Harvey Gamage? We're here for ya!

 Volunteers join Harvey Gamage Crew to speed their Shipyard work to completion.

Volunteer Charlie Malone takes a break
with Ships Officers, Captain Andy Hudak, left,
 and 2d Mate, Josh, right

Previously, you've no-doubt read of the deeds of four of us who pitched in on the Schooner, Harvey Gamage with her crew to attack a lengthy punch list of projects intended to ready her for onboarding a significant contingent of New Hampshire High School  students for their 10-week, once-in-a-lifetime education experience onboard a tall ship. This past week,  Charlie Malone, just off his own assignment aboard a commercial container ship, took his time off to join Harvey Gamage's crew on a number of maintenance projects.

Captain Hudak and Mate, Josh, welcomed Charlie aboard and immediately put him to work on a number of projects. Charlies efforts, with those of the four of us the previous week, helped put a significant dent in that list of to-do's the Captain was hoping to complete.  It didn't slow down. Just today, Volunteer, Todd Cole, drove from his home in Atlanta all the way down to keep the momentum going.  He came on board to find the new Captain and Mate. Todd found himself on the closing out end of the punch list.  With volunteer help the list had dwindled earlier than expected. As a result, Todd helped the crew tighten up, clean-up, and even drove the mate around town on a few errands. Todd's previous experience volunteering aboard the Sailing square-rigger Oliver Hazard Perry in Newport, served well in accelerating the finishing up of the work,

Meanwhile, waiting in the wings, two more Volunteers, Andrew Brumby, and Derek Astorino were poised to come aboard this Monday morning for two days to help Harvey Gamager's finish off their list.  It seems Volunteers had been too effective. As Andrew and Derek prepared on Sunday for their planned two day period on board, the Mate,  notified me that all the work had ben effectively completed; No additional Volunteer help was needed. the arriving Harvey Gamage Crew would be transitioning immediately into crew training. 

So, what's the upshot of all this? Well,,

One one level, Harvey Gamage enjoyed the value of about 40 hours of labor, free, courtesy of their sister ship, Spirit of South Carolina-enabling their crew to complete their projects early, get some time off, and focus more effectively for the professional onboarding process of their incoming students. 

On another level, Spirit of South Carolina volunteers got a chance to work with another schooner crew, benefiting from a cross-fertilization of practices, helpful tips/techniques, with intent of advancing new/better.

And on the third-higher level, both crews came to appreciate the other, and see them as shipmates, a part of the larger community of Tall Ship Sailors. Names will be remembered, paths will cross again, whether in this port or another, and stories shared.