The Project begins its early Stages for Spirit of South Carolina' Her Home Dock gets organized. Celebration in plans.

 Last Wednesday, two of us volunteers, Dan Maurin and myself, joined up with the crew at the Lowcountry Maritime School, Boatyard to continue the build of the Penobscot 13. Dan was in a steep learning curve since we were in the midst of shaping one of the lapstrakes; each one individually sized shaped, planed, and beveled over several iterations to complete a perfectly aligned fit over the lower plank. In that one exercise Shipwright, Rachel patiently coached us in several techniques, tools, and PATIENCE, in flat-planing out a perfectly faired curve, with a constantly adjusting edge bevel along a 13 foot (earlier scarfed) 1/8" marine plywood plank. 

Dan is running a straight edge along the stringer
 and the plank above it to identify high edges
 that he'll return to plane down, ensuring a
 flat contact of the new plank with the stringer
 and the plank above. 

Next session we'll proof up our handiwork one last time, then taper out the bow-end over about 10 inches to make the plank fit into the stem, the overlap on the lower plank disappearing  so that it lies flush with the plank under it. An astounding appearance when you look at it.   But you had to be there.. Actually you can be there!  Wednesdays at 4:30 pm for a couple of hours.  A few sessions with Rachel will up your fine carpentry game significantly.

Saturday, 20 September saw the lightest Volunteer Turn-out in almost a year, just Bryan and Ken Fonville mustered together to finish the reorganization and clean-up of our dock. I'm hoping it was the out-of-character shift to 2pm -to-4pm, or the 13 knot breezes that would've discouraged our latest attempt to launch Dory.   As it was, Ken and I made the last loads to the dumpster, secured our remaining hardware behind the bicycle fence, and then turned to the planning of this coming Saturday's final resolution of the Yokohama Fender arrangement. As a last thing, Bryan and Ken laid out a 100 ft length of the 1.5 in diameter dual braid donated by Ryan Smith, then seized an eye into one end while Ken whipped the opposite end. That line would be used to temporarily, or maybe permanently secure the yokohama string in place while setting up the more permanent chains.

Last week, Capt Heath Hackett alerted Bryan that a Shipwright from the Mystic Seaport Museum would be coming aboard on Tuesday to assess/evaluate and draw up an estimate of the work needed. Bryan met them, around 11 am, where they were already engaged in poking, and marking up worm-damage areas at the stem. This time, the work/rot damage was more pronounced than 3 years ago, and oddly enough limited mostly to the port side-the side predominantly exposed to wave action from the harbor side. 

Spirit of South Carolina with her Scaffolding/gangway
 for getting aboard.

We spent approximately 3 hours exploring all aspects of the hull exterior, before climbing the scaffold to the deck and climbing down into the lazarette, the forecastle and chain locker, and finally rudder, to assess any level of penetration. 

Many questions were asked.. Capt Heath and Bryan had learned many lessons from the shipyard experience 2 years ago.  Scott, the shipwright offered several scenarios, and possible approaches, depending on the recommendations of the shipwright (TBD) who would be taking on the project. 

Shipwright, Scott and Capt Heath
assessing situation at the Rudder Post

As we dispersed,  it became obvious as to the length of time our schooner would likely be facing in this shipyard.  Capt Heath was promised his estimate by end of the week, which he would use to start searching the wharfs and old shipyards for an available, competent Shipwright,  and start sourcing timber, planking mostly, which could take several weeks or months, due to the special specs for viable ship planking.. not as simple as you might assume.  

Not yet firm, the Schooner's rig, including the un-stepping of her masts, repair/replacement of components, assessing conditions of sails, plumbing, electrical components of power plant, navionics...,all separate skill sets. 

Some of those projects can benefit from skills at deckhand level, i.e. Volunteers.   

We will be standing by as all this unfolds

Comments  and responses are welcome.. 

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Spirit of South Carolina is Settling into the Shipyard Environment ; Volunteers Face Two Projects and some fun on the Dock.

 Well!  It's been just five days since Spirit of South Carolina departed for Steven's Towing on Yonges Island. As of today, she's been lifted out of the water and secured on huge block pilings, waiting for good power-washing of her hull to clear away barnacles and other crusty stuff, and to better expose any compromises to her bottom, specifically, rot, or teredo (shipworms) that plague wooden hulls in southern waters. 

Traditional wooden ship Shipwrights will likely be consulted for their advice on resolving issues, ranging from small, scraping out and sealing, to cutting out and filling with a "dutchman" a wood piece custom designed to fill the gap, or finally pulling whole-sale, rotted/damaged planks and replacing with new.  

Other issues, electrical, mechanical, rigging, plumbing, carpentry on deck and below, may be assessed and remediations scheduled for on deck, or waiting  until she returns to the water. One significant project in 10-Year Shipyards will be the down-rigging and removal of her masts and headrig; a Coast Guard requirement every 10 years-hence the name.

Typically, in the Tall-Ship- world, volunteers, when available, would swarm the deck to advance much of these projects, supervised by shipwright and rigging professionals. See the ShipYard Photo Album by clicking on the tab above. The project scheduling and supporting labor needs are still in planning. 

The Shipyard is a serious industrial site which follows the OSHA rules for safety. Everyone(including volunteers) crossing from the front office into the Yard must be wearing an approved Hard Hat, and steel-towed shoes. The Volunteer Grant funded by US Boating America (Sail and Power Squadron) is funding the purchase of approx five hard hats for volunteer use once the go-ahead is made to come aboard. We will need to coordinate the funding and transportation to and from the Shipyard, which is about an hour's drive from the Maritime Center.

For your curiosity, and getting a sense of what goes on, I composed a photo-album of our schooner's past shipyard activity, from Newport in 2015(a 10-Year Shipyard), skipping one in Belfast Maine,2017, then Thunderbolt-Savannah, 2019 and 2022.  This current Shipyard Project will mark her second 10-year cycle.  It's in the Banner Heading of Topics at top of this page.

Finishing UP Two Projects on the Dock

Now that Spirit of South Carolina has left the dock,, The mess of Yokohama Fender arrangement has been exposed. Now is our chance to fix the mess once and for all. With help of Walter Barton's smallboat, a few tools and hardware we can restring the pole and chain assembly to center the yokohamas on the pilings without slipping off due to changing tides. Given calm seas and clear weather, the effort should take no more than two hours.

The second project can go concurrently,, or not.. being the straightening up the dock area itself,,, carting off to trash some, storing away others for salvage or sail, the moving and securing of our gangway off the tourist heavy area and closer to the fenced-up hardware area.  

Finally,, for fun, it's  time to launch the dory and give her some exercise,, set her sail.  Interested Volunteers should signup for a time, to gather for an orientation to ensure safe boat handling, accounting for and good stewards of her rig. With advance notice Volunteers may take her out any day, any time between 0800 to 1800. 

Sign Up Here.

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Lowcountry Maritime School offers Volunteers a Traditional Wooden ship maritime community and skill sharpening venue

 So, now that Spirit of South Carolina is in Shipyard, pending the appearance of the plan for her, how do we volunteers keep our hands in the game, and our enthusiasm for these ships alive?  

Volunteers finishing touches on Charles Sneed,
 the Yawl boat built for Spirit of South Carolina

LowCountry Maritime School is proving an excellent fit for Volunteers  waiting for Spirit's shipyard project plan to be made known, as well as our part in it. LMS Mission is similar to that of Spirit of South Carolina.  Director Sam Gervais envisions young students completing their LMS projects to naturally migrate up to the larger skill maritime opportunities offered by Spirit of South Carolina. And so we are looking at concepts that will synthesis, in a word, out goals and efforts into something mutually beneficial.

In this one sense, LMS offers an environment for Volunteers thru boatyard building, restoration, and maintenance to sharpen the inherent skills there, but to stay involved in this traditional wooden boating community, which has a larger footprint in the low country than you might imagine.  

Boat Day on Colonial  Lake

Their active period has begun with start of the school year, where they'll be at a number of middle schools with tools, materials, stories, and teachers to use their math reading and other skills to build a floating operational Bevins Skiff.  In between that work, the staff, and volunteers have been building a Penobscot 13, as well as working some other projects.  

Sam Gervais and family taking a tour around
Colonial Lake in this Spring's LMS Boat Day

 

Volunteers meet Wednesdays from 4:30 to 6:30 PM at the LowCountry Maritime School boatyard on 

1230 Pherigo Street in Mount Pleasant,, a block off from Red Drum Restaurant.

Sign UP here,  

or..

 email/text Brandon Clark at LMS that you'd like to attend.

Brandon Clark

843-324-1979

Spirit of South Carolina's Next Phase is Here!

 By the time I get this published, Spirit of South Carolina will have been resting peacefully, fendered-up against a huge barge at Stephens Towing Company (Shipyard) on Yonges Island since Thursday afternoon the 4th of September. 

She had been brought there by a hastily recruited Pick-up delivery crew of professionals and Volunteers, on less than 18 hours notice.  

Yours truly was informed late Tuesday afternoon, and requested to, from a standing start, organize what volunteers could be reached, and react;   2 hands on the dock to take off the gangway and cast off dock lines, and a few more on board to take in lines and send them out again once arriving at the destination.  The directive was not to publicize this event, i.e. no standard email/text blast to 100-plus Volunteers, and see how many could respond, then select the most able-bodied. It was a quick reaction drill that none of us really wanted, but-there we were. If you ever wondered why the Volunteer Attendance Log exists, this is why.

On getting his marching orders, Bryan contacted the delivery Captain, Andy Hudak to coordinate efforts and get his plan.  Capt Hudak was well acquainted with our Schooner having delivered her back to Charleston in 2023 from her previous shipyard. Other old volunteers might remember him from the times he Captained the schooner Harvey Gamage during her port calls here in Charleston.  Along with Capt Hudak, Dave Gugliatti, a Charter Captain/Engineer/second license holder came onboard to inspect, monitor the engines and electrical power, and work the throttles. Also coming aboard would be Sam Gervais, Director of the Low Country Maritime School.

 So, Bos'n Bryan sent out some hasty text and voice mails to the most likely available, and sufficiently capable volunteers to take on this delivery. No time for training-up.   So, starting with the most recently active volunteers, based on logged hours and demonstrated competence, Bryan started texting. Ken Fonville, and Walter Barton quickly responded, but could only be present to get her off the dock. They would take charge of the gangway and casting off the nine dock lines. Lance Halderman, and Maxwell Dale, happened to be on their "weekend" during a cycle break as instructors at the Naval Nuclear Electronics School. They would be able to join crew as deckhands for the delivery.  

The plan was to cast off between 0700 and 0800 to catch favorable tides both, outbound for speed, and inbound over the bar off the Edisto Inlet, and.. before the Shipyard closed for the day. Since she was completely down-rigged, she would be motoring the 46-mile route out past the jetties, down the coast, and up the Edisto River/Intracoastal Waterway to her destination, to be hauled out and begin her long- anticipated every-10-Year Shipyard Phase.

Capt Andy jumps the gap to
take a shore-side look at dock lines
before the crew arrives at 0700..

All mustered promptly around 0715 in the morning. A technical Diver had arrived on site to check out our situation below the water line, later surfacing with positive observations.   Lance had brought along some unexpected but welcome help, his friend Kyra, who had come aboard on several previous volunteer days to earn some deckhand skills. That brought our total complement on board to seven souls - a barebones crew. 

Bryan assigned tasks, and things started moving fast.  While Capt Dave  disappeared into the Engine room to check out what worked and what didn't. Dock lines singled up. Ball Fenders reset to orient on the pilings. Water hoses unhooked and coiled. On the dock, gangway steps were cleared way, as well as space for stowing the gangway, which was next, Ken and Walter deftly unhinging, lifting and swinging the inboard  edge all the way inward

Ken Fonville sends off the schooner while
he and Walter secure the gangway on the dock.

swung off onto the dock. Un-necessary open hatches secured for sea. Capt Hudak directed taking in dock lines according to his predetermined tactic to manage an ebbing tide current.  

By 0815 we were pointed down the North Channel and Ft. Sumter

 Sam Gervais in overwatch, Capt Andy on the helm,
 Dave G. adding reverse throttles to clear the
 bowsprit  off the dock while Kyra
 and  Maxwell coil dock lines. 

On the way out of the harbor, and pretty much the entire passage, there was no wind. The sea was like glass. Our colors  on the transom and on the spreaders hung limp. Cloudless sky.  Temp high enough to feel the heat, but not yet oppressive. Water  bottles filled from the on-deck orange jug, just before, fortified by 3 pounds of bowl-frozen ice.

Just beyond the Jetties, Capt Hudak slowly put the helm to starboard, swinging us around the Red 17 channel buoy and onto a southwesterly course down the coast. There was nothing left to do but enjoy the remaining 5 -hour motor cruise to the North Edisto inlet, then up river to the shipyard.

Bryan broke out the Six-Knot Challenge bag from the rope locker and arranged six  one-fathom ropes. on the fife rail, and invited volunteers to a little practice.  Maxwell got serious with it, and after three rounds, reduced his time for the six knots to 35 seconds. 30 seconds for all six knots made to standard will get his name on the Brass Plaque in the saloon.  He and Nick Swartz are both in striking distance of that distinction. 

An unannounced excitement occurred when a Coast Guard Patrol Boat rapidly approached from our stern, hailed the schooner to prepare to be boarded. Turns out it was a random Safety Inspection. The "Coasties" in this department were required a quota of on-the-water contacts to inspect, as we were literally the only vessel in sight.  The inspection was quick and efficient, and they were off.  

In another hour, Bryan brings his Mark 25 sextant on deck, and a few try their hands at bringing the sun down to the horizon for a shot, with a promise from Bryan to compute a line of position, sometime in the coming week.  One by one, crew goes below to build a sandwich or wrap for lunch with fixin's brought aboard by Capt Andy. While not setting a watch, Capt Andy made sure that each hand took a turn at the wheel.  We'd been averaging between 8 and 9 knots under power, so making better time than expected.

By one PM, the schooner turned up to a Northwest bearing, motored over the bar and into the Edisto River. In another hour and a half, followed the curve and northerly fork that became the Wadmalaw River.  Now we could make out the yellow crane on the horizon that marked our destination. .At 1445 hrs, fully an hour earlier than predicted, we slowed back, put out fenders starboard side, and ran out dock lines.  Stephens Towing Project Manager Dagin Clark met us at a huge barge where we would tie up. On questioning, his plan was to lift the schooner out in slings either Monday or Tuesday.. After that..?

Lance Halderman receives his recognition
 for surpassing 100 Volunteer Hours.

One last event before disembarking:  Bryan had been sitting on it for four months, but now the time was right to award Lance Halderman his pin, marking 100 Volunteer hours in supporting the schooner. 

By 1530 we'd off-loaded our personal gear, secured hatches and disembarked. Rachel Berquist appeared next in the LCMS truck to take off Sam Gervais and Maxwell.  Old Salt Volunteer Chris Sosnowski  had been alerted to come for us, but not for another hour  so we idled in the very comfortable lobby of the Shipyard.  Right on time, Chris appeared and the remaining five of us piled into Chris's classic 1998 Lincoln for the hour-drive back to the Maritime Center. 

So, Why the short notice? It would've been great to throw a Volunteer Bon Voyage party on board just before her departure.  But, in reality the chance of that happening turned out remote.  Heath Hackett had predicted this sort of situation awhile earlier, described all the moving parts that had to be synchronized for this event. a Delivery Captain had to be found for the short time window. The Shipyard had to identify a time window to accept us. Initial funding had to be secured for the shipyard and costs of professional delivery crew: (Captain Hudak and Dave Gugliotti). All those dates and situations had to come together like the tumblers in a padlock. It ended up taking months for that to happen, 

But here we are. the next phase we'd hoped for is here.  There will be calls for volunteer time to support Spirits shipyard projects, likely to last weeks to months.  There's stuff that needs to be taken care of at our dock so we'll organize some volunteer day(s) to gang up on those. and... There Will be a Party. 

Watch this channel for news, and instructions for signing up.  

Stay tuned.