Maintenance Punch List as of: August 24, 2024

Here's the link to the Maintenance Punch List as of 24 August. This list actually supersedes the hard copy currently in the Saloon.

 Maintenance PUNCH LIST as of 24 August

Shore Power regained, Progress picks up, and a New Volunteer Joins the Crew

The loss of shore power over the last two  weeks had crimped our style on a few levels, such that we agreed to concentrate our efforts in the morning, and muster off by noon. The  inability to run the fans below in the saloon and forecastle left those  spaces torridly stagnant and humid even with all hatches opened.  Worse, the lack of refrigeration  took away capacity to make our block ice in the freezer for our water jug topside, leaving us with warm drinking water for hydration.. Speaking of refrigeration, it's absence was sorely felt on discovering 150 lbs of frozen groceries, thawed out in the freezer; which had to be pulled out, bagged and carted to the dumpster.   Only the rigging up of the midships awning provided some respite.

So it was a welcome surprise that Saturday, when the five of us, tepidly stepped aboard, we notice the power had been restored.  Capt Heath had come aboard earlier in the week, and restored power by first cutting off all power from the distribution panel, then powering up from the dock pedestal, and one at a time,  bringing each circuit back on line. I guess even electrical power doesn't like being "shocked" by a suddenly large demand. 

Progress on the dory, turning her upright,
 sanding then varnishing her gunwales.

With fans below blowing, and all hatches opened the below decks environment soon became habitable, and Bryan organized the crew around three projects:  Ryan Smith, Tony Marchesani, Lance Halderman, and Steve Folwell set up power sanders, scrapers and varnish, onto the dock to work on the dory.  Wayne Burdick with  Brody Smith, pulled out of the foc'sle a role of salvage sunbrella awning to fashion a UV protecting wrap to cover the schooners topmast, which had been lying on the bench for three years.  

Jeff  inventorying the varied contents
 of the paint locker.

Bryan took new volunteer, Jeff Fabian in tow for an orientation tour of the ship, followed by first lessons in safe line handling and coiling, finally on the traditional New Volunteer Scavenger/Treasure Hunt, scouring the ship to identify location and contents of every storage area above and below deck. 

  

 Tony and Wayne secure the outer straps and come'a'long
before starting to roll the outer end, while Jeff observes.

As noon came around,  the crews secured tools and materials, then mustered under the awning to start the drill of furling it.  The crew made short work of it, down rigging the out board edge and rolling it up to the foresail gaff, where Bryan had staged five seine twine "gaskets, all set to spiral around  the furl and the gaff. 

With the awning now tightly furled onto the gaff and all gear and tools secured in their rightful places.  

In the coming two weeks, starting the 25th, Bryan will be traveling out of state,  so Volunteers will keep our momentum alive.  Bryan will leave behind a Punch List of projects simple enough for one or two Volunteers to tackle on their own schedule any day of the week.  Volunteers can find it on a clipboard, suspended above the Saloon Table, and Sign-up, via SignUp Genius, for any day of the week, time and duration of their choosing.

 

Saturday's Light Volunteer Turnout tackles aftermath of Betty

 On a typically sweltering, broiling Saturday morning, Four Volunteers braved the heat to come on down to the water and pitch in on something. As usual, Bryan, the first to climb down on the deck discovered that his agenda for the day was out the window.  

His first observation gave him a false sense of hope when he noticed the power cable had been taken out of its storage in the lazarette and run out from it's pedestal on the floating dock up and over the fixed doc and plugged in. That sent Bryan clambering down the saloon ladder hoping to switch on the powerful fan suspended over the saloon table and force the hotter sweltering stale air in the saloon up and out. The switch clicked, but the fan didn't.  neither were the two refrigerators.. All contents were warm. He didn't dare try the freezer.   So now the planned priority for the day shifted over to troubleshooting the power issue.  Help came walking down the dock in form of Tony Marchesani. While Tony stood by the pedestal to reset, Bryan tried a few sequence changes in the different Engine circuit breakers. Each sequence produced the same result, powering up the ship caused the circuit to break at the pedestal. 

Now Lance Halderman appeared. Using his recently acquired electrical engineering chops, he pointed out the possibility of moisture in the connections. Three cables, with two "extension" connections. A cursory disassembly revealed as a possibility of moisture. All disconnected and left to dry out. 

With that, By this time, Walter Barton walked in, in time for next visible issue  which had become apparent as Bryan and Tony looked over the side to inspect the handiwork of the team five days prior in resetting the Yokohama alignments on their respective pilings. What he saw made him sag a little.  There's always something!

Aft Yokohama with it's Pole "axle"
disappeared having shifted in three feet inside.

While the forward two Yokohama's remained in their position, centered on their assigned pilings, the The aftmost Yokohama had somehow slid forward, partly off it's pole by six feet, where it threatened to, once again, catch itself behind it piling rather than resting centered on it.

After end of the Yokohama with it's pole axis

 nearly all the way out.  

Apparently the combined action of current, and tide created a condition where the Yokohama, could almost float off it's pole axis, or at least sufficiently off center  to negate its use as a cushion again between the schooner and the piling. 

Using a spare 30 feet of line, the team rigged a lariat loop on the long end of the pole, snagging the loop against two bolt heads protruding out at the end. With a forward jerk, the team hoped to "shock" the pole an few inches at a time, back thru the center of the Yokohama so to expose the other end of  the pole at its  the opposite end. As the pole began to protrude a few inches out of the forward end, a second looped line snared the end, and upward pressure applied in order to take some weight of the pole off the axle, hopefully making it easier to jerk the pole a sufficient distance to recenter it in the Yokohama. With all three working together, one each on the two ends of the pole, lifting up, and the third with a long boat hook jabbing at the end of the Yokohama to force it back to center.  The team was partially successful in forcing back the Yokohama sufficiently that it now rested more centered on the piling.  A few more attempts and 3 long lag bolts into the pole to lock the Yokohama in place would stabilize it.

Now for the last pressing matter.. Up-rigging the foremast awning on port side. By late morning, the unshaded deck was a sort of hot skillet. Now the team shifted to lifting the bagged awning roll up out of the forecastle and staging it on deck.  Over the past month, various crew had become familiar with the up-rig process, benefiting from a detailed, illustrated instruction sheet, attached to the inside of the bag. In the next fifteen minutes the four had completely rigged up and tuned an effective awning, protecting and cooling the entire port side midships deck area.  After enjoying the shade, and rehydrating, the team  pulled up the gear and old sunbrella awning material that had been caught in the rain on Monday, and spread them under the awning to dry out, before restowing, which would have to occur sometime later.     Crew mustered off around 1 pm. 

No Rain, but then Rum, and then Really Serious Rain Sums up a Roller-coater Week

I was just thinking, in light of the weather decision on 31 July to cancel our Sail to the Sea Buoy. On Sunday August 4  I'll bet I wasn't the only one with a sardonic reaction to the placid weather that appeared over the harbor and approaches.  Tropical Storm Betty was still a day's watch off to the south. I was imagining us on board, already with Ft. Sumter abeam and busy with all hands hauling away halyards getting the mainsail peaked up-under full press, outward bound for the sea buoy. No doubt many of our "guest crew" from Charleston Offshore Racing Association(CORA), who had signed up for their first tall ship sailing experience, and expressed excitement at the opportunity, were just as disappointed. 

 Notwithstanding the weather decision to cancel our planned sail, it was a great day dream for a moment. And, it remains a viable goal for Spirit of South Carolina and her Volunteer Crew for the near future. All the cases for it to happen are still out there. And, I'm maintaining the original SignUp Roster of all the crew, so that all on it will be the first ones notified when this opportunity resurfaces.

So, for Sunday, to assuage the disappointment, I proposed to all participants, a Rum Tasting, on board for that Sunday afternoon. Seven accepted the proposal-four from CORA, Tim Vienneau and his wife, Scott Depung and friend, Carin Bloom, Nick Swarts and Bryan Oliver. Bryan brought aboard a diverse collection of nine rums ranging from "value-priced" to well-aged, silver-to gold-to dark, up to 18 years, representing distilleries from all over the Caribbean, to New England, and of course Charleston. With lotsa munchies scattered around the table as well as water for cleansing palates, hydrating, and rinsing, attendees tried out 1/2 ounce samplings. We compared and contrasted, discovered new ones, redefining our favorites while Carin and Bryan narrated on all topics of origins, economics, distilling secrets, and sordid history, including schooner rum runners. Carin proposed a toast to Black Tot Day, the occasion of the British Royal Navy pounding the tap into the last Barrel signifying the end of rum issued to Sailors. As a finale, Bryan offered up two different rum cocktails, each with their own stories,, one a Bermuda Swizzle from the 1920's, and the Original Rum Runner, six ingredients, four of them alcoholic. In moderation of course. With those in hand, most attendees gathered on deck to enjoy the light breeze, and most welcome temperature of mid '80's on the water. 

 Monday, the 5th, TS Betty, appeared on the southern horizon, as Capt Heath Hackett and a crew of four, along with Bos'un Bryan mustered at 0800 on deck to tie down anything on the dock that could blow or float away, and attack the issue of straying Yokohama's, once again trapped inside the dock pilings, and the schooner's hull, blown by wind and current, pressing against them, allowing no room to float out and re-center. 

Teammate, Jack Frazier relaxes in the headrig, waiting
 for Team mate Brian to climb out with more gaskets.

So the team started first on deck, adding additional gaskets to tighten up the furls on the sails, which were still a bit billowy from the last sail douse.

Heath Hackett (in red foulies) and team
 formulating a Plan A to clear the forward Yokohama
 out of it's pocket on the side of the piling. 

Within the first hour the first band of rain began sprinkling, rapidly building to soaking downpours sending us to sending below anything salvageable from exposure on the dock and closing off hatches. A few of us had foulies on board to throw on. Most just enjoyed(at first) a cooling soaking antidote to the summer's persistent 90 degree temp and 85% humidity.  At the same time Capt Heath attempted to start up the small boat engine prior to launching. A good move, since the engine, likely with water somewhere in the line, refused to kick over.- which sent him out on a search for a replacement "push boat". 

Meanwhile rest of the crew looked at methods to tension up the chain tethering each of the three Yokohama's together. Lariat loops were fashioned to snub around the chain linking the aft Yokohama to it's end piling. Snubbing the loop up on a chain link enabled us to stretch the chain longitudinally, thereby pressuring the Yokohama to float aft, and recenter on it's piling. Now it was waiting for Capt Heath and whatever push boat facsimile he could procure on this now dark gray skies, soaking raining mess. 

Bryan cheerfully waits for Capt Heath's Plan B
 push boat to appear on the horizon, 

Only a half-hour later, he appeared driving towards us around the Cruise terminal dock in a small Center console fisherman. I didn't ask where he got it. We had rigged a long tow rope off the port quarter to send over to him and he and his team mate, Richard He maneuvered close to take the line as Bryan tossed over. 

 Capt Heath, with Richard monitoring the tow cable on the little cleat, and the small fishermen made four attempts from various angles to pull the stern off the dock sufficiently to create sufficient space for the Yokohama blivits to float free of the pilings and rest properly outside of them. Each time, while the stern pulled off sufficiently, the bow countered, swinging into the dock, preventing the most forward Yokohama to clear it's piling. 

Frustrated, and accounting for the risk of damaging the little fisherman's ground tackle gear, Heath returned it to the dock. Meanwhile, on board, crew was discerning a slight expanding of the distance between dock pilings and the schooner's hull. Slightly diminishing wind, and tide transitioning appeared to be creating a time window in which the schooner was allowed to widen it's gap with the dock, sufficient for all the Yokohama's to float free of their pilings. Just as Capt Heath returned, the team had already taken the strain along two lines on the linked Yokohama's  pulling them [northwards] out and away from their pilings then centering on them.  The team rapidly tide off their "tag" lines to a piling to stabilize the Yokohama's in place.  

By now the crew had been working furiously on the dock and on deck, while totally soaked, and constantly wiping the rain out of their eyes. The temperate, cooling effect of the rain, ironically made for a much more temperate working environment, at the expense of soaking us down to, including anything in our pockets. With last of the gear on the dock stowed in the locker or slung under the lashed down dory the team took last look around, and slogged back up the dock to cars and a soggy ride home.

And Things Were Going So Well; then a Curve Ball, but maybe a base hit.

Bryan Oliver awards Nick Swarts
 his 50 Hours Pin; Shipmates, Lance and Tony
 provide the boisterous audience.

 First some catching up. A few weeks ago we recognized Nick Swarta, once a new Volunteer, but no longer, after racing past 50 hours of Volunteer Time. He's currently well on his way to 100 hours if  not already, and I haven't checked the Volunteer Log yesterday.  You'll see him often  crewing the small boat as Coxwain.  My lateness excuse was searching for this lost photo. 

Nick's in good company with a much welcomed stream of new Volunteers mustering with us over the past couple of months. 

.........................................

It was an exciting ten days-filled with a growing schedule of cruises, a growing roster of new volunteers that needed to be trained, and a sense of an increasing visibility of our schooner to the general public.  

Saturday, the 20th of July Coaches for Character Students,(Sponsored by Baker Motors) and their adult leadership came aboard for a Reward pleasure cruise.  Nevertheless, our crewmembers cajoled several of them into raising the headsails, and do some line handling and coiling.  

No sooner had we secured the ship after  putting our student visitors ashore, than a request came down from the Executive Assistance Office for another Impact Charleston Cruise for  Wednesday, July 24th. At that point the Volunteer program hit the limit all of us were  warning ourselves about- the capacity of volunteers to meet the cruise demand. As early as last year, the conversation around crewing with Volunteers, included an admonition, that to staff three harbor sails a week, would require a bench of at least 40 competent volunteers, with the concept that, out of that bench, a crew of 5 or so could easily be found for any given day.  We're still a ways from 40. And so it was, that Spirit of South Carolina was forced to decline a sailing opportunity for that Wednesday the 24, because of inability to bring aboard sufficient competent crew.  While unavoidable, it was not a good look for us, and reinforced the need for a sizeable build-up of crew capability.

The following Saturday, the 27th a regularly scheduled Volunteer Day was lightly attended, Dallas Spencer brought along his ship's carpenter tool kit, and proceeded to repair the Dory's inside gunwale that had been torn up in a previous incident of weather and a hard dock.  not surpisingly due the the highly anticipated promise of a serious All-Day Training cruise the following Sunday, 4 August, to the Sea Buoy and back, about 49 nautical miles. 

And to make it interesting, our Co-Captains invited aboard a large contingent from the Charleston Offshore Racing  Association. I initially viewed this change with dismay, since it upended plans for serious deck operations training at sea, including emergency drills.   However, the mental picture of  over 22 CORA sailors and skippers-modern day serious sailors, enthusiastically jumping in to learn halyard hauling, coiling, and tending-sailing the hard way.  This was a group from whom insinuations came that Spirit of South Carolina was no longer doing anything,, no longer worth a serious thought.. Ouch!  

This cruise would become a perfect opportunity to change some hearts, gain some badly needed moral support and visibility in the sailing community, and hopefully,, more volunteers.  Brilliant.

As Monday July 29, came along, Capt Heath Hackett, our Project Manager, pointed out the possibility of heavy weather moving up the coast around Sunday, risky enough to force a decision mid-week whether to go or cancel the cruise. 

Two days later, Wednesday a few Volunteers mustered  with our Co-Captains Will and Bobby to hoist one of them aloft for rigging inspection. Sam Sablotsky and brother Levi joined Carin Bloom and Bryan on deck to rig up the bosun's chairs on the peak halyards.  In that session Capt Bobby confirmed that earlier that day, he had declined a final offer from the organization for assuming command of Spirit of South Carolina as Captain.  An agreement could not be reached on compensation. And Wednesday would be his final day.  

Later that day, the Cruise to the Sea Buoy was cancelled.

Setback.

Ramifications extend to our ability to cast off, let alone schedule sailings, and generate revenue.

Insinuations and Allegations?  Who and what the heck happened?!  While tempting, we realistically have no time for them. They are distractions to what we signed on for, that is taking joy in something bigger than ourselves, the idea of stewarding a traditional Wooden Sailing Vessel, one of a kind, learning the skills, culture seamanship that she demands, , the best in us, as Alan Villiers would say.

 Spirit of South Carolina is still here. She still has purpose. We are the ones who board her and bring her to life.  

For a day or so, I was at a loss, but then I paid a visit to Colleen Flynn.

Colleen is the Executive Assistant to Mr. Baker, who leads our governing Board. Turns out she's been named Acting Executive Director,, a job position I thought had been vacant for 3 years. 

Colleen assured me that the game was still on.  Programs- underserved youth cruises, Team building cruises, other opportunities were still being sought, and tentatively scheduled. The serious search was on for a new Captain, and she was working on a scheme she wasn't quite ready to share yet, but had enthusiastic endorsement of her boss, and our Project Manager, Capt Heath.  In the short time we had at her office, we actually covered a number of topics, several of them relevant to Volunteers.   

The conclusion I reached was that she was bringing some new energy into the game.  So, we're holding our course.