Two weeks; Growing rate of Volunteer Activity

                                                                                               

Volunteers Active April 13-20; a review backwards;

If you've been following this blog and wondered recently, why the time lapse between blog postings, chalk it up to lack of depth in the journalism staff. We're a one person show. I aspire to one day operate this blog with a staff of a few people who like telling a story.. Until then we'll work this blog around my absence, which in this period is amounting to 3 straight weeks. This latest posting comes from an idyllic piece of ground out on the plains of western Oklahoma, just a few miles from the Texas panhandle. Two of my brothers and a couple of Army buddies are encamped in RVs' on a desolate 160 acre square patch laid out as a  shooting range. But while that was taking shape,..

Friday morning,, April 20th,  at the same time as I was I loading up for my two-day drive, four Volunteers  were setting up and staffing a Volunteer Recruiting Table at the Charleston Race Week.  Nate Mack and Walter Barton coordinated on Friday to deliver two card tables, two chairs, a 32-in Screen TV monitor and the ship's laptop, to the Aircraft Carrier Yorktown's middle deck.  They set up at one end of the carrier deck in front of a stage, where three other "vendors" Charleston Community Sailing, Charleston Model Sailing Club and Veteran's On Deck laying out their own information displays. 

Old Salt

At the same time, we collided with "Old Salt" Volunteer, Dan Machowsky, setting up a table for the Knot Tie'er's Guild, of which he's a founding member. Dan crafted much of the advanced marlinspike ropework on board during its construction, including several bullseye grommets, stropped blocks, and the schooner's rope ladder.                                                            

 Mark Held (a bit early) and Phil Frandino on 1st watch,
 scan the horizon for anticipated crowds
 of visitors to our  display.

By 11 00 Walter Barton and Phil Frandino took the first 3-hour watch. This was also the first public appearance of our newly printed Tri-fold brochures.   We brought forty for handouts, and a display copy of Hunter's "The Complete Galley Guide." The TV monitor looped a group of YouTube videos with 50 minutes of Spirit of South Carolina footage. (You can see the same footage by accessing the Blog Video playlist link. At 2:30 PM, Mark Held relieved Walter at the table, and  finally shut it down at  1700 , disassembling and store all our gear under the stage.  Reports received, already indicated that the organizers and placed all of us in a poor location for the expected foot traffic around the facility. Only a few visitors passed by the displays, and one stopped to browse the material.  The next day, Saturday, was equally as bad.  Ken Fonville set up and staffed the display from 11 to 2:30, handing it off to Joyce Harvey who closed out the event at 5 PM. 

As frustrating as those two days had to be, it wasn't wasted;  we learned a few lessons. Such a recruiting project was feasible, and easy to reproduce, and "Location, location, location....." All the traffic was actually outside , on shore, adjacent to the access gates. 

The previous Saturday, the 13th, Tony Marchesani, Nate Mack, Dallas Spencer, Ryan Smith, Dave Brennan, Walter Barton,  Nate Mack mustered on deck to take on a couple of punch list items and advance Ryan into some deckhand skills check-off. The near term priorities were obvious,, cleaning up, stowing, and arranging for the upcoming Tommy Baker  and Board members' cruise, advance the water leakage around the  Mainmast partners.  and long long overdue 2d coat linseed oiling of the two mast.  Walter took on the project of pumping teak deck caulk around the two bases of the foresail sheet horse, then  reefing and pulling out two feet of disreputable caulk forward of the fife rail and then sandng, stuffing with cotton, and caulking over the seam again. 

Ryan Smith and ground crew
set up to hoist him up the foremast.

The rest gathered around Ryan who had volunteered to don the hazmat suit and be hoisted aloft the foremast in a boson's chair and linseed-oil the foremast. With the rest of us on the jumbo halyard and  chair tagline, Ryan was hoisted all the way to the trees with a bucket of linseed oil and a rag.. every three feet he called out "On deck!  lower away 3 feet." .."that's well, make fast.", 

Ryan already half-way
 down the mast

In less than a half-hour, Ryan had successfully slopped linseed oil over the entire mast,  Next big task: rubbing on Vaseline, but that'll wait till next time. 

Meantime, On his own, Walter attacked the caulking issue around the mainmast, brushing, sanding.  He laid a bead onto the  face plate, then sanded the vertical edges of the sanded out groove.  At that point, the dampness inside the seam wall prevented further action until it was dried out.  Walter taped over the open seam to protect it from moisture and additional grime until it could be properly caulked.   

Dallas brought aboard his second wooden block project, showing much promise. 
  

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