A tough crew takes on a tough job.. with teamwork and grit.

It was getting colder out on the harbor. The sunny skies belied the chill of the gusting winds whipping across the docks at 10-15 knots creating chop that constantly beat at the hull of Spirit of South Carolina, sending intermittent explosions of spray up over the rail. That morning, nine volunteers began mustering amidships. They had responded to the call for help by Capt Dan for a special job.  Spirit's rigid inflatable dinghy, had been tied at an inside slip of the Maritime Center, for the past two weeks. She needed to be motored back to the schooner's port (outboard) side, and hoisted aboard;  her bottom then scoured of the barnacles, pluff mud-grown scum and other sea life that had attached firmly to her rubber and aluminum undersides. It wasn't going to be pretty or pleasant. 

As Bryan  briefed the crew gathered under he foresail boom awning, their curiosity turned to resignation, then determination. No one had done this before, save probably Mike, a salty sea captain in his own right, mostly grinning thru Bryan's explanation of what needed to be done. You could see Nina's brow furrowing in curiosity, maybe a little bit of consternation. Down from Clemson, she was visiting family, and her Dad, Philippe had invited her down to the schooner for some father-daughter time. Now she was probably questioning what she had signed up for. Bryan droned on, in excruciating detail, describing the tasks the volunteer crew needed to perform.  Madison Pulley, coming from Greenville, was impatiently shifting from one foot to the other. Having previously endured 30-minute ship's history lectures from Bryan, she was anxious to get started on something,, anything.  Danny Johnson, meanwhile separated to gather up tools to finish up his own masterpiece on the dock, the Grand Gangway Staircase. 

The huddle broke and like clockwork, crew members started to work.  First they cleared the midships' deck of strewn cordage and tools, while four others derigged and rolled back the foresail boom awning to clear the working area. Meanwhile, Bryan, Mike, Jack and Gary derigged the starboard boat falls from the gangway, and passed them over the foresail boom to Madison and Anne on the port side, who rigged them up to receive the dinghy. 

 Bryan, Mike, and Nina hiked back down the dock to man the dinghy, cast off and motored out to the schooners outboard side where the crew stood by to take the painter from Mike while Nina steadied the bouncing dinghy against the side. , lower bow and stern falls to Bryan catching the dinghy's bow and stern's bridle. Once the dinghy crew climbed back aboard,  three crew took stations on bow and stern falls.  As they hauled away, Madison, Nina, and Anne, leaned over the rail pushing against the dinghy's side to keep her clear of the stanchions and lifelines as she came up. Once the dinghy was chin-high,  the boat falls were made fast to their pins. Crew circled the suspended dinghy to ease her inboard over the cleared deck; John and Jack rigged guy lines from the stanchions to the dinghy to prevent her from swinging further inboard. 

That was the fun part.  Now the work began;  that of scraping and scrubbing. While Madison brought up a bucket of sea water, Mike manned the fresh water hose and fixed a pressured spray over the dinghy's bottom to keep her wet. Bryan infused the bucket of sea water with a liberal amount of Simple Green degreaser. 

Grabbing putty knives, crew surrounded the bottom and began working inward, scraping off scores of baby barnacles, an occasional tiny crab and other marine flora. Next, crew traded out scrapers for bristle brushes,, dunking them in the salty simple green solution, they commenced to scrubbing.  Ever so slowly, the dinghy's bottom surface became visible, regaining some smoothness.  As  Mike hosed the bottom and rubber sides down, Capt Dan walked by, scrutinized the bottom, diplomatically pointed out a missed spot, and withdrew. Two crew members jumped on the missed spot.. and   we were ..almost.. done.

But first,, taking a break for a group celebratory photo.  Danny took Bryan's cell phone and hung out on the foremast shrouds,, over the water with Bryan's phone,, to take this great shot. Actually he took several. They 're available in the Volunteer Photo's link at the top.

The happy band of Scrapers and Scrubbers
  Front row; Anne, Crosby, Bryan Oliver
Standing: Madison Pulley, Jack Burton,John Whitsitt,
 Mikell Evatt, Nina Agafonovas, and her Dad, Philippe
Behind them in the white hat. Gary Pope

Break over, one final task; Hip the dinghy.  Crew took stations on boat falls and positions to push out the dinghy as they lowered her slowly back over the side to a position level with the caprail, where is normally secured for ready use.

It was a great volunteer day; in a few hours on a Saturday morning, the crew exercised about 10 deckhand skills, saw themselves develop into an effective team, and returned the dinghy to a shipshape status. 

And Danny finished the Grand Staircase.  We proudly invite you to come use them sometime soon.