Kitchen Magnet Ideas, and reconnecting with Shipmates, Volunteers and otherwise.

Hey,  all you Volunteers and Supporters of Spirit of South Carolina. In these days of waiting for our Schooner's return, and waiting, and you're starting to feel a little dispirited;  

Try this:  

Print out this Blog entry;  cut out this image and stuff it in your wallet, or tape it to your Refrigerator.

                                                                                                ↘

The Sandwich Board, on which this poster is affixed, was created by Spirit of South Carolina LLC and is currently positioned in a place of prominence at the Charlestown Maritime Center Dock. 

The connotation should be obvious. If you've become doubtful about her ever coming back, here's a pretty public commitment that people are working to make that happen. We've even designed a ready-to-apply "Open for Tours" Banner to tape over the Coming Back Soon" text, to repurpose the sandwich board.

To reinforce that message,  my recent conversation last week with Tommy Baker's Exec Assistant reinforced their intent to gather a crew for delivering her back to the Maritime Center, and initiating early, a mix of dockside activities, and plans to take her north in the Spring.

I'll even post a good expandable copy on the ship's photo album. You can click on the tab along the banner of this blog page. 

Working on a New Blog Feature

With no real opportunity for Volunteers and crew to muster together on deck, it's easy to lose touch.  So, it's great to hear from y'all either by email or phone call, as did Matt Hollenbeck just a day or so ago, just checking in.  

Matt out exercising the small boat
 on his last week as deckhand/coxswain

Matt, originally from North Carolina, holds a unique spot on the schooner's history as being the last professional deckhand to disembark last winter as the COVID shut down all operations, leaving only Hunter the Cook, for ship-watch, and us volunteers. 

Capt Cleveland recruited Matt earlier in 2020 during a visit to the ship after being impressed with his "unique set of skills" around small engines and other mechanical systems.  It helped that Matt caught on naturally to everything rigging -wise.  Matt is featured in the most recent video short-documentary, now on YouTube.  You can also review it in on our YouTube Playlist link up top.

Matt remains busy at his home in Columbia, with his young daughter, and starting up his new family business in custom concrete surfacing.  I've got a couple photos of his work which are quite impressive.  Yes, an up front-plug.  He's hoping to get back south some time to volunteer a spell once the Schooner is back home. It'll be a great reunion. 

With that start, if you've been in contact with me in any form or fashion lately, a big thanks.. and, oh, you'll probably be next. ;-)