A few Volunteers answer the call during Thanksgiving Week.

With 2 shakedown sails coming up and a full weekend of Dockside Tours and Sunset Sails celebrating the Charleston Tea Party, Capt Davis opened up all weekdays up to Thanksgiving, as well as this Saturday for volunteers to come aboard if they wished to lay in on the masts or any other work to prep the ship for those events.

Laura working herself down
 the foremast with her sander.

So, last Tuesday, Laura Johnson came aboard, followed shortly by Adam Reed to take on a couple of projects.  Laura strapped on a harness, stepped into a bosun's chair while  Adam and Rick Washington hauled her up the foremast with a Fast-tool orbital sander in her lap to take off another belt of weathered wood on the foremast. The breeze was clipping along at an enthusiastic 10-to 15 knots, and the occasional swell underneath from wake of a passing behemoth headed up/down channel.   After one and one-half hours aloft in the bosuns chair, rigor mortis sets in around one's thighs, roughly pinned inside the bosun's seat risers, requiring a lowering to the deck and stretch.. The oncoming weather made  for a shortened work session.

Volunteer Coordinator, Bryan
 hands over Lauren's 100
Volunteer Hour Certificate and Pin

Prior to her disembarking, Bryan asked her over to the cap rail for the moment to present her with her 100  Volunteer Hours Certificate and lapel pin.  Laura actually hit that hour mark a couple of months earlier, but the tallying was slow to catch up. Meanwhile, she's more than halfway already to 200 Volunteer hours!                                                                                                                                                         By the time we had secured bosun's chairs and other deck hardware, weather was closing in and minds were focused elsewhere on preparations for Thanksgiving, in whatever form it was going to take. Bryan remained aboard a bit longer to try out a TV monitor he's purchased, for purposes of showing video footage of the ship during tours, or for training,, or, yes, even a crew movie night.  Its not intended to live aboard-the salty conditions would eventually ruin it, but to be brought back for planned events.