Operating Tempo increases with onboarding of new Volunteers, refreshing skills and Repairing Gear.

Monday the 16th proved to be a disappointment.  8 Volunteer Crew mustered at  1100, preparing to cast off for a sea trial only to find a frustrating situation of contrary current and gusty winds. Worse, across the marina inlet tied on the fuel dock was Denis Sullivan, her jib boom extending  over the inlet and less than 80 feet from Spirit's jibboom. A short leadership discussion on the quarterdeck produced the prudent decision to call off the departure, due to the increased risk of being blown or drifted into Denis Sullivan's head rig.  And so, the afternoon was consumed with basic deckhand skills for new volunteers, and rig maintenance.

Tuesday fared better. Volunteers mustered at 0900 hours to prepare lines for casting off for a third sea trail. New volunteers who mustered along received a deep immersion of on-the-job training. Will Ventress took the helm of the rescue boat to help push off from the dock. Shortly after casting off, Capt Davis called forward to set the foresail then the jumbo. With a total of just 9 aboard, we wouldn't have sufficient hands to raise the mainsail. 

 For the first time the Station Bill was introduced, on which each crew member was assigned specific responsibilities for emergency drills. As we tacked back and forth across the harbor, Captain Hackett concentrated on two emergency drills,, Fire fighting and man-overboard. 

Starting with the Fire Drill, the crew walked thru their immediate actions. The first result was the crew realizing how the location of the fire would drive specific reactions.. For example, Fire in the engine room required immediate shutting off any ventilation into the area and enabling the automatic halon extinguisher to activate, with portable extinguishers staged as back-up. Hoses might be out of action due to inaccessibility to the generator, or port engine "PTO" drive. Fire in the galley required deployment of different firefighting tools.

Once secure from the fire fighting scenario, the crew had time for two deep breaths before hearing the shout, "MAN OVERBOARD!"

Over repeated iterations, crew members reacted to an object suddenly "falling' overboard and reacting. Several tasks had to be completed almost simultaneously.  Shouts of "Man Overboard were relayed through out the ship. The spotter maintained visual sight on the victim while other crew members quickly thru overboard every life ring pendant buoy, in their reach in the direction of the victim to leave the "bread crumb" trail. Hands manned the rescue boat falls to lower the rescue boat, maintaining her on station as the schooner continued thru the water. This time, Laura manned the rescue boat as Coxwain. She grabbed a VHF, PFD's and with her bowman, Dave Brennan, climbed over side, down the 7 feet to the rescue boat. She fired up the engine and took charge of releasing first the stern, then the bow falls and bow line.  

While the boat turned away from the schooner's side heading out in the direction of the pointing spotter,  someone went below to bring up the backboard and cross straps. Another hand retrieved a first aid kit from the Aft Cabin.  Others laid in on the falls, to retrieve the boat with overboard "passenger" plus other thrown items . As the rescue boat returned to the ship's side with the overboard victim, the whole process reversed itself, ending with the victim back aboard, examined, and the rescue boat raised back up on the schooner's sheer plank.  The crew repeated the drill three time, shifting tasks and responsibilities around. As the last drill wound down, Laura, with Capt Heath and rescue boat continued with a series of "touch-and-go's" to fine tune the rescue boat and crew's docking while underway.

 

Wednesday was a "Bye" Day. Capt Davis spent the day aboard the Schooner Denis Sullivan with Captain Chris  Flansberg and his crew picking brains of one of the most senior Captains in the Tall Ship Fleet, running one of the most successful School Sailing programs.

Thursday and Friday , Spirit of South Carolina remained at the dock, primarily due to the shortage of licensed Ship's Officers required to sail her, per our Insurance underwriter's requirements.  Once our Certificate of Inspection is awarded, hopefully this week, the schooner can go back to sailing with just two licenses aboard.

The time dockside was well spent, however.  Volunteers came aboard for half days or all day to learn and exercise their responsibilities at emergency crew drills that would be observed by the Coast Guard inspectors during the COI cruise. Logan Day explored the entire below decks and above to inventory all our PFD's, inspecting for working beacons, and different sizes, finally distributing the across all berths and deck lockers. 

Bryan quietly rejoicing at finally getting
 sturdy railing back on the gangway.

A new hand rail arrived for the gangway, enabling us to retire the old rope rail. Dave Brennan reinforced the rail with additional thru bolts, to make the whole apparatus better than new. 

Capt Davis started the project to cut away the entire end of the Rope/line locker that had rotted out. Over the weekend, Danny Johnson, Walter Barton and Alex Lya took over the project, reinforcing the corner, with timbers and extra plywood, then installing three sets of heavy duty door hinges to replace the old leather hinges that were pulling out. New Volunteer Jake McCain quickly found himself deep in the project. 

As an added diversion, Thursday our Dory was unlashed from her cradle, on the floating dock, scrubbed down and uprigged with her "new" mainsail, cut from an old larger sail donated last year. Capt Davis and his Dad, Peter from NC, cast off to test sail the rig, taking her across the harbor past Patriots Point and back. Somewhere during the cruise, the tiller split along a lamination.  With some good glue and lag screws she'll be ready for Volunteers to take her out again. 

Later Thursday, Bryan Oliver returned home and hauled his own  Beetle Cat down to Remley Point where rigged her up, launched, and sailed down the Wando River to the harbor, docking at the Maritime Center, all under sail. Bryan's catboat, "Sean O." was scheduled to appear at the Georgetown Boat Show this weekend.

Laura pushes out the boom for a breeze
 while Bryan sculls the Beetle Cat off the dock.

 Due to the intense project schedule facing Spirit of South Carolina, Bryan opted out of prepping the boat for showing, instead sailing her down to the Maritime Center, docking in the shallows.   Laura Johnson volunteered first to jump aboard with Bryan, just to get the feel of sailing a small boat off the dock and returning safely to the dock totally under sail, no motor.

"Sean O." ghosting out into the channel
 for a decent breeze.

On Saturday as thing were winding down, a welcome "blast from the past"  came down the gangway for a visit.   Ed Marshall, Citadel grad and shipmate  from the Citadel's Semester at Sea in 2018. We shared the 4 to 8 watch. Ed is now an Air Force Para-Rescue Jumper out of Lackland Air Force Base, and in town for a friend's wedding.   Ed was one of 16 cadets who crewed Spirit of South Carolina for a three month cruise through the Caribbean. I just the few minutes he had aboard we filled it with shared stories. 

Saturday behind us, only four days to COI. Now it's searching for things overlooked, unfinished, unknown, that could bite us.