Spirit of South Carolina Settles into a Dockside Routine.

 With our Georgetown cruise behind us, the crew and officers settled into a dockside routine of maintenance, oriented short-term on addressing issues known and discovered in the course of our off-shore passage, and additional items to resolve which identified in a recent Coast Guard Inspection for our upgrade COI to 200 miles Offshore.  That rating will come in conjunction with her next  haul-out and dry dock, which will also include unstepping the masts. Date/Time/ and location for all that are being negotiated as we speak.

And so four of us mustered at 0900, this last Saturday morning to start up the routine. Tony Marchesani appeared after a long hiatus, as well as Lance Halderman, Walter Barton, Ryan Smith, and a little later, Carin Bloom. Mate Eva, reviewed the current Punchlist and added a few priority projects to it, which, of course went to the top of the list. 

 The Mate was charged with identifying needs of the ship, to make her totally seaworthy, and self-sustaining. And so our first project(s) was to conduct a hardware inventory of everything, starting at the three primary large lockers on deck and dock;  Rope Locker, Tool Locker, DockBox Paint locker.  That took up half the morning.  Before we lost volunteers to other commitments, Eva organized the crew on deck to raise the foresail about five feet, shake out the deep reef that had been previously set in a week ago, than line up to harbor furl. With the foresail now neatly burrito'd, the crew lined up on the mainsail to do the same.   

With those priority projects finishing up, Mate Eva departed to make some hiring and procuring calls and do other Mate stuff, Bryan lay below in the Saloon to lay out lunch.  Bryan had brought aboard some brisket and Southwest beans, all smoked and slow-cooked the prior afternoon, so spread that out with sandwich buns in the Saloon  along with some HT potato salad.  

Following lunch, while Walter hung back to clean up in the Saloon and Galley, the rest of the crew gathered in the cockpit, as Bryan dove deep into the lazarette to pick thru and identify all the contents, shouting them up to Lance who duly listed them, then consolidated all the lists in the Saloon for the Mate when she returned. 

It made for a fairly productive day, Next day projects are going to include identifying and patching the air leak in the tender, inventorying the remaining lockers, 

I'm anticipating there'll be other inventories to be conducted;  all the berth locker contents, for power tools, and hardware, 

The SignUp Genius now includes Volunteer options to sign up on weekdays , in addition to the regularly scheduled Saturdays; the intent being to enable individual volunteers to come aboard and take on an individual project.  By signing up ahead of time, Mate,Eva, and Bryan can coordinate and assign an appropriate project.

So C'MON DOWN!  There's plenty to do.

Cruise to Georgetown will begat its share of remembrance, sea stories, tall tales, lessons learned, and a sense of urgency for moving ahead.

 I'm sure I wasn't the only one that afternoon of the 17th, planning to go aboard early who was dreading the thought of crossing the gap between dock to cap rail, which occasionally spread to over 8 feet.  So, I was joyful for what I saw. For what had to be the best news for the crew that boarded our schooner on Thursday night  and early the next morning for Muster,.  The  new gangway. YES!.  A new gangway had been installed just earlier that day, sporting a new contraption overhead,  Capt Bobby made a name for it, which I haven't yet retained in memory.   The gangway had been shortened to 12 feet, from about 16, making it less a risk to gouge the butterfly hatch when up against the pilings. 

 Especially pleased were those of us who later formed a bucket brigade across the gangway to pass over several big boxes, crates, and bags of groceries and bottled water, that Cook, Ray Krugger carted over from his provisioning journey.  A few of us dropped off our gear into a berth Thursday evening, Dallas Spencer, Steve Folwell, Nick Swarts.  Our new Chief Mate, Eva Keyes arrived too, after leaving Maine and home town of Boston, selecting her berth. Getting settled in and into the evening, four of us in consensus decided to try Big John's Pub, for finding some dinner and a beverage.  Eva, Bryan, Nick, and Steve piled into Bryan's car in the Maritime Center Parking lot, raced the three blocks to the Harris Teeter Parking where Bryan stashed his wheels for the weekend. Hiking the remaining 3 blocks  the happy trio found plenty of room in the tavern, and sat down to agonize over the menu choice which was various ways to notch up an "O" riginal burger. and fries if you wanted.  Beer selection wasn't bad, as would've been the spirits behind the bar ,, but it wasn't payday, so.. By 10 Pm we were back in our berths, to peacefully await a 0700 muster and an unclear time for breakfast from Ray. 

The Quarterdeck Officers;
 Capt Bobby, Capt Will, and Mate, Eva 

With muster at 0700, the rest of the crew boarded,  Dallas Spencer, The two co-Captains, Bobby and Will Ventress, Dan Maurin, Carin Bloom and Dave Brennan. Ray brought along the final provisions to start breakfast, which would be served underway. By 0815 we had cast off and begun motoring down the north channel, past Ft. Sumter, and into the Jetties.  At that time, Capt Bobby directed Bryan to "cat the anchor, which was executed, and the anchor hung off the starboard cathead ready to drop in a minute's notice.

Schooner Denis Sullivan inbound
 to Charleston

 Halfway down the jetties we were pleasantly surprised to see an approaching tall ship sail,, three masts full, to be exact.  Bobby's check of the AIS revealed it to be Denis Sullivan, likely to put into port for students, and then southbound to the Caribbean for the winter. 

As we made the turn to the north, Bos'un Bryan requested of the Captain, for permission to assemble the crew for a Burial at Sea.  The family of Old Salt Volunteer Joe Gorman, who had passed away two years prior, had asked if the Spirit of South Carolina would be in a position to take Joe's cremated ashes to sea. Well, of course. 

Bryan spread out over the saloon butterfly hatch, the flag of South Carolina, and placed in the center a small box, specifically made for the occasion, containing the ashes of Joe Gorman.  The Mate called for a Muster, midships, lee rail, then "Hats Off" as the crew gathered in a small circle next to the starboard main shrouds.  Bryan recited a Eulogy for Joe, then handed off to Dallas Spencer who read the traditional Benediction for Burial at Sea.  Carin Bloom sang two verses of "The Leaving Shanty" for departed mariners, while Bryan removed he Reef knot over the box and passed the box to Dave Brennan at the Main Shrouds.  The Mate, Eva, directed Carin "Sound Eight Bells", Change of Watch, as Dave held out the box over the cap rail and scattered its contents over the water. As the last of the ashes left the box, Bryan shouted after them "Fair Winds, Joe!", and the rest of the crew followed with "And Following Seas!, Joe."   

Dan Maurin shot much video of he proceedings with will be given to Joe's widow, Barbara, and their family, along with Joe's box. And of course, a copy for the ship.  Click here for Joe Gorman's Ceremony at Sea.

Securing from the Burial at Sea Ceremony, Capt Bobby offered the option to raise sail, requiring us to tack out to sea for several miles before tacking back towards Winyah Bay. While sailing was always preferable, the consequence was we would not arrive to drop anchor until well into Saturday afternoon.  The consensus was to set sail.  Mate Eva set the crew to tying in a deep reef in the foresail, which turned out to be fairly arduous, digging thru folds of harbor-furled heavy canvas to find 24 pairs of  reef nettles, pulling them out on both sides, pushing the starboard nettles under the bolt rope to port side then slippery reef-knotting them. Meanwhile Mate Eva secured lashings from the rope locker and set to lashing down the tack then climbing up the foresheet to ride the foreboom and lash down the deep reef clew cringle.  

Dan Maurin takes the helm maintaining a heading
 for the mouth of Winyah Bay, another 30 miles north.

Shortly thereafter, due to some unforeseen constraints in Georgetown, the afterguard made the decision to motor straight for Winyah Bay, and so we continued on.. Ray called up from the Galley-announcing lunch, a savory Tomato Vegetable soup, and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  

Darkness fell as we motored into Winyah Bay,  and Ray called on deck for Dinner, a Shrimp/rice risotto thing, which he barely completed before the generator shut down again, and depowering his stove/oven.  We continued for another few hours to the lights of Lands End Marina, on the eastern edge of Georgetown. Capt Bobby reduced speed  while Mate Eva and Bryan with Nick on the brake wheel, prepped to release the anchor on command. Capt Bobby slowed, then reversed engines over his chosen spot and gave the order to drop anchor in approx 25 feet. About 120 feet or so of chain played out, in fits and spurts, when Nick screwed down the brake on the Wildcat. Pawls were set on the windlass and a chain stopper hook rigged.  Capt Bobby backed down on the anchor to set it. and we were in for the night.  Dallas Spencer on a tight work schedule disembarked to return home, and the Navy's work.

Next morning the Trawler Cruiser Blue Jacket rafted up to us, an acquaintance of Capt Will.   With the generator still kaput, Ray was forced into his breakfast and dessert pastries to serve up along with a fresh fruit assortment. 

Billy Creighton's Sea Chest

The first crew team overside in the tender was Dave Brennen, departing for medical appointments, and  Carin with her sea chest and folding table off to find the Show.  She would be locating our allotted space on the Main of the Wooden Boat Show, set up her display and assume the persona of Billy Creighton, early 19th century English Mariner. Just across from her, the Knot Tyer's Guild was set up with Old Salt Volunteer Danny Machowski providing education and coaching in the finer arts thereof. By the end of the day, "Billy Creighton had crossed over to the booth, tried out a few refresher knots, then promptly entered the competition for Tying six knots successfully in under 30 seconds.

British 1805 Mariner, Billy Creighton
 wins Gold in besting several
 other mariners for 6 knots
tied in 30 seconds. 

 At end of the day, She, I mean, He climbed back on the deck of the schooner, sporting the medallion for winning the competition. 
 

In other news, Bos'n Bryan Oliver coming ashore was quickly accosted by two Old Salts of Spirit of South Carolina, Shipwright Kenny Blyth, and First Volunteer Coordinator, Reg Brown.  The trio retired to a waterside tavern for an afternoon reunion.

Bos'n Bryan reunites in Georgetown with Old Salt
 Shipwright Kenny Blyth and Reg Brown

Missions ashore completed, the crew filtered back to the schooner where Ray had prepared hot dogs and a pretty darned good pasta salad.  Bryan broke out a bottle of aged Barbados Rum and toasts were offered up to our Schooner, the Festival, to that strange Brit sailor who brought back a medallion for knot-tying. 

 A good day with a good ending, but no not quite.  There was a nice town out there full of great people and not a few pretty good taverns still open, and so the crew did what sailors in port do. About eight of us tendered back to the dock, stuffed into an Uber Expedition, and rode the short distance thru the quiet Georgetown neighborhoods to the main street, locating our target. the Tavern "Buzz's Roost" perfectly situated on the water.  Will led the crew thru the maze of booths, tables, and almost had us a perfect spot on the water until discovering it had only 4 chairs, so back inside. All seated, menus passed, beverage selections made, appetizers ordered.   More toasts, much banter about the sail up, a remembrance of Joe, on our second round when some kerfuffle was noticed back near the kitchen, someone shouted "Everybody Out!" twice,, is was enough that Will promptly stood up, as did we all as a group, looking at one another as to whether this was something serious..  Turned out out it was only sort of serious, the head staff was managing it, and so we slowly sat back down. In the meantime a different waitress, at request of our regular server, hurried over and handed us our whole bill, asking us to settle up.  It was happening across the room, so Capt Bobby settled,  and we all filed out the door to the apologies of the wait staff for the scene.  Alls well, but much joking as Will offered up that the race to get us the check was the appearance of a 'bunch of sailors out there, immediately standing up together as the shouting started, as if we were taking advantage of the confusion to stiff our bill.

Coming out of the Roof, different phones searched for Ubers, or Lyfts, anything,, at 10 pm, the place had become deserted, the only available vehicle over 30 minutes away.. Somebody made the decision to just hike back.  And so we started back, a distance of one and a half miles. strung out in a loose column, some of us moving a little slower than others, based on, well, you know... 

Arrived at the marina, all standing, and transferred to the schooner in two trips. Lights out and pretty darned quiet aboard by midnite.

Morning  turn-to and breakfast would be leisurely with anchor weighing not planned till well after lunch. Walter Barton arrived at the marina to fill out our return crew.  The Generator was remaining cantankerous, forcing Ray into  warming leftovers  with help of our neighbors on the trawler, including getting our coffee brewed.  To Blue Jacket we are indebted. 

Mate Eva took overall charge of weighing and catting the anchor while Bryan led the Windlass pumping team. Anchor secured, Capt Bobby pointed the schooner down the bay and by 2 pm we were under way.  

Carin Bloom at the helm homeward bound,
with Steve, Will, Eva and Walter, kibitzing.

Discussion was held on the quarter deck as to whether to take advantage of favorable winds out at sea and raise sail. The mate Eva had previously inspected the headsails, and observing the crew, advised against it. There was a risk of further damage to sails, and the naturally intricate drill of jibing the huge main and foresails would be a challenge at best for an inexperienced crew.  

Captains Bobby and Will left command to Eva while they worked on jury-rigging a water intake to the generator cooling system. As a result, there was intermittent AC power for a small portion of the time, but not sufficient to power the galley.. So cold cuts, and charcouterie  for lunch, and dinner.  The schooner followed a course straight for the jetties. Motoring with the wind, made the seas much more calm then the outbound passage, Friday. As on the outward passage, a  cloudless sky made for great star sighting till a huge moon arose.  

We rounded the jetties at approximately midnight,  set out docklines and stod by to launch the tender as we passed Patriots Point, all well illuminated.  Approaching our dock was a bit more spooky. It was not well illuminated. Tender was launched, Nick as coxwain, took Dan Maurin across to take our lines.

With a slight ebb tide, and light breeze behind us, Capt Bobby lined up well north of our dock and eased the schooner into a shallow "landing" approach, bringing us to within 10 feet, an easy hea4ving line throw. Even in the dark, lines went across in order, 3, 4, then 1 and lastly 2, as Capt Bobby eased forward, while Bryan checked # 3, Eva lined the gangway up with midships, and everything snugged up in unison.  Another smooth, seemingly effortless docking.  Next came the handling of the new-fangled gangway whatchamacallit, rigging it across the gangway falls, suspending the gangway below. That drill, too, was executed almost flawlessly.  The time was 0230, Monday morning.  

All hands released immediately. A few remained for on board to depart later in the morning.  A lot was learned, and the Punch List of maintenance to-do's and routines and drills to adjust, and finally, lots more training to execute.  I"ll explain later.

Six Days and the Crew Focus Sharpens on the details for a successful cruise to Georgetown, and North Carolina communities get a nice donation.

 Its like any new project, particularly a complex one,, the closer you get to execution, the sharper your focus becomes , and the more to-do's, issues, and details become visible that need to be prioritized and resolved.  Our crew for Georgetown now reduced to a complement of 12 with drop-outs,and add-ins, will be converging the day before cast-off, and a few coming aboard for the first time, the day of. That's 12 souls with skills and experience ranging from vast to well, almost never-ever.  

However, before our crew could board with their personal gear, space needed to be made below for them. ,  In the past 9 months, most of the 28 berths in the forecastle and saloon had been made into staging areas for tools, cords, paint supplies, cases and crates of catering dinnerware, glassware, utensils and all kinds of hardware. Additionally, the head in the forecastle remained inoperable pending a good clean-up and rebuilding of the flushing pump. So, the challenge became, the freeing up as many saloon berths as possible.

So, this past Saturday, with guidance and priorities set by Capt Bobby, Bos'un-Bryan, Dan Maurin, Dallas Spencer, Lance Halderman and Walter Barton climbed aboard, using their best trapeze moves. [The gangway remains non-operational, necessitating boarding either by tender-ferrying , or stretching from the dock across to the Main shrouds, high overhead of the rolling yokohama's.]  Dallas and Lance stayed on the dock the first hour to advance the repair of the Dory's oarlocks and caprail, to make her ready for launch. 

The rest mustered on deck to clear the remaining hardware, miscellany out of the saloon berths, then hunt down, bag-up, and stage on deck every last piece of the existing bed linen, pillows and blankets. One of Capt Bobby's priorities was to rid the ship of the old stuff.  Walter Barton had proposed just the right solution.  Most of the bedding was perfectly usable, and recently laundered in volunteer's laundry rooms. He and his wife and a few others had been gathering household goods to deliver north into the devastated communities in North Carolina. Volunteers staged a fire-brigade-style line from below decks onto the deck then up onto the dock where approximately 40 bagged sets of linens, pillows, and blankets, were piled onto dock carts, and rolled to Walters waiting SUV.  

As the bulky stuff was cleared from below decks, the effort shifted to the odd hardware piles remaining scattered across six different berths..  Some of it went to the dock for storage, some went to the garbage, some  was consolidated into other bunks, but the net result was, that we freed up another half-dozen berths for their intended use. 

As the below decks operation was coming to a stopping point, Dallas had shifted from the Dory to the damaged 8 feet of starboard cap-rail gouged by the broken gangway. With a couple of recently procured exotic-looking rasps, and experience from his two weeks at the Wooden Boat School in Brookline Maine, Dallas chiseled, scraped and smoothed out the damaged areas, readying them for the next step of some 120 grit, and coats of Australian Timber Oil. 

In the course of the morning, Capt Bobby gave us a better picture of the near term activities for the vessel.  It's now been over a year since our last COI Inspection. We are due for another one, which may be a bit more involved since it will certify the ship from In-shore to(hopefully) Off-shore operation sailing. Without it we are unable to carry passengers out to sea. The preparation for-and COI sail are being scheduled.   

In the interim. the schooner is not authorized for paying passengers.  So in this interim, Capt Bobby is planning for a number of training sails, similar to our cruise to Georgetown. At the other end of this cycle is the delivering of the schooner to shipyard in late Spring 2025 for a few months, for it's 10-Year Inspection. which will involve really in-depth, mast-unstepping examinations; shipyard location, not yet confirmed.

Ten Days till Georgetowne and Counting Down

This past Saturday the 5th was the first chance of start resolving the suddenly burgeoning  Punch List, courtesy of Tropical Storm Helene. Five of us mustered in the Saloon, with Capt Bobby to review the list and share news, the best of which was.. Our new Mate has a name, and a resume..   She is Eva Keyes, and has been a mate on at least three different schooners if I counted correctly.  One of those was Harvey Gamage, out of Portland. Some of you involved in her last couple of ports of call likely may have met.  She remembers Spirit of South Carolina.  

With that news some additional variables fell out regarding our Cruise to the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show.  We'll be sailing with a max complement of 11 sailors and Capt Bobby.  His plan is to cast off around 0800 hours Friday morning, to make our anchorage by 1900.  

The Boat Show officially kicks off at 1100 along the waterfront Street. We anchor well outside, in vicinity of their Marina, where water is sufficient to carry our 12 ft depth.  Crew will ferry ashore in the tender .  The rest of this is pure conjecture on my part, pending decisions made by the Captain:

We can expect some" Liberty" time to go ashore to enjoy the Boat Show. 

We can also expect to set an anchor/deck watch 24 hours/day(usually a one-person job). 

It's very likely we may have a table, - we can expect to staff a table in the exhibition area, where we may have our sandwich board,, our Recruiting Brochures,. If had power from somewhere, maybe a TV screen looping some video footage, 

It's a component of our Volunteer Role to be a storyteller. Now will be our opportunity. Mostly it would require two of us, on a 2-hour shift as Storytellers, (material to be ingested, absorbed, memorized, so as to be competent story tellers of  Spirit's History, where she comes from, and her mission. The schooner's role in representing the maritime culture of South Carolina thru stories about:

• Schooners and the Seaborne Underground Railroad, 
• Francis Elizabeth and Piloting in the 19th Century- and now.
• Spirit of South Carolina's ties to the Schooner Yacht America

It oughta  be fun.  We expect to sail for other appearances up and down the coast.

This past weekend deserves some attention.  We put a good dent in the Helene Punchlist.

Steve Folwell teamed up with Capt Bobby to wrestle out the two old-worn out dorm refrigerators from the Galley, then lowered down the companion hatch two new refrigerators.  Unfortunately both were of higher capacity, and, consequently greater volume and density then the earlier-antique-y rust boxes they replaced. Only one would fit.  So, while Steve wrestled with blocks and shims to wedge into place one of the refrigerators,  Capt Bobby strategized options for placement of the second-larger refrigerator. 

Another significant punch list project lay hidden in the nicely harbor-furled roll of the Jumbo sail. In the last cruise to the sea buoy, the jib sheet's clew shackle had chafed a spot in the middle of the sail, expanding it into a  squared tear.   Turns out the clew should never have been rigged that way, only requiring the jib sheet pendants to cow hitch directly into the clew cringle.  This, Bryan resolved quickly with help of Lance and Walter. Now to fix the tears.

 Bryan challenged Lance to some herringbone stitching. 

Bryan and Lance stitching up the tear
in the Jumbo.

Walter disappeared into the saloon, coming up the stairs with the ship's Canvas Repair bag. Selecting two large canvas needles, a sailor's palm for each, and two fathoms of waxed nylon twine, the two laid out halfway down the jumbo boom to dig thru the folds and expose the torn section. For the next hour, until time to order lunch Bryan and Lance starting at opposite ends of the tear laid in stitch after stitch,,,, after stitch. only reloading twice each needle, the tears were joined, not necessarily prettily, but enough to hold together pending a correct sail fabric patch., 

 Once free from the jib sheets, Steve and Walter teamed up with a large socket set and breaker bars to take off the two bronze stanchion bases from the damaged cap rail.  Capt Bobby took charge of them for later transport to the Smithy.

Meanwhile Lance Halderman, and Bryan Oliver finished off a hugely symbolic and significant project, actually initiated by 100 Volunteer hours- Dallas Spencer when he basically made from scratch, a pair of boat tackles, traditionally stropped and tarred with a 4-to-1 purchase. Dallas completed rigging up the portside stern boat falls, at which time we ran out of Vintage 3-strand 1/2 rope. That left the bow falls gear languishing in the bo'sun's locker.. until earlier this week when a 250-foot spool of the right stuff arrived from New England.  So, once the correct length was laid out on the deck, cut and whipped, an eye splice turned in at one end over a thimble-it was rove thru the two double blocks. 

Lance on his second climb aloft
with bigger channel locks.

Next step was for Lance to lay aloft with a marlinspike and channel locks to break free the one shackle pin holding the top double becket block to it's pendant. Lance must've made about four round trips aloft trying different tools, more WD40, then something more powerful that escapes me, before we mutually agreed the pin was sufficiently seized that we couldn't attain the torque to break it, while it hung up in the air. 

As the day was closing down, our crew secured tools and finally departed, leaving Bryan staring up at the double becket block so far defying any attempt to dislodge it.  Only option left was to cut the pair of well-clapped on seizing's holding the five-foot long becket block pendant to the shrouds, about 10 feet above the running lights box, lower it down and get the block and shackle to the bench vise on the dock.  So, Bryan buckled on his rig and climbed about half-way up the shrouds, his personal best yet, and started sawing away on the double-round seizing's.  After ten minutes, the final wraps were severed and Bryan climbed back down with the stiffly rigid pendant. Reaching the deck, Bryan grabbed the small ball peen  hammer from the tool locker bag, "things that hammer", and walked across the deck carrying the pendant, to the starboard main shrouds.  Without the gangway, the crew was forced to stretch themselves across the chasm between the cap rail and the dock, usually at varying heights due to the tide.  He climbed up to the sheer pole before turning around to stretch out over the water, grab the piling and step across to the dock where the bench vice sat at the far end..  Three sharp blows of the hammer on the shackle ring, was enough to break the rusty hold of the shackle pin.  Returning to the deck, all parts now present, including the last shackle on board with apparently the exact size opening to admit the thimble end. Not so. The thimbles opening would not spread sufficiently to slip over the custom milled bronze round thimble in the block's strop. Another trip to the vice, with the ball peen hammer to pound the bronze ring "sidewall" sufficiently compressing it to allow the haul's thimble in to slip into the shackles thimble.  But now, where was the shackle pin? the one Lance had fought so hard with way up aloft, ?  Now, it was dark. it was after seven pm, and time to quit.. So the search for the misplaced shackle pin would wait till ..well,, later. 

The next morning, Sunday,, consumed with , or obsessed with, we're not sure, Bryan drove alone back to the Schooner just after lunch, boarded and started searching for the missing shackle pin, which he found almost immediately.  With all parts now accounted for the  block, bow falls bitter end, and shackle could be assembled and torqued; the mousing wire would have to wait to reinforcements arrived.  For now, Bryan's adrenalin was up to get this Bow Falls pendant  overhauled with the bow falls rope, then raised up and round-seized up again in it's position halfway up the foremast shroud. A sunday afternoon well-spent.  That would make four critical items struck from the Punch List. The next challenge would have to wait until Monday morning. 

"It's Always Something!" This time, her name's "Helene", and she's added to our maintenance "Punch List"

I just finished a drive from St. Louis home to Mt Pleasant three days ago, skirting the Tennessee-North Carolina-Georgia borders.  Sobering is an understatement.  Coupled with the news footage of the devastation visible even from the Interstate, is a jarring reminder of how relatively well we've fared here on the coast..this time.

 

Our swamped next door neighbor with damaged
 floating dock being salvaged.

Spirit of South Carolina fared better than many.  This was the scene when I walked down the dock Tuesday morning. I haven't heard the complete stories, but according to Capt Bobby, at one point, the floating docks rose higher than the fixed docks. (Dory survived on her cradle just fine, if you're asking). Coupled with winds 45 kts plus,  and wave action driving from the SSE, as I remember my PredictWind app, our Schooner rode pretty well, but not without  some injury.  The mechanics of those injuries will be discussed in subsequent crew gatherings with more lessons to be learned.  Stay tuned. 

Welcome to copy and paste: For now, our maintenance punch list has been revised so it now reads:

• Sand down and refinish 8-foot length of starboard caprail forward of gangway.
• Remove for repair/replacement, two damaged stanchions from the caprail (same area) 
• Repair with Herringbone stitch and sail tape(temporary), the hole center of the Jumbo.

• 

  Our starboard rail took a good scraping
  from the gangway pulled along the rail
   before being torn from the dock.

  Repair the air leak in the Tender (Capt Bobby may be ahead on this)
• Remove shackle from the Jib Clew, "Cow-hitch" the jib sheet pendant directly to the Jib clew.
• If available, measure out new rope (1/2") and up-rig "Spencer blocks" to port-side bow falls.
• Start Prepping for Georgetown Cruise.
• Clear out designated Saloon bunks for crew berths
• Deck Wash 
• Organize to rig rope lifelines between Fore and Main shrouds for going to sea.
• 
  

If you can lend a hand, and lay in on any of these projects, please select a date/time you're available and sign up with others. 

Click Here to SignupGenius

With our gangway no longer in operation, we are reduced to crossing from the dock to a shroud to get to the deck; fairly easy at high tide, more of a challenge as the ship lowers on the ebb, but still doable.

Something else to look forward to, next month.  This is a big deal.  For the first time since 2019, our crew will include a professional Tall Ship sailor.

Around 3 November, we're planning to welcome aboard our new Mate. Not yet authorized to provide a name, but I have seen the CV.  Turns out some of you older volunteers may have met this person at one time. Five years in tall ships, schooners mostly, South Pacific as well as east coast up to Maine as Mate.  This person knows our ship, thinks highly of her, and already knows what y'all do. Yes, I"ve been talking.  You can expect standards to go up a bit ;-).  But that's what Mates do.   

PS.  Since I can't be everywhere all the time, I"ve missed some Volunteer Activity( Last week's successful harbor charters), which as a result I've no visibility into what happened, to whom,  with whom, and generally how things went.  With a couple of donated photo's and a narrative  of what happened.. you too can be a productive Blogger.   I'll publish anything you contribute... mostly.