MAIN (sail) EVENT marks the high point in Down-Rigging for Hurricane Season.

There's a lot to tell after a two-week vacuum of news and information. For the the dead air, I blame myself; more on that later, but,

First, the News!

On the previous Saturday, 15 May began the most significant project for Spirit of South Carolina to-date.. down rigging for the hurricane season.  Since she is likely to be dock-bound into the summer, this project is our best investment of our effort for her. 

 Down-rigging of a tall ship is actually not that unusual.   In fact,, their traditional rigging and construction are designed to be easily(relatively) disassembled and reassembled.   From the Chesapeake northward, traditional sailing ships habitually down-rig for their off- season, and use the time to maintain all that hardware that would normally be inaccessible while underway.    We can use this same opportunity with Spirit of South Carolina for the same advantage.

Volunteers clear the down-rigged jib
back to the waist to be swung onto the dock.

 Two Saturdays ago, Chief Mate, Charlie laid out the plan at Volunteer Muster.  The primary  end-state would be to have removed everything above the deck that would catch heavy winds of a named storm and cause damage or be damaged;   The most obvious components to start on would be the ships sails and spars; jib, jumbo, Fore and Mainsail, and all gaffs and booms.  For Volunteers aboard a year ago, the experience of swaying those huge spars back aboard and up-rigging after their dock maintenance stirred a mixture of excitement and a little bit of apprehension. After all, it would be a complicated operation requiring EVERYONE'S participation and lots of teamwork. Follow this link for a flashback to late February 2020: Up-Rigging her Spars Feb 2020.blogspot.com/2020/03/final-push-to-up-rig-spirit-of-south.html

Volunteers cutting away the jumbo
 luff hank lashings

So, Charlie started the work at the bow, on the head rig; the jib and jumbo-with her boom.  For most volunteers, in disassembling the rigs, it was their first chance to deep dive into the intricacies of how those sails and tackles are rigged, operated, and supported. 

After inspecting for  wear and damage,
 crew flakes and rolls the jib for storage.
 The jumbo waits its turn in the background

 

By end of day on that Saturday, volunteers completed the down-rig and storage below of all line and tackles.  They had cut loose the jib and jumbo, hauled them by dock cart to the large grassy Liberty Square to be laid out and inspected before being flaked, rolled, returned to dock  and stuffed into  adjacent berths in the forecastle.  

This past Saturday volunteers mustered up for the Main(sail) event-the largest and most complex rig on the vessel.  

Due to her size, the  main sail would require a larger scale team effort. 11 separate lines and tackle systems would be taken off, labeled, and secured below. Another four separate tackle systems would be rigged up to take the load as the sail and spars were swung down to the deck. 

Thankfully, 11 volunteers mustered in the morning, plus an additional 3 New Volunteers;  enough to safely finish the project. 

Dave Brennon and John 
feeding the mainsail down
 the forecastle hatch

Jonathan Bautista, Nate Mack
and Jake Harrington muscle part
 of the Mainsail into a berth
in the forecastle

The mainsail down-rig, inspection, rolling and stowage took the entire morning.   

As everyone broke for a much deserved hot lunch of chicken enchiladas, black bean frijoles, and Spanish rice prepped by Sea Chef Hunter, Charlie took a poll to determine the manpower available to unship and set the  gaff and main boom down to the deck. 

Hunter counts heads before going
 ashore to provision for lunch.

Rob Harrington muscles the
 starboard main boom lift wire
and tackles into a rough coil
  for stowage.

Seven volunteers remained on deck for the afternoon to see through, the final phases of the mainmast down-rig.  The 50-foot long main boom proved predictably, the main challenge due to sheer size, weight, and available 50-foot linear space on deck for securing,  The final work came in untangling, overhauling and two-blocking tackles, coiling and storing wire boom lift lines. 

By four pm the deck was once again secure, and remaining volunteers dropped to the deck or into the chairs with some cold refreshment.

The down-rig project isn't yet over, but the most challenging phase is past with the main sail rig safely on the deck. The Foresail rig is left intact for the time being in the chance that her repairs may suddenly accelerate and there would be opportunity to cast off in the summer for a shake down cruise, docking drills or COI preparation.

  A Footnote:   Blogging so far has been a one-person operation.  I'm sure there's plenty of Spirit of South Carolina followers who'd be interested in editing and contributing content to this blog, help keep it fresh and worth coming back too.  If you're one of them, please kick me an email and we can talk about it.