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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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