Down-Rigging Now in Full as Volunteers Take down the Main Sail and Rigging

No doubt; this was gonna be an ambitious day of multiple achievements.  The Mate, Eva, had spelled out her plan the afternoon earlier, leaving the Punch-List in the Saloon for Volunteer Todd Cole who drove down from Atlanta for the weekend.  All was centered around derigging the Mainmast- the most complex web of running rigging, the heaviest massive sail, seemingly "miles" of cordage of all sizes.  The most massive blocks on the ship.  Thankfully, an additional four Volunteers answered Bryan Oliver's Friday morning plea for help.

  

So, Today, seven of us, Bryan Oliver, Walter Barton, Ryan Smith, Todd Cole, Lance Halderman, Jim Morrisette, Marty Bull, and Danny Johnson mustered on deck at 0900 to hear the Mate's guidance and priorities for the day:   

• Down rig all running rigging from the Mainmast, 
• unlace, gasket-up and deliver the mainsail down into the forecastle and stow in a berth(s)
• Stretch out and measure all ten lines of running rigging, re-coil and stow in the Forecastle.
• Down-rig all blocks, scuff and sand the cheeks, prep for repainting.
• Pull out as many belaying pins as possible, sand to remove the gray sun-damaged surface, and soak in a linseed oil/turpentine bath over night. 

Nothing I can say about the day would do justice to the effort that everyone threw into the task, so I'm listing the photo's captured earlier today to give you a flavor of the thing.

Lance, Todd Cole, Jim Morrisette, and Walter,
laying out and measuring, then re-coiling and labeling
 all ten lines of Mainsail rigging. We covered most of the face dock and finger dock.

Danny and Marty pull the 156 foot marling-hitched mail sail lacings
 off the boom before measuring, coiling, and stowing the line.

Hundreds of feet of running rigging
 laid out on the dock for inspection
 and measuring...

...Then coiled and nippered before being carried
 back aboard and stacked into forecastle berths.

Marty shouldering the middle of a 52-foot,
 3/4 ton anaconda of canvas, muscling it thru the forecastle
 into the waiting arms of shipmates stuffing into
 two adjacent berths.

Bryan Oliver hunkered in Berth 14
cramming piles of Mainsail into every corner.

"The Pit Crew"  Marty, Ryan,
 Lance, and Walter after punching the last bit
 of Mainsail into Forecastle berths 10 and 14.

A welcome transition from the lifting,

 pushing/pulling just hours before,

Departing to meet his wife, Todd eschews the almost vertical gangway, to 

Bryan and Lance get to sit down for next task of sanding down some of the five large blocks and 19 grimy belaying pins  for soaking and recoating in a linseed oil/turpentine bath.

Lance, Walter, Marty, Ryan, Jim, and Todd all converge on the 19 belaying pins pulled out of the pinrails, sanding off grime and gray sun damage to a wood surface ready to soak up linseed oil.

Weekdays as well as weekends are available on Signup Genius to advance the down-rigging effort to completion. Volunteers can view and sign up for 1-2 hours weekday afternoons, or longer on Saturdays.