A Clean Sweep of the Punch List, and now ready balance the maintenance list with some skill building.

 So, basically, last Saturday's Volunteer Day went like this;...  While Bosun Bryan took off for Galveston for a family reunion weekend, leaving only a Punchlist full of projects and vague instructions,, Ken Fonville, Tony Marchesani(just off the disabled roster, might be recognized wearing a pirate eye patch), and David Reid, effectively pulled off a Clean Sweep.. (Everything on the list completed)..  That hardly ever happens, in my experience.. there's always some little issue that prevents one or more of those tasks being completed and resolved.  Not only did the intrepid crew make quick work of those, they cleaned out the under-saloon-table mini-fridge, and left open to air out.  With a steady rhythm established for maintenance it's time to balance with some serious skills training.

As for Bryan in Galveston,, he found some way to break away for a couple hours, to locate the State of Texas's own Tall Ship, SV Elissa. It's always an interesting adventure for find another tall ship, do some exploring, and interact with other sailors.  Lots to learn, and ideas to adapt, maybe.
Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so the people he wanted to connect with,, their Volunteer Coordinator mainly, were all off.. actually at the Mardi Gras parade downtown.  Nevertheless, a self-guided tour was completed, photos taken, and interesting insights made. There's a good YouTube link for the tour below.  

Elissa is a three-masted Barque. iron and steel hull and steel lower masts. 205 feet long sparred. She was built in Scotland in 1877, and sailed the world as a sort of "tramp" sailing vessel picking up cargo and taking it where-ever, picking up more cargo where it could and taking it where ever it could be sold.. In other words,, not real schedule, at some point in those cruises she made port at Galveston twice. 

Gasket coils-a little sloppy,
but same as us. 

At some point she was found to be no longer viable and sent to a scrapyard in Greece.  Galveston was looking for a symbol of the city's late 19th century development into a major seaport, and found the Barque.  The Galveston Foundation bought her, brought her to Galveston in 1978, and restored to as a museum piece, and sailing vessel in 1982. For one month during the year,, April, she actually takes a number of passengers as trainees for a six hour day sail, to basically learn the ropes.. s ame thing as we would do in the harbor, the whole time learning about how a ship like that works.  numerous videos on YouTube. The ship is actually maintained under the umbrella of the Galveston Historical Society.-similar to the Charleston Preservation Society. 

The link below is a pretty good tour-guide video of the entire vessel.

Tour the Barque Elissa

When I boarded, the volunteer crew had just departed after hoisting up the mizzen topmast into position with the mizzen truck(the tippy-top) poking thru the mizzen doubling . The final task would be to set up all the standing rigging at the mizzen truck, then using the capstan, hoist up the mizzen topmast into it's final resting spot. 

Would've liked to have stayed for that.. It's what we'll need to do for our own main topmast. 

mizzen topmast swayed up along side
the mizzen mast
 and suspended for the next step.

Bottom of the mizzen topmast showing the sheave thru which a line is run, back up to a block at the mizzen top, then down to a turning block on the deck finally ending up bent around a capstan, where the crew will set the captstan bars and lay in.

The Capstan- waiting for the line to be  bent around,
the bars placed, the crew leaning into it and a good shanty sung.

Elissa is a well-supported historical attraction vessel capable of going to sea.  I'm hoping to learn some lessons from her, and pass on to whoever may listen.