As thoughts of Delivery to Savannah loom, Projects take on more urgency. Nate Mack joins the elite of Foremast Volunteers.

With the prospect of a delivery to Savannah, coming into view, the focus on making ready for it has gradually sharpened.  As we mustered Saturday morning, the atmosphere at muster on deck took on a slightly higher sense of urgency as Bryan laid out the projects for the day, embedding them in the context of what the ship might be doing in the coming weeks. Some would seem routine; 

• continue adding varnish coats to the dory's gunwale, 
• continue finding and refinishing blocks in the running rigging with worn and chipping paint.  
•  Continue the search for the engine room overhead deck leak. 
• Breaking out the Juki sewing machine and run stitches over torn helm cover. 
• Cleaning out and cleaning up the aft-cabin, in prep for an eventual occupant.

The crew handled those tasks in short order by 1030,and gathered round the saloon butterfly hatch for something different.  Finally, after almost a year of being in a hastily furled configuration, we were going to set, then harbor-furl the Foresail... Well, not set it totally, just raise it four masthoops-the cross winds made a full set inadvisable.  

Bryan Oliver walks thru with
Volunteer crew, the steps
of setting the Foresail.

Volunteer Coordinator, Bryan made it into a long-awaited for hands-on training session, by methodically walking thru the evolution of first, "standing-by/dressing the foresail' , followed by the choreography of crew on the peak and throat halyards, foresheet, vangs, downhaul, even checking reef nettles, and casting off the reef clew outhaul.  While Bryan called sail, exercising every command they might expect to hear,, volunteers on halyards responded as two teams, others tended the sheet and vangs.  At five mast hoops, Bryan shouted 'That's well,  throat', make fast!'. 'Peak, Haul away', and the halyard team sweated up another fathom before making fast.  just enough for the experience of replicating a sail set,, admittedly, without the exhilaration of taking her all the way up the mast.  but that will come soon enough.

Danny Johnson working hockles
out of the foresail downhaul
 as Ken makes up a working coil.

Ken Fonville is showing off
his Ballantine coil
of the Foresail downhaul.

The next unfamiliar task, for most of the volunteers was to douse the sail, then flake it into a 'harbor furl' or 'fish-furl' as some would call it.  It called for an entire crew effort all along the pile of sail covering the deck to lay-in together along the boom and repeatedly, in unison, heave up fistfuls of sail in coordination, to create a flaking effect. If done correctly, the sail would take on the appearance of one long smooth canvas roll, a long burrito. Both, aesthetically pleasing, but functional minimizing UV exposure and for not trapping rain water in the folds.  And it was a pretty good result.  Not bad for the first time.  Then finally,, "Coil and hang!" the inferred command, normally executed without reminder, to secure the deck by untangling, coiling and securing every loose line back to it's proper station.  Shipshape. 

With about a half-hour of idle time before Hunter passed up lunch, crew broke out a dockline and heaving lines.  Nate and John coached as everyone refreshed  themselves in making up a massive bowline on the dockline, then bending on a highwayman's cutaway hitch with bitter end of he heaving line. Finally testing it by heaving the line for accuracy and distance over side into the harbor. 

Nate Mack gets his Foresail Volunteer pin
 for 100 hours of volunteer support 

After a huge lunch of baked chicken in Melvins Barbeque sauce, with steamed  beans and smashed potatoes were consumed up.  Bryan mustered Volunteer crew for a final ceremony.  Nate Mack  was recognized as a "Foremast Volunteer" for  his support of over 100 volunteer hours to the Spirit of South Carolina.