper in sense of making sure that everyone who want’s to volunteer will get some opportunity on deck, during these days of social distancing.

Spirit of South Carolina Aligning to National and Coast Guard Advisories regarding COVID-19

For the foreseeable future, Capt Dan has laid out an intent for the Ship, which is to formally align Spirit of South Carolina’s protocol with National and City guidelines and requirements, while still advancing the onboard work of maintenance, rescheduling programs and planning for new ones, thereby demonstrating/proving her continued viability in spite of the current situation.

Capt Cleveland's formal letter outlining the Ships Policy may be found at this link:

Spirit of South Carolina COVID-19 Preparedness Plan

So Spirit’s Protocol  takes shape like this.

Spirit of South Carolina is not shutting down, but is monitoring  sailing programs that were likely to execute over the next two months.  Our unique close environment on board, coupled with our diverse age demographic(many of us of a certain age are more susceptible than others) deserves special consideration.

Crew projects for maintenance and improvements will continue;

The ship is a home to the crew.  It goes without saying that visitors aboard should respect it as such, especially under these circumstances.

Crew has increased discipline in hygiene, sanitizing, and social distancing as warranted.

The ship is sticking to the directives of minimizing groups to size of 10 or less. ..meaning that the Mate must restrict the number of Volunteers coming on board to a maximum number, the amount of which may vary.

So what’s this mean for Volunteers?

·        The Volunteer program is not suspended, but it will be significantly constrained primarily in the numbers of volunteers on deck at a time.

·        Volunteer Days, as we know them, i.e. the mustering  a critical mass of dozen or more volunteers on a weekend, will temporarily shut down. 

·        In its place, we will try to spread Volunteer presence out over more days in the week, and encourage a voluntary social distancing.  .

·        If you display any signs or symptoms of a common cold or flu, please stay home.  If you are of the certain age (like me), consider your own self-interest in distance.

·        If you have time to offer the crew for maintenance, or wish to pick up some skills,  First, call or text to Chief Mate Charlie Porzelt, with a time frame you can help.  

charles@spiritofsc.org  or  203-870-5739.

·        He may welcome you on board, or wave you off this time based on the task at hand, or numbers of souls already on board.  Rest assured, that training up deckhands, as well as prepping the ship for sailing remain top priorities.  If you wanna be part of it.  Keep Charlie posted.

Saturday's Volunteer Day concentrates on deckhand skills basics. Another 50 Hour Volunteer Achievement is marked.

Saturday's Volunteer Day started off with a recognition for achievement;  50 hours of Volunteer work for Spirit of South Carolina;  the fifth such recognition to be awarded since the re-inception of Spirit of South Carolina's Volunteer Program a little over a year ago.   After just two and a half months on deck, new volunteer Darren Casale, broke the 50 hour threshold.  In recognition of that achievement, Volunteer Coordinator Bryan Oliver handed off to Darren a lapel pin, following tradition first awarded to Volunteers while Spirit of South Carolina was still being built in 2002.

Darren Casale shows off his 50 Volunteer Hours recognition,
flanked by Volunteer Coordinator, Bryan Oliver,
 and new Volunteer, Austin Eubanks.

Depending on your perspective, 50 hours may sound like a lot, or merely a long week's worth of time.  More fundamentally it recognizes commitment to the Ship. Some of us - retirees, mostly, can spend hours easily.  More of us, still in the workforce, juggle multiple work and family priorities just to find a few free hours per week, or more.  The fifty-hour milestone seems to surface as a visible milestone, between people who start out with best intentions and then fade after one or two Volunteer days, and those  who demonstrate an enduring commitment to furthering Spirit of South Carolina's mission of youth education under sail. Darren joins four previous awardees this year,  Ken Fonville, Dan Maurin, Layne Carver, and Carter Edwards.

With the majority of Winter Maintenance completed, and the weekend's planned events cancelled, Volunteers took advantage of a somewhat warm but blustery Saturday to advance deckhand skills training.  It was a good day to welcome aboard two new volunteers, Austin Eubanks and Tom Bierce, both coming aboard for the first time.
Volunteer Deckhand skills consists of performing a number of tasks fundamental to a deckhand on traditional sailing vessels. Aboard Spirit of South Carolina, those skills are  are demonstrated, practices and performed twice before being checked off.
This morning, the objective was to check off at least five deckhand skills as being observed performing to an observable and measurable standards.  Eight volunteers focus on proficiency building in five different knot, first practicing then demonstrating for first check-off. Part of the training is to demonstrates the knots in context of how they are actually used. and Chief Mate Charlie Porzelt did not disappoint.  Just as the training session was about to close, Charlie called all hands to the Mainmast to prep then set a shallow reef into the Mainsail. Demonstrating all they had just learned, volunteers laid out on the aft cabin to pass portside reef nettles under the mainsail's foot bolt rope, then make a slippery reef knot on the starboard side. In doing so, Old Salt Joe Gorman pointed out the second whipping on the sail's "Deep Reef" nettles, as a means of eliminating confusion in inadvertently selecting the wrong reef nettle to secure on the main sail boom.

USCG Barque Eagle cancels Charleston Visit , but the disappointment brings out unexpected support.

In hindsight, it shouldn't have been a surprise, but still the decision last Thursday by the Coast Guard to cancel their visit to Charleston due to the Covis19 pandemic was a big disappointment for Spirit of South Carolina Crew and volunteers.  In cooperation with the College of Charleston, the ship had planned for two deck receptions, one private and one public, and two harbor cruises, one for  CSCG Eagle visitors and the second, a public cruise to escort Eagle back out to sea on Sunday.  The event's promised some significant publicity as well as badly needed revenue generation, and... a great opportunity for lots of volunteers to finally join crew and cast off, or host visitors aboard for receptions.

All of that was shut down in a moment of flurry of hurried emails and texts, notifying everyone to stand down on all events.  Out of that disappointment rose a glimmer  that can only be described by words like, "affirmation, hope, "  

Sponsor, Derek Astorino, Volunteers, John Whitsitt,
 Tim Geoghegan, Ken Fonville, Derren Casale,
 Citadel Semester at See, Ed, and  Old Salt, Joe Gorman.

It started at the same time the texts, emails, and phone calls were going out shutting things down, when Dr.Brumby McCleod  of the College of Charleston asked Capt Cleveland for permission to host a short-notice breakfast meeting aboard Spirit of South Carolina, the next morning (Friday, the 13th). The request included an invite for Volunteers, and crew, who could respond on short notice, to come on down the the ship.  So an immediate drill went out to contact the most active volunteers, and Old Salts, who might be able to respond.  On Friday morning, about ten volunteers we able to show up, not sure what to expect.

Captain Dan Cleveland,
starting off with some thoughts
on Volunteer's role in the ship's success.

What raised eyebrows was, who else appeared on deck.  Several past sponsors of the ship, including Derek Astorina, Citadel grad, and owner of Charleston Docks and Marine, Dr. Don Sparks of the Citadel, and  a few others I was otherwise too flummoxed to recognize.  They had come aboard to express their appreciation to the Volunteer effort (that's y'all) which had contributed so much over the past months to making the ship ready for just such as event (that was cancelled), but more importantly to make possible the future sailing programs, near and longer term programs that they hope to bring aboard.

So, just what did Volunteers accomplish?  If you start back in September in Savannah Thunderbolt shipyard, just labor hours; Volunteers provided over  135 hours, just in shipyard alone. approximately 320 hours for remainder of the year;  then 129 hours in January, and a whopping 324 hours in February.   In all cases, that's like giving the crew an extra deckhand continuously every week since last September, for free. No really, a  competent deckhand.  Volunteers have  pumped bilges, gone aloft to scrape and slush the masts, scraped, varnished and painted, hoisted off the anchors, swayed across the spars and helped the up-rigging by lacing on sails, . I could go on.   

By the first week in March, per the Executive Board's intent, Spirit of South Carolina was ready to cast off and sail. Would not have been possible without volunteers.  There's more ahead.  Spirit's crew is waiting for you to come aboard and lay in with them.  It's your ship too.

More Volunteers representing all of you;
 Citadel Cadet, Ed.  Joe Gorman, Chuck Waring,
 Carter Edwards, crewmember Daniel,
Volunteer Dani Feers, and Hunter.

Dani Feerst lays out humongous biscuit
 sandwiches donated by Dr. Brumby Mcleod of CofC.

A Shout-Out to one of our first Volunteers, Andrew Shook

Chief Mate, Charlie Porzelt checks out
Andrew's safety rig  last year, before hoisting
 him aloft to slush the main mast.

Seaman Apprentice Andrew Shook, USCG, has just reported to Kodiak Alaska, to join his first ship, USCG Cutter Douglas Monroe. 
Andrew began volunteering with Spirit of South Carolina in 2018 during his Junior year of High School, and continued actively throughout his senior year and after graduation until enlisting in the Coast Guard. Andrew is the nephew of Capt Ben Hall, past Skipper of Spirit of South Carolina.
Fair Winds, Andrew!

Capt Cleveland hoping to confirm Harbor Cruises and Deck Receptions for USCG Coast Guard Eagle visit this coming weekend.

USCG Barque Eagle planning to visit Charleston Harbor this
weekend, March 13-15

Volunteers who responded to the email blast soliciting interest in supporting activities for the Eagle Weekend , the two planned cruises, Saturday and Sunday, should get a Go-No Go decision from Dan Cleveland on Wednesday, 11 Mar.  So,, stand by.
 There are currently no plans for public visitation aboard USCG Eagle during this weekend, however, Mate, Charlie is currently negotiating thru his contacts for possibility of Spirit of South Carolina crew and volunteers to go aboard.

Winter Maintenance Almost Done.  Deckhand Skills Training Coming to the Forefront.

For the 13 of us that mustered this morning on deck, it didn’t start out that way.. With two possible harbor cruises in the mix the next weekend, there was still maintenance projects to complete first, but for those volunteers who were able to stay past noon, and Hunter’s lunch, Mate Charlie transitioned the work to raising and lowering both the Mainsail and Foresail.  
First on the agenda was to advance the coatings project on the forward cap rails begin last week. On that last Saturday, Volunteers swarmed the cap rail with 80 grit sanders and scrapers to take off old deteriorating varnish.  They got as far as the first scarf past the foremast shrouds before calling it a day. 
Today  Darron Casale, Bryan Oliver, Tim Geoghegan, Tony Marchesani, and later Pearson Chesney, cleared lines off the foremast pinrails, and took increasingly finer grits of sandpaper to ready the cap rail for her first sealing coats of D.1. penetrating and sealing treatment. 
Meanwhile  other volunteer team members, Carter Edwards, and another climbed aloft to safety inspect the foremast rigging from top to bottom.   Hunter provided a uniquely "Hunter" mid afternoon entree, that fortified those who stayed behind for the next event.  After Lunch, the Mate, Charlie mustered all hands midships to demonstrate the teamwork and specific tasks involved in prepping and raising both the mainsail, and Foresail. Nine Volunteers and two crew members stood-to on the both halyards, and hauled up the main throat and peak halyard. pausing only long enough to allow  Charlie to bend on the jack line thru the lower mast hoops, securing it to the iron horn. After inspecting  the main sail set, for fair runnings and potential fouled tackles,  Volunteers centered the boom, bent on quarter tackles then  lowered the sail down, flaking it down, finally securing all with several gaskets.  The newly confident team  then turned on the foremast and repeated the entire process with the foresail,, this time welcoming the smaller sail set due to losing the muscle to volunteers to their real life obligations ashore.  Major portions of  the Deckhand Skills Checklist were eligible for signing off that day.    With the few remaining volunteers all engaged in the sail drills, there was no one left to take pictures.. Still if you have something, please notify me and we'll work to post a few.

Happy Anniversary to Spirit of South Carolina!

Thirteen years ago, today, an outsized crane and sling operation hoisted Spirit of South Carolina up off her cradle from which she had been slowly rolled out from her shipyard in what is now Ansonborough Park, and lowered her into the Cooper River only a few feet from where she now docks.  Five years of Charleston community effort, skilled shipwrights and over 300 volunteers, countless fundraising efforts, starts and stops, finally culminated at this point. Another short phase up river where she would be rigged and then commissioned.  An excellent collection of newspaper clippings, and photos covering provide a vivid documentary to her early life.  It's all collected in a fat white binder in the bookcase over the Salon table.   Worth thumbing through.
Watch an early Youtube Video of her early years

Since then her she's weathered thousands of sea miles, ranging from the Caribbean to the St. Lawrence River. She's educated hundreds and hundreds of South Carolina youth, and trained her fair share of deckhands. Ports from Havana to Quebec City all know her, and she's been skippered by and crewed by some of the best in the Tall Ship World.  As  her Volunteers we've been given the privilege and responsibility to take care of her, and see her successfully on to her next anniversary.  Here's to us all celebrating that one together! 

A special thanks to Sherry Bayne for providing her photo.

Big Thanks to Carter Edwards, USN for his 50 hours of Volunteer service to Spirit of South Carolina

Carter is the 4th Volunteer to achieve 50 hours of service to the ship, since the inception of the Volunteer Program at beginning of 2019, after Ken Fonville, Dan Maurin, and Layne Carter.

Final Push to Up-rig Spirit of South Carolina

Thirteen volunteers massed on Saturday to tackle the last, most daunting job of making her ready for sea; Swaying over the massive main sail boom and gaff and rigging her up.  Photos and video available on the "View Volunteer Photos" tab.

All thirteen of us no doubt discovered muscles all over our  bodies that we'd not exercised much before. By 3 pm, interrupted only by a welcome lunch  created by Hunter, the entire main mast rig; boom gaff and main sail,  had been hoisted over onto the ship and up rigged, well mostly uprigged except for the mainsail outhaul, which will get done Monday.   It took everyone of us.

 Previously during the week, volunteers came aboard in small groups to finish up final paint and varnish coatings, reinstalling ironwork on all four boom and gaff spars and preparing lifting tackles for swaying them back aboard.  

For the past month, Spirit of South Carolina lay at her dock looking rather naked without sails or spars other than her two masts.  But that started changing the previous Monday.  Chief Mate Charlie concentrated volunteer efforts on the foremast boom and gaff, completing ironwork installation and leathering, and finally riggin up and swaying across both the fore sail boom and gaff, finally the foresail itself.  The jib sail quickly followed onboard. Over the remainder of the work week, crew and volunteers finished up work on the  much larger mainsail boom and gaff, in anticipation for the coming Saturday when volunteer reinforcements would arrive. 

Saturday morning arrived and by 0900 thirteen Volunteers had mustered and began looking over the task before them.  First order of business; to recognize Volunteer, Carter Edwards, USN for 50 hours of service to the ship. achieved in a relatively short time of under 2 months.

Over the past several months, volunteer activity had consisted mostly of multiple smaller projects in small groups.  Today all of us would be synchronized in a single complex operation requiring careful coordination.  Capt Dan explained the objectives for the day,, stressing  safety and, given that few had ever done this level of rigging engineering work before,, the need for discipline in listening for direction and situational awareness.  

First task was clearing the dock of weeks of hardware, storage, carts, containers and tools, that might interfere with the lifting and moving of the giant spars. Next, the Mate, Charlie positioned all of us along the main boom and explained in detail exactly how we would position ourselves and work together to lift and shoulder the 40 foot-long spar, and carefully move it down the dock, change direction, and maneuver to a position perpendicular to the dock edge, near the main mast.   We would first, lift and push the jaws end of the boom out over the dock towards the mast and secure it first, then rig up the aft end of the boom with peak halyard tackles and swing it over the stern  of the ship. 

Volunteers and crew dug in, strained, lifted and shuffled the boom over into position;  two volunteers broke off to quickly reposition sawhorses to new locations before setting it down. Next step; crew members went back aboard to  prepare to pass over the mainsail's  throat halyard tackles which would be shackled to the boom's jaws for lifting.

Crew and volunteers muscle
 the main boom out over the dock,
jaws-first before rigging the throat halyard
tackles to lift it into place.

Captain Dan rigged taglines at both ends to counter the angle of pull of the tackles as they lifted the spar up, and prevent the boom from immediately swinging out of control across the dock toward the ship.  With volunteers along the boom, and crew on deck on the throat halyards the main boom was slowly lifted up, the jaws passed over the top of the dock pilings. As volunteers along the boom lifted and pushed the jaws forward out over the dock towards the main mast. Charlie orchestrated the taglines and throat.halyard, alternately directing handlers hauling and easing until the boom's jaws gently caught the main mast and settled on the table.  Crew immediately passed over the peak halyard tackles to the dock, where Capt Dan stropped them to the boomlift eyes. Now, most could stand back as a pair of volunteers on the  aft tagline steaded the aft end of the boom as the peak halyard raised it up over the dock pilings.  Then the tag line was slowly eased allowing the main boom to swing around the mast and come to rest amidships.

The Main sail boom getting set
into its position around the main mast.

Once steadied, other crew and volunteers on deck  hauled aft the port and starboard boom lifts, shackling them to their respective eyes on the boom, then took up slack so to take the weight of the boom.

Volunteers and Capt Cleveland
 prep to rig the main gaff for swaying over.

The whole process was repeated, although on a smaller scale with the Main sail gaff. 

Mate, Charlie guides the gaff into position
 while Tony Marchesani, and
Tim Geoghegan maintain the strain.

After a well-deserved lunch, the crew mustered back on deck to began lacing on the mainsail, hanking on the jib, and lashing the foresail and mainsail luffs to masthoops.  By 1530, when the Mate stood down the crew, all that was left before the ship could set sail was to lash down the mainsail outhaul.  The could be saved for Monday.