On the Topic of Sailmakers Palms and Volunteers of Note,

 Well, you had to be there, in order to enjoy the context around this conversation among volunteers this last Sunday, regarding Sailmakers Palms.. Now don't walk away yet.  We're talking about an essential tool for traditional,, oh heck, even modern day sailors who face the very likely possibility of repairing a sail or awning by hand, or even fabricating something new out of canvas, sunbrella, or even dacron sail cloth. 

So, it started the prior weekend with volunteers, Dan, Danny, Steve, Bryan and Joe hunkered over a long stretch of canvas sail cover learning to mend the large rents, and tears from Tropical Storm Izzy. Part of the job was learning to fit to your hand, and properly use a sailmaker's palm, essential  big sewing thimble for safely pushing the large hazardous canvas needle thru multiple layers of canvas. Naturally spirited discussion ensued over it's usefulness, difficulty in fitting, and in punching and guiding the needle point safely thru the other side without drawing blood.  Also,, what the darned things might cost if one chose to procure one for one's dittybag, as most serious tall ship sailors do.  Admittedly, most present were rookies at canvas repair, but the learning curve was steep, the sail cover was restored to usability, and all parted ways with a little  appreciation for that esoteric art and its tools.  For Old Salt, Joe Gorman,, the project apparently raised in his head something that just wouldn't let go.  You see, he knew there there was more than one kind of sailmaker's palm, depending on the canvas work being done. So, Joe did a little digging and uncovered a couple sources that might interest any of you who are thinking about adding this tool to your own ditty bag. 

Joe has shared a link to a website, that shows you how to create your own Sailmaker's Palm.  Given that these tools retail for anywhere from $30 to over $80 for a generic model shown above, this could be a viable option.  In the Tall Ship World, hand-fashioned anything, is always admired and respected. Plus, as we discovered in our canvas repair project.. A good fitting "Palm" is like a shoe that actually fits.  Makes your work so much easier,, and more safe. Here's the link:https://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/howto/palm/index.htm

Ken Fonville , First Volunteer to reach over 100 hours aboard Spirit of South Carolina. 

Capt Dan Cleveland passes on to Ken,
 the coveted Foremast Volunteer Award

You haven't seen Ken as often as before these past couple months primarily because he's also actively involved  as an officer in the Local Sea Scouts organization, and in a sailing program for Veterans.

But over the past year, Ken accumulated over 100 hours in volunteer time. in maintenance projects,  stood by at the dock to cast off and take lines day sails, and laid in with the crew as deckhand for Harbor sails. In reaching that milestone, Ken received from Capt Cleveland the Foremast Volunteer Award, a recognition tradition revived from the original Volunteer Program launched in 2002, boasting of over 300 volunteers supporting the schooner. Ken is the first volunteer to receive this award since 2011.  Looking forward to awarding the next one.  

  

Pilot Schooner on 1st Attempt.

That's the title of this excellent painting of a pilot schooner approaching an inbound clipper ship, hove-to in heavy seas waiting to pick up her pilot. The pilot schooner's captain will attempt to maneuver his schooner into the lee side of the clipper and drop a small boat over the side with a rower, and pilot aboard to make their way over to the protected side, enabling the pilot to make his leap out of the small boat, and onto the ladder.  This is a narrative was replicated countless times by Spirit of South Carolina's,, namesake, the pilot schooner Francis Elizableth, in the 25 years she was actively serving the international maritime commerce in and out of Charleston in the late 19th century. 

 

Volunteers Focus on Canvas Repair Skills

 A Canvas needle, waxed linen, and a Sailors Palm 

were the tools taken up on Sunday by four volunteers to repair a badly damaged canvas Jumbo sail cover.   Danny Johnson, Joe Gorman, Dan Maurin, and Steve Boone, with Bryan Oliver, coaching, came aboard Sunday morning to take up the task of restoring the cover while learning and practicing  some essential basic skills of the traditional Tall Ship Sailor.  To the relief of all, this project would fit under the shade and rain protection of the massive foresail awning. 

Danny Johnson shows good
 technique in starting the
 first stitch on on his patch repair.

The sail cover had been fabricated from a light canvas ground cloth material into a 24 foot long x 5 foot wide  strip, complete with 16 brass grommet holes for lacing it over the furled Jumbo (fore staysail), as weather protection.  But two seasons of squalls, tropical storms, and 35-40 knot winds had ripped out 8 of the grommets and rent an 18 inch tear near one end.

After a short orientation, and demonstration by Bryan, volunteers dug into the schooner's canvas repair bag, and selected a proper needle, measured off an appropriate length of waxed linen thread, and fitted a sailors palm to one hand.  Then, grabbing a pre-cut canvas duck patch, they lined up six feet apart opposite a damaged section of the sail cover and set to work.  

Joe Gorman sets up his needle

Using new found skills in flat stitching, and the occasioned advantage of a whip-stitch, volunteers recreated a heavily reinforced square thru which a new brass grommet could be punched. For "Old Salt" volunteers, Joe and Steve Boone, the orientation was more of a refresher, so they jumped onto the more challenging, more damaged sections of the cover. Steve even resurrected his memories of a herringbone stitch to pull together the large tear.  

Bryan and Danny J. team up
 on a particularly ragged tear
 while Steve works his herringbone stitch
on the larger tear.

In a few hours, the group had repaired and reset nine new grommets for tie downs, and patched the 18-inch tear, making the cover ready for reinstallation over the furled Jumbo.

Thanks to Dan Maurin, who, in addition to finishing off  his two patching projects,  took these photos, and therefore isn't pictured.

..except here. This is Dan in front of the camera for once; 
 last year on another project, sanding  down
 the quarter-rounds around the forecastle hatch.

More volunteer photos are available for your viewing and sharing, on the link provided in the Banner tabs on the Blog.

Blast from the Past: CAPTAIN'S BLOG September 9, 2007

For Something Really Different:  Here's a Blog entry by Captain Tony Arrow, Spirit of South Carolina's first Captain after her launch and commissioning.  

He's taking questions posted to the Blog by the public and answering them below:  An interesting perspective into our Schooner's first years, and some insights into Schooner ship-handling.

Why we sail the way we sail – 

Q & A I’ve seen you out on the harbor with just the mainsail and Jib set. Why don’t you set more sail?

For a couple of reasons. First, our sheet leads, hardware and layout are not at this point complete. The current set up interferes with the area of the ship that we use for educational purposes. We are in process of designing and fabricating the needed parts and changes we need to utilize these sheets more safely and so that they don’t interfere with the needed education spaces. This will include; adding a boom and a traveler on the foredeck for the staysail, and adding bits and a fair lead mid ships for the foresail. To do this properly, and because the ship has been very busy, will probably take a few more weeks. Secondly, during our educational daysails, we are required to bring the ship to a stop, relative to the current, three times. During the classes, 6 of our crew are involved in teaching classes. That leaves me and sometimes just one other crew member. Any of you that have worked the staysail in its current configuration, know that it takes more than 1 or 2 crew to maneuver. As most of you know, the wind/current combination in Charleston Harbor is dynamic and challenging, and the best solution we currently have to stop the ship is to douse the jib, and stem the wind/current with the occasional engine assist. Sometimes traditional ‘Heaving To’ will accomplish this also, but not always. 

Question:  I’ve heard rumors that Spirit has an undersized rudder and is difficult to maneuver. Is that true? 

 Well that depends how you look at it. The rudder is proportionally historically accurate. For a vessel that sails offshore, or even in a harbor with different expectations, it would be adequate. The Spirit of South Carolina’s inspiration, the Frances Elizabeth was a considerably smaller vessel than the SoSC and would not necessarily have been comparable. Under Power: During recent maneuvering trials we determined that our turning radius, at 1200 RPMs, with the helm hard over, is 600-800 feet. We also discovered that the steering gear was put together slightly wrong, giving us a tighter turning radius to one side than the other. We have shown definitively that the propellers do not interact with the rudder. In the words of our consulting naval architect, Fritz Koenig, vessels with a single rudder and twin screws, where the prop wash cone does not hit the rudder, are notoriously difficult to maneuver. Under Sail: The tightness of a tack varies wildly depending on the current/wind combination. If you look at our hull shape, you can see that it is pretty much designed to go in a straight line, which it does very well. In most scenarios we need to bring the ship up to close hauled, ease up to a luff, put the rudder hard over, then haul over the main and back the headsails to make stays. Don’t believe me? We are 147.8 long tons, with a full keel, and a rudder that is proportionally smaller than just about any other sail boat in the harbor. That being said, Captain Bryson and I are comfortable with sailing and motoring the vessel safely. The main issue for us is planning several moves in advance and being very aware of the navigational situation in the harbor. 

Question: It seems as if the sails are trimmed in or out too much a lot of the time. Is this true and why?

Sometimes yes. Our primary objective on education sails, is to educate while sailing, not to sail as fast as we can. And if you think about Charleston Harbor, you can see that sailing fast can require a lot of maneuvering. We would not be able to give state standard complying, academically challenging subjects justice if we didn’t have crew free to teach the classes fully. When we are sailing offshore, in more seamanship oriented programs, or just having fun, we do want to sail fast. First, because of the sail and mast shape, our sail trim is not always comparable to a more modern rigged vessel. For the gaff rigged sails and on the wind, easing out to the luff point, and bringing the sail just back into full will not give you your greatest speed. The sail needs to come in a bit more than this. I will usually keep the sails in a bit tight on education sails because I don’t have the crew free to deal with constant trimming. Sometimes I may ease them out a bit too much to slow us down if we are reaching the end of a channel, and a few more minutes are needed for the classes. Off the wind, chafe is an issue with the gaff rigged sails. If you ease them too much, you can prematurely wear holes in them where they hit the shrouds. Wanna help make baggy wrinkle? 

 If you don’t understand why I have the sails trimmed a certain way, please ask, I will be happy to share my reasons. I will try to put out one posting a week. If you have particular areas of interest, please email them to me. 

 Captain Arrow

Watch a New Video Trailer of Spirit of South Carolina

 Spirit of South Carolina Crew and Volunteers star in a 5-minute video trailer produced by College of Charleston Faculty members.  Filming was begun in July.  The ultimate intent would be to produce a documentary.

Click on the Link in the column at right titled: Video Trailer "Spirit of South Carolina Life at Sea"

Searing Scorching Saturdays Don't Hold Up Progress

There's no getting around it.  These steamy scorchy days outside, even if you're on the water, well, they seem to want to choke the fun out of everything. But in spite of it, and the threat of thundershowers, six Volunteers mustered on Saturday morning to tackle some long-term ongoing projects and advance them further towards completion.  

The choice of projects to lay onto was constrained by availability of our supplies, much of which needed to be restocked. So, Bryan split up teams to the cap rails to continue additional coats of  Deks Olje D2 varnish, and to scraping and sanding the remaining cap rail scarfs to prep them for their first coats.  Fred Jourdan, and Steve Boone each took one side, starting at the knightheads, and working aft to apply a 10th coat on the cap rails all the way to the main shrouds. 

Danny Johnson takes an orbital sander

 to the aging coats of varnish 

 Meanwhile, Danny Johnson, Layne Carver, and Ken Fonville grabbed scrapers, heat guns and orbital sanders to the port side aft cap rail, taking the old sun-burned varnish layers down to fresh sapele mahogany, before starting to smooth it with finer grits. By the time for a lunch break, they had taken down 15 feet of cap rail to smooth bare sapele ready for the first coats of D1 sealer, as soon as it gets delivered.

Being done with the sun, Fred, Danny, and Layne hung around with Bryan under the awning to focus on some knot skills, and trying their hand at an eye splice.  

 

Ken Fonville chooses the smarter option,
 kicking back in a lawn chair while scraping varnish.

Thanks to Layne Carver for the photos.

Volunteers Lay On to help Spirit of South Carolina weather Isaias

 

With Spirit of South Carolina confined to her dock, options were limited.

Talk about dodging the bullet.  

Sunday morning, the forecasts were ominous. Tropical Storm,, or maybe it would, again, be Hurricane "Izzy" (I gave up trying; if you can pronounce it correctly, bless your heart).. was looking to slam full throttle into the Carolina coast early Monday evening, just south of us around St. Helena Sound - no, wait,, now McClellanville, just north of us, with sustained winds in Charleston Harbor up to 70 knots. oh-yes,, and a storm surge thrown in, coinciding with a King High tide at 2059 Monday evening threatening to add another 4 to 6 foot push over the fixed dock. 

 

Most traditional sailing ship mariners will tell you the best place to be when de' hurricane come would be, in order of preference:

1. New England doing summer programs, beyond reach of those pesky low pressure systems.

2. A ways up river surrounded by soft pluff mud marsh and bottom with both anchors nicely buried.

3. At sea many many miles from any coast and plenty sea room to run away.

With Spirit of South Carolina lying at dock wounded from her lightning strike and unable to start engines, Capt Dan Cleveland had none of those options, save to make her as snug as possible,  reduce windage,  keep things from blowing away, and respond to situations as they came. It was just him, and Hunter our Cook. 

But Sunday was also a scheduled Volunteer Day.  As Dan and Hunter began the work of sea stowing the deck, the Cavalry showed up, in the form of 4 Volunteers. 

Madison Pulley, driving 3 hours from Greenville, disregarded a text message that there might not be anything to do, and pressing on.  

Old Salt, Joe Gorman, nursing his old sailor weather eye, sensed some urgency. 

Another Old Salt, Steve Boone drove down anticipating finishing his own project over the aft cabin hatch, but shifted into different mode. 

And Fred Jourdan, newer volunteer had planned to come down regardless, for more deckhand training.  It likely would've been five if yours-truly had not waved off Danny Johnson, with thought that there would be nothing to do.😕  

Dan immediately put them to tasks. Together they muscled the rescue boat up over the port side and lashed it onto the deck.  Madison and Steve took charge of the dock-side stores, tools and spare parts piles, stowing or lashing tarpaulins over what they could, bringing some aboard. Fred and Joe pulled out and set up remaining dock hawsers to augment the already doubled sets of four, so that a total of 12 large dock lines now held her against the three huge 9 ft long x 6 ft wide cylindrical"Yokohama" roller-fenders and fixed dock pilings with just enough slack to allow her to rise and fall again.  Dani Feerst checked in later in the day and volunteered to stand-by the next evening for Storm Watch  on deck if needed. By mid afternoon all that could be done, except for last minute deck sea stow and awnings down-rigged, was done. 

Next morning, Fred Jourdan and Bryan Oliver returned to join Dan and Hunter for the duration, giving Dan a sufficient crew to set watch throughout the night, monitoring dock line tension, adjust fenders when they rode off the Yokohama's and check/pump bilges.   On deck it was already hot and steamy. 3 fans in the salon forced air to move around, making it tolerable below,  avoiding a sauna-like experience. Fred and Bryan secured remaining gear in the dory, now at rest on deck, reset fenders already trying to squeeze out of position, sea-stowed deck chairs, coils of line, and remaining loose gear scattered on cabin tops or hanging on stanchions. They set the foresail boom preventer to portside to clear the boom from fouling the gangway if the tide situation worsened.  The anticipated King tide would force hoisting the gangway another two feet, in order to keep clear of the cap rail. 

Bryan and Fred waiting and 
watching Ft Sumter disappear

By 1 pm, winds were gusting to 18 knots. Bryan and Fred joined Hunter below to put don foulies and munch on a bucket of fried chicken, macaroni / potato salad comfort food brought aboard, while Dan went off watch for a couple hours, anticipating the long night ahead.  With snacks in pockets, Fred and Bryan climbed up on deck to watch the changing weather and check the ship's fenders that continuously surged, and worked, as the hull rose and fell against the larger Yokohama fenders. Tide was at ebb and starting come in again. Wind, current, and waves were forcing the hull to lurch and grind against the large Yokohama fenders, cushioned somewhat by the 9 smaller fenders we had suspended overside along the starboard rail.     Spray coming off chop in the harbor was now blowing across the deck.  We could sense a pronounced increase in the deck's rise and fall.  The growing south east gale winds were blowing directly against our port side, pressing us hard against the dock.

By 3 pm, winds were gusting to 25 knots southeast, rain was beginning to go horizontal, and Schutes Folly, 3/4 mile distant, had disappeared in the darkening gray.  Three awnings remained rigged under the booms tent-like across the deck to allow hatches to remain open and ventilate below decks. Now they were rock-taut as a straining sail, and we  checked our watches, and held up our phones into the rain to measure wind speed. At 1600, winds were steadily increasing past 30 knots,  visibility was barely twice the boat length. Fred and Bryan were eying the guy lines and straining grommets in the awnings.  After informing Dan of the conditions on deck and condition of the awnings they set about securing all hatches closed, then retying awning guy lines with slippery hitches so they could be released immediately. As Dan appeared on deck the first guy line of the smaller aft awning snapped,, the edge binding tore and started flogging. Fred and Bryan jerked loosed the remaining guys and started rolling/furling the flogging sunbrella material up onto the boom, and lashing the corners to the nearest fitting or lazy jacks that rose to the boom lifts.  Dan grabbed handfuls of sail ties from the line locker and bent them together to spiral-lash the rolled-up awning onto the main boom. 

Bryan at 35 knots

Once secure the three of us pushed forward against now blinding rain to the huge awning ballooning and heaving like a horizontal square sail over the foresail boom. Working one side at a time, the three of us jerked loose the slippery hitches on the guys and, holding on for dear life the corners and edges, slowly rolled it up towards the boom until it could be lashed in place to the lazy jacks rising off the boom. 

With the last awning securely rolled in place, we could take a deep breath and take a look around us.  Over the next hour winds steadied out, sustaining in the 30's  with occasional gusts to 40.  Dan went below to the chart table, and shouted up to us as if in triumph, that the glass was reading 29.(?) inches.. The barometer was displaying the extremely low pressure reading typical of a Tropical Storm/hurricane.  Around 5 PM, Dan checked his phone app weather radar to confirm that the storm's eye was abreast of us, on the same latitude, and moving quite fast.  We could sense the wind beginning to clock more easterly.

1800 hrs Fred and Dan at the gangway 

conferring on the last few feet of King tide

By 1800 the wind was noticeably dissipating, and blowing Northeast.  We could actually see glimpses of sky and sunlight towards the west. Patriots Point was reappearing to the east, and even Ft Sumter way out on the southeastern horizon. We were still 3 hours to high tide, but our rate of rise gave us hope that we would not end up with the fixed dock awash, and our stowed gear at the end of the dock in peril. In fact, it felt safe to conclude that we had already seen the worst.  The skies continued to clear up, winds steadily decreased, veering to north west, then west. By sunset, conditions had eerily returned to normal,, better than normal actually;  the temp was in the low 70's..  

So foulies came off. Deck chairs up-rigged from their stowed positions, remaining chicken and salad pulled back out and spread over the salon table. Dan brought forth some cold beer cans from somewhere, and collective sighs of relief could be noticeable.

Oh,, and as last of the chicken was disappearing, Dani Feerst popped her head down into the salon hatch, reporting for Night Storm Watch.  We're saved!