Foul Weather Holds off- Gives Volunteers a Morning for Training.

 On Friday, Volunteer Coordinator Bryan Oliver challenged the weather guessers, and gambled on Mother Nature to give the schooner a break for Saturday morning, and sent out the call for Volunteers. Sure enough, overcast  but dry skies and calm seas and  breezes greeted the 10 volunteers who answered the call to muster with Chief Mate Charlie on deck for some serious docking and undocking training. Deckhand Apprentices Deshaun Holmes and Jonathan Bautista, volunteers Danny Johnson, David Brennan, Calvin Milan, John Whitsitt, Philippe Agafonovas, and Frank Thigpen, gathered around Bryan who started with the objectives of the morning.  Charlie next explained their sequence and  how they all tied together in an actual scenario.  This crew would likely be welcoming guests aboard for a harbor sail, and would be expected to perform it all as professionals:

As a coordinated team they would actually down rig the gangway, cast off four dock lines, retrieve and stow the small boat, then as the schooner approached the dock(simulated), reverse the procedure, by launching the small boat,  set up dock lines, heave the messenger lines and send dock lines over, secure all and rig up the gangway.  Whew! Of course, with the engines not yet functioning, the only action not performed was actually motoring off the dock, but otherwise..

Each of those tasks required it's own sets of skills, surrounded by learning the different commands, the nomenclature of every line, fitting, and deck , safe line handling,, two different knots, and communicating among each other, everything founded on the imperatives of safety for oneself and each other. 

"Learning by doing" was the method, so Charlie and Bryan invested just enough time in telling and instruction,, a bit more in demonstrating, followed by a whole lot of doing,, at first, slowly, step-by-step as volunteers started absorbing the multiple roles they needed to perform in each of the tasks.   Tasks were often repeated with Charlie ensuring that volunteers rotated thru different roles, sometimes stopping action to emphasize a specific safety issue, or just a "best way to do it" .  Somewhere midmorning, Hunter disappeared ashore to forage for provisions at Harris Teeter.   

Jonathan Bautista, Charlie Porzelt
 and David Brennon lay out on
the head rig to rig the jib halyard.

By mid-day, with Dock lines finally in place, heaving lines gasket-coiled, and gangway properly set,  the skies couldn't hold it any longer, and a steady drizzle started up.  While a few volunteers disembarked, the majority laid below into the salon where Hunter had set out a hot lunch.  By clean-up the drizzle had surged to a steady downpour, so thoughts of following up with some afternoon projects were wisely set aside to next time.

  

Prince Philip, Cutty Sark, and Spirit of South Carolina

 The passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip early this week is justifiably capturing lots of public attention. He was a steady, constructive, productive partner in the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom. He was an effective patron of hundreds of non-profit causes and programs, more thain just a figurehead, but a driving force in their success. To merchant mariners, and historians of the maritime tradition the Prince holds a closer  more poignant spot worth remembering for that reason.  

One of Prince Philip's more notable works of philanthropy was his leadership in saving, and preserving  one the world's most visible artifacts of  maritime history's Clipper Ship era, Cutty Sark.  If you've ever had the opportunity to visit Greenwich, UK, to see this remarkable exhibit, you've Prince Philip to thank. 

Old Salt Blog Saving Cutty Sark-saving-the-clipper-ship-cutty-sark/

What's the connection with Spirit of South Carolina?  

Well, on a smaller scale, Spirit of South Carolina is our state's living icon of South Carolina's Maritime heritage.  She has no equal of that status. And, like Cutty Sark, her continued existence  is largely dependent on the philanthropical underwriting of the community, and the philanthropical leadership to drive it. 

In an ideal situation, revenue-generating educational on-board and dockside programs could make her self-sustaining.  In reality, Spirit of South Carolina's history, and that of many tall ships  show the many revenue gaps that derail, and plague these ship's ability to sustain themselves.  Some may recover.  Many do not. 

Cutty Sark was saved largely by a powerful patron with the influence to energize a nation in the cause of restoring their ship for all the right reasons.

Spirit of South Carolina needs the same leadership now, whether it comes from a single person, an organization, a community of enthusiasts.. 

  

Apprentice Deckhands take up the Shipyard Routine, Roseway departs,, Harvey Gamage Returns

Although last weekend (the 3d of April)Volunteer Day, was preempted by a scheduled event aboard, it didn't preempt our Berkeley County School District Apprentice Deckhands from pitching in on the preceding Friday. 

Apprentices Ka'nye Middleton and Esmerelda Camacho
 practice their rolling tipping and trimming
 techniques on the Trash Pump hatch

Five High School Seniors, representing 3 different Berkely County High Schools pitched in on a number of maintenance projects, then shifted into some basic deckhand skills practices. 

The Apprentices committed to 120 hours of workplace productivity in return for a financial reward upon successful completion.  In our case, Spirit of South Carolina Apprentices will learn and perform the work of deckhand, as if they were paid employees, thereby adhering to a more disciplined standard than a normal unpaid volunteer. 

After two days of scraping and sanding,
Jonathan Bautista and Jason Patnaude
 start their  oiling of the Sampson Posts.

This past Friday, and Saturday, Apprentices gave up their Spring Break time, to advance their projects, and deckhand skills.   Working alongside regular Volunteers,  Dan Maurin, Layne Carver, Calvin Milam, Frank Thigpen, and John Whitsitt, the team scraped and recoated the hatch "cheeseboards), slapped white paint over bared portside hull planking, and restored/oiled a midships cap rail scarf.

Yawl Boat Charles Sneed gets some eyes-on,
and loving care on her bottom.

Meanwhile, on a separate, but related thread of our Schooner's story, on Thursday 8 April, volunteers continued the project at Lowcountry Maritime School,  of restoring the yawl boat Charles Sneed;  a 19th century replica.  In this most recent session after overturning her to access her bottom,  we all teamed up to tack down and lay down a coat of gloss white.

Lowcountry Maritime School welcomes any of us who can spare a couple hours Thursday afternoon 1630-1830. Its a laid-back environment, good conversation, and, for sure, some constructive repair/restoration experience.

Rob Dunlap and Yard Master Rachel Berquist
 apply a glossy white to her bottom.