Citibank commercial – HMS Surprise

The commercial in which we sailed for on Saturday 27 August is now airing.  There is in actually only about half a second of us at the very begginning, but a nice little accomplishment nonetheless.

Going to Sea

Going to sea, he learns certain things; he learns to keep his head cool and his feet warm, as we call it at sea; to have his presence of mind with him. He works with both hands; or he steadies himself with one hand; balances his body with his feet: works for the vessel with the other hand and thinks. If he can not do that he is no good at sea: he is a burden on the vessel instead of really an efficient man. Well, a man who gets accustomed to that – to think and work at the same time – receives a certain training that makes him a valuable man in other employments, particulary in such employment as street cars. It is very much like the steering of a vessel: very much like it. And so it is with all kinds of work in a vessel, where you must use your hands and your brain and meet new conditions all the time. The real training of the sailor consists in these things, and that makes him capable of doing other work. He comes ashore in New York and he finds that architectural iron workers get $3.50 a day, and he gets employment among them, and he says, “Good-bye sea: I am done with you.”

~ Andrew Fursureth, 1900

Toshiba Tall Tall Ships Festival, September 10-12.

FIND YOUR LOCKER

It had been a long time since I had been to the royal on any ship.  I stood on the port side footrope after having stepped over the yard from starboard.  That starboard footrope was a good three feet above the last good ratline (or very short sheerpole as the case may be) for my foot.  It meant a tall step and in the first time since I can remember, I clipped into the jackstay before making the transition.  Once sure-footed on the jackstay, the step over and remaining transitions were no sweat.

We waisted no time laying to the fore royal.

It was “find your locker day” at the MMSD,  slang phrase for the first day of sail training for the annual sail, which celebrates the Star of India’s launch birthday.  This year, for the first time in several, the Star of India will back upon the Pacific Ocean.  “Find your locker” implies that this first day of training will be more or less getting acquainted with fellow mastmates, captains, lines &c &c.  Serious training is not to be expected this first go around.

Earlier we were treated to a video on synthetic line snapback owning that the Star of India is towed from her berth up the channel towards the Pacific.  Although dated, the film was informative.

Aboard Berkeley, the crew awaits the start of Synthetic Line Snapback.

I have been assigned to the foremast.  In part, a lot of the work I have done on the jib-boom and personal petitioning got me there.  Personally, I have never considered the foremast as a place of recognition or preference, its just that that is where I have done most of my volunteer maintenance hours over the past year or so, so that is where I wanted to be.

Throughout the morning, the words of Jim D- continued to echo through my head.  A few weeks back during the evening reception after the Parade of Sail for the Festival of Sail at the MMSD, Jim laid out very specific criticisms and expectations of me.  I do not disagree with them in the slightest, in fact they encourage me in a new direction, a distant light that is not as yet defined or known.

Today, we were short of our crew.  Apparently, the foremast is a place of some recognition and notoriety as several of the crew are from out-of-town, but have been such fixtures on the Star, her rigging, and culture that they have that place to their right.  One, I was excited to note was Jamie W-, current director of the Texas Seaport Museum, former rigger of just about every surviving historical square-rigged ship out there.  Although through email and facebook, I’ve talked with Jamie on numerous occasions, the chance to finally meet, talk, climb and furl with him has motivated me more so.

Susan B-, out aloft captain, and a new crewman whose name I don't know yet, put the starboard side of the royal into its gear.

Prior to laying aloft, with only five topmen available, Paul D-, our foremast captain concluded that working the royal would be the best place to get our hands dirty.  That also included getting the pinrails shipshape, the coils evenly hung as things have gotten somewhat sloppy over time.  Coiling also allowed the second step past the pinrail map to learning the lines.  For the most part, the rules of thumb make things easier to find than others.  The farther aft one goes, the higher on the mast the lines work.  The upper topsail halyard on port means that the t’gallant halyard will be roughly in the same location on starboard, the royal back over on port, aft of the upper top.

The royal isn’t the hardest sail to put into its gear.  Before furling, Susan B-, our aloft captain laid back down to the deck for some reason unknown to me.  This gave us about 15 minutes to look aft and review a conversation we had on deck regarding how all the squares, except the royals were furled on the Star of India.  Scott B-, former mast captain and aloft captain, who in the words of Paul D, has forgotten more of the rigging on the fore than he even knows, pointed out some issues (or mistakes depending on how you look at it) the “waisters” were making on the main upper top.

The waisters on the main upper tops'l.

The remaining squares get furled outboard to inboard, something contrary to those of us more experienced with Surprise, Californian or the Star’s royals.  This first step is a critical one, a section of the leech being pulled onto the yard then furled.  This first initial furl is what Scott stressed in that if done improperly, “teacups” form at the earring.  And sure enough as he was pointing out, the “waisters” were doing just that.  I cannot profess to be an expert on it, I did recognize what he was pointing out but I am sure my first time hands-on, I will make the same mistakes.

CALL ME “SCUPPERS”

Idle time aloft gives one time to take in the view, review your surroundings and for me, reflect.  The weekend before I was in Dana Point with the Californian for the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival.  The Saturday after the Parade of Sail, I wound up sleeping in much to the surprise of my shipmates.  It surprised me just as well that they had let me.

At Dana Point, the mooring structure was a more intimate affair.

The Dana Point Festival is much more intimate when it comes to how the vessels are moored.  Two groups of four vessels moored bulwark to bulwark.  I spent my 1200 to 1400 watch helping visitors step from the Exy Johnson onto Californian.  Dana Point Harbor has an odd an active tidal surge to it, the boats and their companionway alignments were constantly changing.  I chuckled after my shift at the number of “pirates” that were frightened somewhat of that ever-changing stepover, both men and women.

The gun battles as well were planned out differently than at San Diego, where pairs went out at a time and slugged it out on the bay.  Here, at four o’clock, all the ships save Pilgrim, put their sails in their gear made for the ocean, priming their guns for a few hours of sulfur filled amusement.

Amazing Grace comes within range.

Much to my dismay, I was put on the braces.  I have started sailing more in the hopes of getting more experience on the headrig, manning the braces, especially on the Californian, while important, is considered a menial position somewhat.

Irving Johnson overtakes the Amazing Grace.

Swapping sulfur with Bill of Rights

Still, one can’t deny even with the lack of a good breeze, gunfire isn’t exciting.

American Pride gets a handshake from a six-pound gun.

Spirit of Dana Point

That evening a crew reception was held aboard the Pilgrim along with a potluck dinner.  Sea shanties crested across the full deck and after a few beers, the moment I recognized one that I knew, my mood changed and I joined in.

Shanties aboard Pilgrim.

As the dinner broke up, the festive nature simply moved over to the American Pride, which one could nickname the “party boat” of this group.  They are certainly generous on a repeated basis, both with food, conversation and a concoction simply titled “rum punch.”

With the rum punch I decided to take a left turn at common sense, as Paul D- departed I mentioned that I wouldn’t be too far behind.  The remainder of the Californian crew had headed back to the schooner on the early side.

“No you won’t,” said the rum fervently.  And the rum was right, the next thing I knew we were aboard the Exy Johnson switching over to Jameson’s if I recall properly.  I would also learn that we were keeping up my own shipmates.

Eventually, I had the clear enough of a mind to ask for a cup of coffee.  But that cup of coffee changed things dramatically, or perhaps it was simply too late.  Heaving over the side of the vessels, well mostly, I was done with dinner.

“Brad, you need to pull yourself together and get cleaned up.” I heard Paul at some point early the next morning.  I opened my eyes to find myself in the scuppers of Exy with a pillow and blanket of all things.  Exy doesn’t have a true waterway or scuppers as one imagines them on Star of India, but a later comment by Bob R- made me like the description.

Luckily, after cleaning up myself, the charitable bedding, and joining in on the Californian’s morning washdown, the day was for the most part free to me until the gun battles.  I was not assigned any watches during the fest portion thankfully.  Recovery time, although except for a bit of a fog, I wasn’t feeling all that badly, just embarrassed.

It did finally give me the opportunity to find a wi-fi location which I found down at Beach Cities pizzeria.  I got a little work done but returned after a couple of hour to nap in the fo’c’sle.

A better breeze had struck up this Sunday for the gun battles.  Better yet, I was assigned the inner jib sheet.  I had managed the sheet before but it had been awhile and learning as much of the head gear as possible was one of my goals with each sail.

The inner jib also provides some interaction with the stays’l, which has more of a science to it than the other heads’ls.  Malcolm S- provided a lot of insight, but at the day’s end I’m still scratching my head slightly.  The stays’l is trimmed more with the preventer than simply the sheets.  However, as inner jib sheet, I eased the lazy side sheet so the preventer could then be appropriately hauled on the weather side.  Some hands-on experience with the stays’l will probably clear up some of my confusion.

The gun battle itself was more action filled than the previous day.  For some reason, however, the last remnants of my drunken fog caused me not to have the enthusiasm not to pull out my camera.  As well, I was discussing the heads’ls with Malcolm through most of the trip.

Heading back in, aloft on the tops’l the American Pride had dropped off her passengers and was already heading home, passing us to port and giving three hearty cheers as their bare crew could enable.  With us still with a full load of passengers a resounding return echoed from Californian’s deck.

The fest was now officially over.  We were heading out bright and early Monday morning.  Crew that had driven up departed and we headed to Beach Cities for dinner.  As many time as I had been to Beach Cities with the crew of Pilgrim last year, I had never actually had any of their pizza.  It turned out to be the best pizza I have had in a very long time.

ARE WE THERE YET?

The moon sets early Monday morning as we head home.

Even the Exy and Irving Johnsons had hit the hay early.  Bill of Rights was all quiet and the morning came quickly.  Amazing Grace, moored outboard of us departed just ahead and we kept them in sight for most of the day.

As the moon set, the sun rose.

Along the way, a decent breeze came off the ocean and we set all fore-and-afts, eventually killing the engine and sailed most of the way home.  There does come however, that point when home is in view and the urge to kill the sails and motor in high-gear the rest of the way kicks in.

With sails set and the watch started, a quiet deck greets the sun.

Furling the heads’ls underway was a new experience.  There’s a simple exhilaration to it.  However, I also discovered I finally understood just how to furl these godforsaken things.  The “burrito” concept to the furl has always escaped me, but it seems my hands had finally figured it out.  I can’t describe how to furl a heads’l, my intellect in some way still doesn’t get it quite properly.  My hands seem to know and along with a few other crew to help, the job got done.

Malcolm S- furls the stays'l.

Eventually, we rounded the point, motored on into home and my mind was already racing past some down time to the next chance I could find to get back to sea. Once home, I looked up Californian’s schedule for my next available Saturday.  September 24 looked promising but Californian was going to be sitting idle at the Chula Vista Harbor Days.  The thought struck back to me of an open invitation to continue crewing the Bill of Rights.  A quick email answered and I’m heading back to Oxnard for a day.  A hefty drive which will probably involve sleeping aboard the prior night, but there’s a lot more to this opportunity than just sailing and learning a head rig.

Point Loma, then hang a left into the channel to home.

'Nuff said.

Waking myself back from thought on the royal, I was doing my own rough job on the snake fold right at the buntline.  Although not terrible, once on deck, it was apparent and gave us an opportunity to review, critique and evaluate what best to do next time around.  I can critique the waisters job on the upper top, but have to remind myself that I have my own issues and learning to do.

Evaluating our furl on the royal. On starboard, the earring is a little messy, while on starboard, my take on the s-fold left a bit of a dead body.

Bert C-, assigned to the mainmast made similar comments regarding the mainmast once they had returned to the deck.  We are all currently learning some old things in a new way.  Some of us are remembering it, shaking off the rust.

Although I sailed and crewed the Star of India back in 2006, it was the year the USCG had yanked Surprise’s COI only weeks before the sail.  I was included onto the Star’s crew for one day, assigned the mizzen, but did nothing more than tail on lines.  I had not trained for her and I was still new enough to the entire program that I had virtually no clue as to what was going on.  This go around, I’m an earned part of this sail.

8 September 2011

Spent the day working the email blast and some foundation research for the next Euterpe Times.  However, most of today was spent prepping myself for five days aboard der toppsegelschoner Californian.  Our departure marks the last remnants of the
Festival of Sail here in San Diego.  Its last survivor, the Irving Johnson precedes our departure by eight hours.  Both the brigantine and Californian are headed to Dana Point for the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival between Sept 9 and 11.

The schedule is departing tonight at midnight, arriving at Dana Point sometime tomorrow afternoon.

After the past two weeks, I find myself really looking forward to more time on board a ship.  More time to stand bow watch with the wind in my face, the landscape of civilization at a distance while the world and its ocean rotates beneath the hull.

Tall Ships Festival Returns to Dana Point, Sept. 9-11

Tall Ships Festival Returns to Dana Point, Sept. 9-11

via The Log.com News.

A $2 Million Lifeline to Save Seaport Museum – NYTimes.com

A $2 Million Lifeline to Save Seaport Museum – NYTimes.com.

 

The Museum of the City of New York will take over the beleaguered Seaport Museum New York with $2 million in starting funds from the corporation in charge of developing Lower Manhattan, under a deal made public Wednesday by the city and state.

“We are confident that the way has been paved for a smooth transition to new leadership,” Frank J. Sciame, the chairman of the Seaport Museum, said in an e-mail. “With the challenging financial environment our city and country are facing, and the fact that our two institutions already share compatible missions, this is a relationship that makes good sense.”

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, at a board meeting on Wednesday at its offices near ground zero, voted to allocate the $2 million for the rejuvenation of the Seaport Museum under the stewardship of the city museum, which is on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. The Seaport Museum has been struggling financially because of its inability to raise money to support the operating budget for its exhibitions, buildings and ships. The new organizational structure is expected to be completed in about a year.

The funds were part of $17 million in grants from the development corporation to 38 nonprofit community and cultural organizations. Among the other groups receiving money were the Battery Dance Company, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Flea Theater.

July 31 thru Aug 14

Since the beginning of August, I have gotten a bit off track from blogging.  It has only been a minor ripple as life begins to fill my days with industry, hopefully sometime soon, that effort will have a dollar bill attached to it.

I am finding some real direction, putting the obscured cloud of focus behind me.  Ahead on the horizon, ships of history and tradition on the sea fill my eyes.  With a dwindling set of days before the Festival of Sail and just beyond it, the 2011 Stars’l, the amount of work both in my hands and on my laptop has become oh so crowded.

Work aboard the Star of India has continued.  The day after sailing aboard Jada, I found myself on the main lower tops’l struggling yet again with passing an earring.  Art P-, confused about where I was in the process, added to my confusion.  But as things went along, I realized I knew a bit more about what I was doing than I gave myself credit for.  And then it happened…

The earring was an incredibly long length of line, as I passed fraps around the yard, the line got snagged in the sail and hardware.  Thinking I had simply reached the end of the line, I pulled hardily with both hands to snug it down as best I could, and then the snag released.

For a brief moment in time gravity owned me.  I can’t say that anything passed before my eyes, it happened so quick.  In that second and a half, I fell back, my hand magically found the jackstay.  I didn’t think I could ever move that quick.  But my knees did not bounce nor was my heart racing, although I cannot lie, my soul did manage an overwhelming gasp.

Now here is where it gets weird, I went back to work without a second thought, finishing the earring as best I could.  By now, with the previous confusion with Art, I had restarted the earring at least three times.  It was one of those issues that if I had not asked anyone, I probably would have gotten it nearly right the first time around.  Regardless, my feet now hurt, my back was aching and truth be told, I didn’t appreciate nearly falling from aloft.  Although clipped in, I am not ready to test my harness save for the crew testing recovery evaluation.  I asked Tom M- to finish up attaching the clew to the sail.

The finished earring wound up a little sloppy

That turned into an episode regarding a missing shackle which allowed us all to briefly return to the deck.  One that I have to say I was greatly appreciative of.

Outside of that, I have continued to find myself out on the jib-boom.  The woodwork required at the head was completed, a new shive shipped into place for the fore tgallant stay.  Paul D- and Jim D- did most of that work, but as stays were prepared for tensioning I found myself working in support, serving sections of stays that had been chewed up over time.

Mending chewed up sections aloft are becoming my specialty.

Another example made especially difficult with the comealong in the way.

Finished, I was rather happy with this one.

I am getting quite reasonable at parceling, tarring and serving while straddling a stay.  Two weeks later with both Jim and Paul due to depart on vacation, the inner jib stay and tgallant stay were finished off.  I came in on a weekday in order to finish off the tgallant stay with band-it clips.  Paul had already tensioned the lanyard, it just needed to be secured.  Working with Jim E-, we managed to get it done.

Paul D- hauls on a comealong made off to the inner jib stay.

The subtlties of tensioning a head rig are becoming clearer to understand. On the left, the topmast bows forward, on the right with the inner jib and royal stays taut, the royal mast is pulled forward.

With Jim E- I found myself the experienced person.  That doesn’t say a lot, and the work tested my memory of things I have only done once and seen Paul D- do just a few times.  As the comealongs were removed, I was happy to find that they did not slip into odd angles as the stay pulled on itself.  Completed, I felt a new boost into my confidence, maybe I was starting to figure out how all this stuff works.

With rigging vices clamped on, the t'gallant stay is made off with band-it clips.

I glanced at the royal stay which had been tensioned to the head, secured with a comealong and ready to be made taut below and made off to the heart.  It was late in the Sunday, Paul and Jim would be gone after today.  “I could finish that stay,” I thought to myself.

I took a day to mull it over and emailed Jim asking if I could give it a try.  He got back to me and was happy to see me give it a try.  On a weekday, it was Jim E- and I again.  I had forgotten to insert my SimCard into my camera regretfully.  Retrieving two additional comealongs, Jim eased off the upper comealong while I took up tension below on the stay midway through its path back to the bow.

Underneath the seizing is a band-it clip, prying the standing legs becomes a phenomenal effort just to pass a frapping turn.

But I'm getting satisfied with my results.

As the upper comealong went slack, we opted to leave it in place, just in case we screwed this operation up and it needed to be redone.  We laced the stay through the heart and bent a third comelong onto the stay, hauling the bitter end back on itself, while easing the midway comealong.  We reached a good tension, walked back along the stay reaffirming that we had what we thought was a proper tension.

Held tight, rigger’s vices were put in place and we plugged our way through putting band-it clips onto the stay.  With three clips in place, we removed the closest comealong.  For me, doubt suddenly creeped in.  Up until this moment I was happy with the tension, but now, the stay seemed a little too springy.  Jim E- thought it was fine, I had my doubts but opted to finish off the stay with two more final clips.

We still did it.  If its right, great.  If not, I will understand what I did wrong and have a much clearer understanding of the subtle science of tensioning a head rig.  As of now, Jim has yet to see it, expect some feedback in the near future.

The inner jib stay is ready for tarring, outboard on port, the royal stay awaits Jim's approval.

Since, I have plugged away on the “approved” stays, applying flat seizings over the band-it clips.  I still struggle to get a good clean seizing on an object that refuses to allow for spreading the legs of the lanyard.  I’ve been inserting marlinspikes (and finding out I need a few more) to wedge the steel cable legs apart, simply to pass seine twine in between.  It becomes an immense effort for what on paper seems to be an easy task.  But I’m getting better at them.

The following Saturday, I got my ass back aboard Californian.  Its been a year plus since I sailed her, my skills were rusty to be true, but luckily, my skills wound up not being in terrible demand.  There wound up being more crew than passengers.

Aloft on the Californian.

Californian’s rigging is yet another completely different experience, the shrouds seem loose especially as one sways and swings on the short climb up there.  Its futtock is surprisingly difficult to maneuver through in its simplicity.  Maybe its my stature, but Californian’s futtock inspires more worry than that of either Star of India, Surprise or Pilgrim.

David F- puts the tops'l into its gear off Point Loma.

And yet, laying aloft on Californian is the best way here at the museum to experience the evolution while underway.  Heading back in, I was just stepping around the mast to lay onto the leeward side when we caught a heavy swell.  It’s just a hint of what the Jack Tars of old used to go through.

Someday...

The following day, I found myself on deck of the frigate HMS Surprise.  Its out only opportunity to get any sail training in prior to two sails, one for a tv commercial, the other for the Parade of Sail, which based on required crew may or may not happen.  The Parade occurs on a Thursday and expecting the necessary amount of crew to take a day off from work to crew both Californian and Surprise is a tall order.

As muster occurred, the foremast was lacking in topmen.  The expectation was that we mainmasters would lay forward once we had our sails in gear and lay a hand.

From the fores'l, other mainmasters are putting the mains'l into its gear.

Up to the tops’l, into its gear, back over the futtock with a quick offer of help to the Tars on the course which was kindly turned down.  Back to the deck, I moved forward and lay up to the fores’l finding myself the only one there.  Waiting for additional crew, I reduced all the gaskets down to simple square knots when John K- arrived.  His instructions were without ceremony, simply undoing the gaskets one by one.  Heck, I could have done that myself.

A busy morning on the foremast.

Setting and bracing around came in quick order and proceeded a bit smoother than when we had the same opportunities a month or so ago.  It wasn’t until furling that the lack of topmen manifested itself into a trial.  By the time we finished up the tops’l a few of our topmen left to crew Californian, leaving six on the course.  Jim E- and I were on the port side along with Chris P-.  Chris being a lot taller than the two of us, made for an awkward effort in getting the course furled.  The area where the heavy clew garnet hangs from the yard proved especially difficult.  We wound up being the last ones aloft as we worked the sail in small increments outboard, inboard, outboard repeatedly.  On deck, I was surprisingly satisfied.

A concern of note, the tops'l halyard blocks are beating on the handrail.

Tom M- and Ken K- put the mizzen to bed.

I finished off the day clapping a few more flat seizings onto the rigging on Star.  Ive decided to do them in small numbers to avoid burning out on one small seizing.  It was getting warm, two seizings once again took more than an hour.  Its getting very frustrating spending such time on something that is relatively small and simple.  Tomorrow was payday and my collected thoguhts passed back to a leather tool I had seen in an antique store that in time might help me out.  Eyed, flat and narrow it would pass through the stubborn legs and help pull the twine thru the frapping efforts.

Courtesy of http://www.bayshots.com.

I took some time to go and re-evaluate the royal stay, stepping out onto the martingale backstays.  Darrall S- of www.bayshots.com motored through the inlet giving us a chance to chat.

Although done working, I started observing what existed in the running rigging as it stood now without sails.  The fore topmast stays’l has been bent on and set, but the inner, outer and flying jobs still remain below deck.  It gave me the opportunity to locate their halyards which turned out to be a bit farther aft than I would have expected.  Located nearly perpendicular to the mast, in the long run, their location makes a lot of sense as I started ruminating about the rules of thumb regarding rigging aboard ship.  The inner jib halyard was port, walking to starboard one would expect the out jib halyard roughly in the same location, sure enough without an effort, there it was.

It was three o’clock, I was done working, but I wasn’t ready to head home.  I meandered out to the barge and decided to just relax and wait for Californian to head back in.  On the weekends, there is a tendency for there not to be hands available to catch mooring lines on her return.  The free time gave me chance to get to know the bartender at the small cafe on the barge and to actually meet some of the tourists that visit the museum.

David C- appeared to help with mooring lines as well on Californian’s return.  They had a slightly larger crowd today and apparently better winds, good for them.  David C- offered to buy my broke ass a beer at the E&C and that where the day finally came to a close.

By now, this Tuesday, the Euterpe Times now stands finished and is being proofed, hopefully it will be out later today.  With each day, I’m finally managing to finish things up, slowly and one at a time, but things are getting done.  I just have to remind myself to keep working.  My biggest personal chore is cleaning up my Linked-In account, an error in uploading my resume more than once has led to many repetitions and the ability to delete entries is unhappily buried in there somewhere.