PSPG News

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Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild

Weekly Update
November 7, 2007
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in this issue

Training Day Report

Jupiter Steering Committee

Greetings!
The Guild Strategic Survey will remain open until Monday, November 12. You can find the link on the Guild's home page, www.philashipguild.org

Last weekend was quite an adventure. The Jupiter Steering Committee met, Gazela's new crew members were treated to a class on the rigged ship, Gazela moved to her winter home, and on Sunday, all the Gazela sails and one yard were removed for winter maintenance.

One unfortunate accident happened, reminding all onboard Gazela of the forces involved in docking. Nick Horvath was assisting at a bitt and was whipsawed by a straining dockline. The line broke a bone in his arm. He had surgery on Wednesday and is reported to be resting well after the successful pinning of that bone. He'll be out for 4-6 weeks. Please join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.

Intensive Training Day & Mentors

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The training day was well attended by 18 new and continuing Level I trainees. The class was taught by Nick Horvath and assisted by Bill Foden and Fran DeCurtis. At the end of the day, three trainees took the test, but have yet to be graded.

In the Mentor program, mentors have been assigned to trainees and they are reviewing their lists. Once the mentors confirm their availability, the list of groups will be posted to the Guild website. Members of the Guild who were contacted by Lenore Khan, Francisco Franqui or whom attended the Intensive Training Day are on the list to be trained. If you don't believe we have your name in for consideration for this Level I training on Gazela, please contact the office directly.

The day ended with Gazela's move, Nick's accident, and then a nice Guild party. On the new Guild barbecue, Alan Fried cooked nearly 50 burgers and the crew pitched in to make salads and desserts. After a filling meal, brownies and ice cream rounded out a nice night. Thanks to all who brought food and fellowship.

Jupiter Steering Committee

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The Jupiter Steering committee met for the first organizational meeting on Saturday. The members of the committee, Ralph Onesti, Gretchen Raichle, John Gerry, Scott Rickards, Bobby Flemming, Lew Hemmer, Doug Reese, James Campbell, and Mary Beth Tomlinson chose Bobby Flemming as their committee chair. Bobby will ensure that the Guild is kept up to date on Jupiter events as they come available.

One note - Jupiter will not be performing the Santa Run this year.

Downrigging

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Under the leadership of Deb Peretz, every sail and most of the running rig was brought to the deck, lines measured, rig tagged and stowed. Ed Walsh, Gina Pickton, and Marston Black spent Saturday stowing Haunted Ship gear to clear the way for the rig. Don Verlenden returned to install the sail locker.

A crew of about 25 on Sunday worked on sails and spars. One team took care of the main and mizzen sails and gaffs. Another two teams worked aloft, bringing down square sails and gear. Another team measured lines then coiled and stoppered the coils. Deb cleaned out the line storage and hung all the lines in order. As a finale, Pat Flynn organized the removal of the topgallant yard. All that work on Sunday was achieved before dark.

Incredible!

Downrigging continues this weekend, with Deb reprising her role. The goals are to get the two topsail yards and the topgallant mast lowered to the deck.

Thanks to Jesse Lebovics, Don Verlenden, and the Seaport Museum, the Guild may benefit this weekend from a group of ROTC students coming to exhume the winter cover from barge storage.

Guild News

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Pat Flynn is back in the area, helping with the bridge deck restoration at the Olympia. With his return to the area, he is taking a new leadership role regarding weekend work, as well as advising Ed Stemmler on carpentry projects for Gazela and the barge. He promises to cover one weekend per month on Gazela, with Gina Pickton, serving as foremen for that day. Pat and Ed are working to fill out the monthly schedule and help ensure that the winter work weekends are being led by skilled foremen.

Gina has offered to take on a small group of people to teach shop skills. Her first group has already been identified and they will be taking on small projects to help organize the barge. Eventually, her group will build sufficient skills towards the replacement of key deck houses on Gazela.

If any Guild member feels they have both the time, the skill level, and the interest in teaching useful skills to our Guild community, please contact Pat Flynn directly at pjbflynn @ yahoo.com. We're looking for carpenters, blacksmiths, electricians, and painters - folks who have skills to share and pass along to others.