A little maddening it feels, to suddenly decelerate from a pace of three sailings in one week, down to nothing. Since the 2d week of September, when Spirit of South Carolina slipped her lines for the first time since arriving home from shipyard last January, our schooner seems to have returned to dormancy, quietly riding against the huge yokohama fenders,, waiting.
Well, she's not been exactly dormant. In the ensuing weeks til now, volunteers and Capt Heath's project team aboard have been unusually active. The total of four sea trials run in September proved their worth in uncovering a number of issues to be resolved before the COI examination. From running rigging not running fairly, hardware improperly stowed, sail rigging requiring tuning up, "more mast hoops", to crew training issues, station bill assignments. Its nothing really surprising given the total of three years the schooner had been laid up.
And so, on Saturday, five volunteers mustered aboard to attack "the Punch List" the to-do list that seems never to shorten, as new issues are added almost as fast as old ones are checked off. This is the part where sailors pay the dues, but gain the skills and knowledge of the ship that makes them tall ship sailors.
Captain Davis took charge, mustering all hands around the main mast to assist as he climbed the shrouds and lowered the torn flag from the spreaders. Once secure, volunteers broke into separate projects. Mike Evatt, Danny Johnson and David Brennan inventoried the 30 recently laundered berth mattress covers, matching each custom cover to it's assigned berth and lacing them onto the foam mattresses. Walter Barton located a tub of mink oil and lay below in the saloon to oil down remoisturize and restore flexibility to the six long buffalo hide leather berth cushions. Doug Hartley and Alex Lya teamed up to dive into and reorganize both the tool and paint lockers on deck. It's a particularly daunting task, since each locker seems to fight off most attempts at lasting organization, with each crew maintenance project.
The principle obstruction, however, that is preventing the schooner from casting off and sailing more frequently, is the insurance requirement for three licenses to be on board. So, as Capt's Davis, and Hackett kluge together three licenses that coincide with good weather, and volunteer availability, the schooner will sail again.
Sign-Up Genius- A New "App" for signing up for Volunteer Activities.
Meanwhile, Volunteers will momentarily receive email notice of opportunities to sign-up for slots during the week, and on Volunteer Day, Saturdays, to work necessary maintenance projects, work on deckhand skill-building, or helping coach others, particularly our growing number of new volunteers mustering with us.
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