Post-Sea Trials-- Maintenance Continues and Renewed focus on deckhanding

Jonathan, aloft bends a messenger line
 onto the errant halyard 

 In the ten days since Spirit of South Carolina's Sea Trials, various volunteers have come aboard on four separate occasions to advance existing projects or start new ones. 

Starting as early as the following Thursday,  Apprentice Volunteers came aboard.  Jonathan Bautista went aloft to the foremast top to retrieve the loose throat halyard that had come loose from it's pin. 

 He joined fellow Apprentice Keshaun Holmes and Bryan Oliver back on deck working out some sticky geometry problems to cut the pattern out for a new Foremast boot, to replace the torn and leaking one.

The following Saturday, on the 11th, Volunteers mustered aboard and started with up rigging the Jumbo boom which had been secured on deck. Nate and John Hart laid out forward on the bowsprit to complete the jumbo luff hanks. 

Meanwhile,  Old Salt Shipwright, Kenny Blythe borrowed a couple of belaying pins as patterns. 

Kenny Blythe delivers the long-anticipated
 belaying pins 

With some stock supplied by Joe Gorman he milled out five new Purpleheart belaying pins to fill out the mainmast fife rail and six smaller pins of white oak, to be positioned on the main boom jaws. He delivered them just in time for this last Saturday's group of Volunteers to fine-tune and fit them to the rail, and finish them with several coats of Deks olje D1 sealant/preservative. 

 This past Volunteer Day, on July 11th, Volunteers picked up the pace. With days getting only hotter, the intent was to get the bulk of projects advanced by lunchtime so that afterwards would be devoted to securing from from all work, cleaning up, and may be a practice of some individual deckhand skills. 

Immediately after the 0900 Muster, Danny Johnson split off with John Hart to the floating dock  to start constructing a pair of cradles to better secure the dory, with flexibility of the hull being stored upright, or overturned.

Nate's sawdust-encrusted forearms
would confirm he'd been working 
with purpleheart.

Calvin Milam, John Hart and Nate Mack started in finish-sanding, then oiling the 11 belaying pins Kenny had delivered earlier.

 Jonathan Bautiste, having recently achieved the milestone of 100 Volunteer hours, was now closing in on his 120 Apprentice hours target, by getting the last coat of white paint on the newly installed Foremast boot.

Jonathan Bautista checks his work
 after the last coat of paint on the Foremast boot.

Lexi Fine and John Whitsett, laid out the recently well-patched dory mainsail over a salvaged C25 main sail to see if it's lower part could be repurposed  to be sewn up  to replace the old patched up mainsail.  

To close out the work day by lunchtime, the entire volunteer crew lined up on a line to stretch out the Jumbo staysail foot and shackle the clew to her boom end, then lay out on the bowsprit to harbor furl. 

With the next Saturday being effectively a "lay-day" for Volunteers, there would still be a few projects to advance over the coming week.  

Spirit of South Carolina is back on the water!

David Brennen makes off a bowline
 at end of #1 dock line

 Maybe not what you'd call history-making, but for Volunteers and others following Spirit of South Carolina, yesterday was a BIG DEAL.

For the first time in 21 months, Spirit of South Carolina cast off from her berth at Charleston Maritime Center and motored out into the harbor. Capt Heath Hackett, Project Manager, along with Acting Capt Charlie Porzelt  and a crew of 8 volunteers, piloted her on a two-hour cruise to stress test her two newly repaired Cummins diesels. 

The test took her up the Wando River, returning down river  around Castle Pinkney to Fort Sumter and back to the dock. During the trials Capt Hackett, with a Cummins marine diesel mechanic  pushed the rpms to 3,000 driving Spirit of South Carolina a 9 knots thru the water. 

A sea trial is intended to force potential issues up to the surface both mechanical and human. This was no pleasurable harbor cruise.  Every soul aboard had to be pumping high adrenaline levels, not only for the significance of the trials, but that there would be a "First" for everyone on board.  Capt Hackett,, and  experienced large Motor Yacht Captain had never before stood in command of a 19th century wooden tall ship.  Acting Captain Charlie Porzelt, it would be his first time at the throttles, piloting the vessel off, and the hardest part-safely piloting her on to the dock.  As for the crew, everyone had practiced the  tasks they might perform, as the ship was docked, but they all appreciated it would be a different scenario, less structured, more highly charged when the deck under their feet was drawing away or coming in to dock, and the pace of everything accelerated. Bryan Oliver, Volunteer Coordinator, would run the deck as Chief Mate for the first time. It would be John Hart's, first time as coxwain in the push boat.  For deckhands Danny Johnson, Dave Brennan, Calvin Milam, Nate Mack, Jonathan Bautista and Keshaun Holmes, it was showtime.

Bryan,Keshaun and Calvin secure stern falls
 after recovering the small boat while Joe Gorman
 in foreground  monitors a dredge nearby.

And sure enough, the sea trial exposed what is was supposed to.  It started with casting off lines. #3 dockline snagged on it's yokohama fender, and was lost overside when it had to be cast off from the ship. In a miscommunication to the dock, the dock end was also cast off.  The  diesels, under load and high rpm's shut down three times during the trial, blowing off an exhaust coupling. The diesel mechanic, likely anticipating the issue was able to quickly effect repairs and adjustments to handle the higher rpms.   While underway, the crew took advantage of the down time to "dress the foresail", that is, make the foresail ready to set by taking off gaskets, and laying out all the different lines needed to run free or be tended as it was raised.

The first shut-down left the schooner drifting down river from the Ravenel Bridge on it's own momentum, causing Charlie, on the quarter deck to call for the anchor to be "catted". i.e readied for deployment.  Prior to departure, the starboard anchor's lashings had already been reduced to minimum turns allowing them to be released with one twist of the wrist. Now Bryan shouted for crew to swing the anchor burton hook over to the anchor in order to raise if off the rail, and lower it so that it was suspended entirely from it's cathead.  The crew had practiced it once on the dock, under Charlie's supervision, but now with Charlie way back in the cockpit, it was up to Bryan and team to complete the maneuver of the 500 pound pointy ended fisherman overside and down without gouging the hull.  

Coxwain, John Hart ferries Keshaun and Danny
 away for the dock to take docklines
 and swing over the gangway

And finally came the hard part. Airplane pilots will tell you that taking off is easy.  It's the landing that hard. And so it is,, particularly with wooden sailing ships.  Capt Hackett turned this over to Charlie who took his time.  In fact, he wasn't satisfied with his first approach, seeing the head rig drifting with just a bit too sharp an angle towards the dock pilings, and backed off for another approach. Getting alongside 30 feet off the dock, each of the line handlers in turn tossed heaving lines, nailing their targets.  Volunteers Ken Fonville, Kenny Johnson, and Keshaun Holmes took lines in turn, made fast, then, swung over the gangway. It took another hour of coiling, hanging, re-securing the anchor, chafing gear to the docklines, after which Charlie mustered volunteers together one last time and dismissed all.

We understand that Capt Hackett will submit his report to Mr Baker with favorable comments  on the ship's performance and her crew. Expect to hear  in near future,, plans for regaining her COI, and possible haulout. That means sailing time.

Sea Trials Still on for Tuesday AM, Hoping to Stay ahead of Elsa

 Assuming a successful sea trial for the engines, Spirit of South Carolina will regain the preferred option of motoring up the Cooper River to a hurricane hole.  It'll come just in time, should Elsa regain strength.  

Meanwhile Volunteers mustered Saturday and, themselves stormed over several projects.  This day the focus was on growing canvas repair and other marlinespike
skills. 

After a quick flat stitch/whip stitch tutorial from Bryan Oliver, Keshaun Holmes, Lexi Fine, Laura Johnson, and Mia, grabbed the bosun's bag and swarmed over the dory sail rig, to stitch patches,, well almost everywhere on the deteriorating mainsail.  

 By midmorning, the sun had risen to take away their shade, so the team transferred their operation onto the schooners deck under the huge foresail awning. 

Lane Neuhausen, part time Captain at Schooner Pride joined up with Dan Maurin, and Mikell Evatt, to patch and replace grommets around the gate banner, spanning the entrance to the face dock.  

Weeks of blustery weather was tearing loose grommets and shredding the corners.  Lane discovered the finicky Juki sewing machine below and promptly set it up on the trash pump-locker. After a few false starts he succeeded in sewing on four corner reinforcements and a number of reinforced grommets.

Danny Johnson and John Whitsitt retrieved the quarter dock line that had been taken off the schooner's stern last weekend, rinsed and brushed accumulated marine growth before coiling and stowing it in the forepeak.

Nate Mack and John Hart laid out on the bowsprit to finish lashing on the remaining luff cringles of the jumbo to the forestay.  

Nate and John set the frappes
 on the first flat seizing around
 the anchor cable

On completion, the two transitioned to the port anchor, opened a knot-tying app, and proceeded to bend the anchor cable onto the anchor with an anchor hitch, an two flat seizings to secure the tail.

  

And then there was lunch.  Afterward, Bryan awarded Keshaun his schooner pin recognizing Keshaun's accomplishing over 50 hours of volunteer support. 

Keshaun guiding his patch repair
 of the dory mainsail under
the needle.

As other projects, secured materials and hardware, the dory mainsail team assessed their work, and consensus was, they had gained sufficient learning in sailors palm and hand-stitching techniques, and were ready to advance to the modern technology of the sewing machine. And so they did.  By 3 pm, all the remaining patching had been completed. 

On Tuesday morning, select volunteers will muster aboard to cast off for mechanical sea trials under Capt Hackett and Acting Capt Charlie Porzelt.  Assuming a successful trial, hopes run high for a return to productive educational program and especially,, sea time!