First Post-COI Volunteer Day, Crew Wastes no Time in laying into critical ship's Projects.

Volunteer Nate Mack in the bosun's seat,
 on his way up the Main mast while CAPT Davis
 observes from higher up  on the port shrouds. 

This past Saturday, Spirit of South Carolina hosted our first regular Volunteer Day since the COI Inspection, and hands wasted no time in laying into some critical projects, primarily the scraping, oiling, and slushing of the schooner's two Douglas Fir laminated masts, which had been sadly ignored over the past three years.  

Eight volunteers mustered at 0900. Walter Barton brought along a serious morale boosting Chicken Ensalada casserole for sharing at lunch. All gathered around CAPT Davis who set priorities and divided responsibilities. 

Sending a deckhand aloft in a bosun's chair, 19th century style, is not a simple process.  Safely executed, if requires harnessing someone into a flat-board "bosun's chair" suspended from either the throat or peak halyard tackles. Their tools or tub of linseed oil or whatever is going aloft, are tethered to the chair. Pockets are emptied so nothing inadvertently comes crashing down onto the deck, or heads, from 82 feet up in the air. Two shipmates stand by on the pinrail where the halyard tackle is made fast. 

Nate Mack starts his ride up the Main Mast
for some sanding work.

Last minute checks on chest harness, tether strap looped several times thru the halyard shackle, a belaying line wrapped around the mast to keep the rider from swinging away from the mast. On the rider's command,  "ready on the halyard, hoist away!"  two shipmates start a slow steady pull, hand over hand. 

From aloft, the "look like ants" hoisters,
secure Nate in place and work
on a fouled flag halyard.

Depending on the hoisting tackles used, the "hoisters" might make up for the lack of purchase by "sweating" the halyard, shocking the line (gently of course) to yank the rider up just several inches at a pull. Once the deckhand in the chair is in position they'll shout 'that's well! and the hoisters will make the line fast to the belaying pin, finishing with a locking hitch, the only instance where such a hitch is used on board, that is, when a human being is held aloft by it. 

While the work aloft of moving a power sander around the mast, or slopping on linseed oil, or smearing gobs of Vaseline over the twice linseed-oiled mast isn't physically demanding so much as growing discomfort from limited movement. Therefore the deckhand aloft will typically be lowered down after approximately 30 minutes, to stretch, and another deckhand gets their chance.

In this way, large sections of both masts have gradually undergone portions of their three-phased restoration;  sanding to remove grime and weathered wood, 2 coats of linseed oil to preserve and protect the wood surface, and finally a coating of Vaseline, the modern-day alternative to animal fat/grease, to lubricate the mast easing the mast hoops as they drag the sail upward or down.

Masked to control the sawdust his sander is creating,
 Nate is scrutinized by CAPT Davis
 watching from his perch in the shrouds.

From aloft, observing shipmates lined up
 on the jumbo boom to flake the Jumbo
 as it's lowered.

As work progressed on the masts, idle hands mustered on the foredeck to practice sail-setting teamwork by raising, lowering and furling the large Jumbo Staysail.

Walter mastering the Galley appliances.

Meanwhile, below-decks, in the Galley, Walter Barton is heating up a big mess of Chicken Enchilada's for lunch.