It wasn't hard to set priorities of work for this Volunteer Day. Volunteer Coordinator, Bryan Oliver came on board early Saturday morning to start his ritual pot of coffee, enough to share, even though no other volunteers have ever shown an interest. A walk around the deck looking at dock lines and fenders, coils, or gear out of place, then back into the saloon to pencil out the day's punch list. The anticipated Private Charter cruise in 3 weeks is driving everything. Capt Bobby has been up to his waist in plumbing of the heads, but he's out on a delivery this weekend. That leaves his last known priorities which is clearing out the saloon of hardware and gear that's been loosely piled in berths.
While Bryan stares into a couple of saloon berths, already mentally triaging contents into "move-to- stowage elsewhere, or carting off to the dumpster, Dallas Spencer climbs down the Saloon ladder. He's brought the finished hardware with him that automatically puts a project at top of the punchlist; Re-rigging the aft boat falls, port side, with "Spencer blocks," Dallas' s hand crafted double becket block set which will double the purchase on those falls. It will effectively reduce the manpower required to lift the small boat's stern from three to just two-and no sweating the falls. That's good news to everyone.
Dallas pulls out the spool of 1/2" from the lazarette, to start running lines thru the new Spencer blocks spaced out on the deck. Steve Folwell arrives, more measuredly steps down the ever-steepening gangway followed by Ryan Smith and Son, Brody. Their welcome appearance sets up the next item on the punchlist-the uprig of the Mid-ship's Awning, or the port side-half of it anyway. Walter Barton comes aboard at the exact moment to be directed down into the deep dark recesses of Forecastle berth #4, to hand up Big khaki bag with a red tag on it. Brody wrangles the water hose onto the deck and fills the ice-filled water jug. Another summer routine renewed.
Work stops on the awning so that all hands can now set to lowering the small boat by its bow and stern falls into the water. Dallas , having rigged the new falls rig with his Spencer blocks on the deck, has laid aloft, halfway up the Main mast port shrouds. With the stern falls now slack, he's unshackling the old single becket block and sending it down, then calling for Ryan on deck to sent up by tag line the new, fully rove double becket block, to be shackled to it's pendant. Once the double becket block is secured, Bryan directs the lower Spencer double block with it's new hook, be set in the small boat's stern lifting bridle. With hands standing by on both falls, Bryan initiates what will be an unequal contest. 2 Hands on the bow falls, with another tailing, using the standard 2:1 purchase must sweat the line getting at best six inches at a time. On the stern falls, with the double blocks and 4:1 purchase, just two hands haul down the falls smoothly with little effort.
For anyone who's spent a summer dockside aboard Spirit of South Carolina, the annual late-spring up- rig of the massive shade-producing awning over the Foresail boom, has always been a welcome event. This time was special, since Capt Heath had replaced the old, tattered, patched and shredded awning, with a stronger, two-part, custom awning. The rig included a more complex arrangement of tensioners, guys and lifts. Bryan, having suffered previous summers of frustration rigging the old awning with shipmates unfamiliar with any standard, learned his lesson and composed a set of steps with photos's, sketches, arrows, and definitions,, laminated. Too much? You didn't live thru the previous awning rig-nightmares. Ryan, Steve, and Brody, with Walter standing by, examine the the laminated page, reversing to the other side for pictures and descriptions of the awning's components. Steve begins reading off the instructions.. the rest of the team starts executing. .. and it works.. in about ten minutes the port side of the deck between fore and main masts has a stretched canopy over it, with plenty of headroom and little vertical surface to catch the wind.
Now that we had shade, the work, illogically enough, shifted below decks into the saloon. Stephen hiked over to East Bay Deli to pick up our lunch, while the remainder, begin sifting thru the saloon berths, separating out contents and handing up stuff destined for the dumpster, separating from other contents to be restowed more appropriately below decks elsewhere.
By 1300 most volunteers have found stopping places, returning tools, coiling and hanging what had been thrown off, and began to depart for other obligations. Bryan remained on deck, under the awning, of course, for another hour or so, contemplating his blog entry and periodically watching the awning as gusts blew by and raised, or stretched the awning. It was doing fine, enough to leave it up for awhile. It will come down soon enough in time for the first training sail. The instruction card has it covered, after all.
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