Volunteers Kick off New Year with some creativity.

This Saturday threatened rain, but it never really happened.  In fact, as Volunteers Dan Maurin, John Whitsitt, and Danny Johnson came aboard the temperature was already approaching T-shirts and shorts weather.  As Muster began, Danny hurried back to the parking lot to guide in a new Volunteer, Gaye Dupre, driving in from James Island. 

She joined us just in time for a hurried orientation, while John and Dan took on the first chore of bringing the Mainsail cover out of the forecastle and laying it out over the mainsail/boom. As that completed, volunteers gathered for the next tasks; Build a custom "sword mat" to protect the cap rail under the gangway, where it was creating damage.  

New Volunteer Gaye Dupre sets up
 to overhaul the slack thru the 80 coils
to even their length.

Danny handed up out of the forecastle, a 288 ft loose coil of manila rope previously culled out by Bryan and Charlie Malone just before Christmas. After a huddle to confirm the plan, and with Chief Mate Charlie Porzelt's occasional advice and coaching, the group began creating a crude "loom" out of broom sticks, and bronze stripping for "shuttles".  Next, they began the tedious task of wrapping out a continuous coil  of  1/2-inch stiff new manila rope between two broom sticks. The task seemed easy enough in the illustrations of The Marlinspike Sailor, but in practice turned out to be something quite challenging. 

Gaye counts up the completed turns over the frame
 and confirms the dimensions haven't changed.

By Lunch time, when Danny brought up lunch he'd heated up in the galley, we had most of the coil of almost 80 loops properly sized and ready to start the weave across the mat.

Following lunch, the crew set about measuring out and weaving a long length of heavy seine twine across the coils. Again, the actual task of  threading sein twine through 80 some-odd packed rope strands without missing one, proved slow and occasionally frustrating.

About five hours of labor, volunteers called it a day after completing about 50 percent of a new sword mat.  

Bryan adds 3 more weaves into
the stiff manila coils before calling it
 quits for the day.

Bryan stayed back another couple of hours to continue the next three lines of weaving. After snugging up the completed weaves, and securing the corners of the manila mat from working apart, he set the partially finished mat over the cap rail, under the gangway, and double-checked the fit. 

A work-in-progress. A bit over 60% complete.
The ship's new sword mat is positioned
 over it's future resting place, protecting the cap rail
 under the gangway.

Hoping to complete the mat this week and test it out.. Thanks to the crew that joined together Saturday, for a constructive and creative team effort, and a good start to the New Year.