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Spring fit-out is always hectic. This year it has become a bigger problem than usual. Our normal dockyard in Baltimore, 50 yards from our winter berth, has turned us away despite 10 years of previous work. The news of this did not come to me till I called them to discuss scheduling. Even then I was not told till my second call in early March, at what I will henceforth describe as the eleventh hour. My first call was in January. I was told then it was too early to discuss scheduling. When I called again in early March, I was informed that they could not handle PRIDE II this time. They had other "more valuable business" that they were not willing to delay for us. Plus their second dry-dock that they built especially to handle smaller clients, including PRIDE II, has turned out to be too small to handle us. Since that fateful rejection call in March, I have been on the phone constantly trying to find another yard for our annual drydock.

Today we arrived at that yard, Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, VA, and if all goes as planned, PRIDE II will be high and dry tomorrow. Having to leave Maryland to do this work is highly inconvenient for all of us. But at least we have a yard happy to help out. Ocean Marine has been very helpful. I am interested to find out if in the end this experience turns out well for both sides.

Why do we go all the way to Portsmouth, VA, for drydocking? Because there are no other yards in Maryland that have both the capability to lift the weight of PRIDE II and the ability to accommodate her 12'6" draft, except for the huge commercial shipyard at Sparrows point near mouth of the Patapsco River. To find an appropriately-sized yard other than our usual choice, it was either look north or south. It so happens there are a number of yards in the Norfolk area that could accommodate PRIDE II. With the assistance of my former partner, Captain Bob Glover who is now Executive Director of the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation located in Norfolk, and after three weeks of talking, we are finally at the point of getting drydocked. I am relieved to have found a place.

But tomorrow another rat race for me begins. It involves planning the work of the crew and overseeing the work of the yard, as well as continuing with crew change planning for later in the year, and networking with the office about this year's schedule. This is when the two-captain program at Pride, Inc. provides one of it's many benefits. Each can take on a portion of the work. But with Dan Parrott gone and his replacement still to be located, I am having the fun of dealing with all of the details!

Such as this year's spring fit-out which is progressing normally. The 2003 crew came aboard March 3 and has been working with a will converting the ship from her cocoon state into her butterfly state. As of a few days ago, all the spars are up and that leaves only the sails. Ha! Only the sails? Well you should get the idea that we are currently on schedule to be ready to sail when the mission needs the ship sometime in the third week of April. We might not be completely repainted, but we should be ready - barring any surprises.

Which reminds me, there is another wrinkle involving this year's drydocking. PRIDE II is 15 years old and the US Coast Guard regulations require that all traditionally-built, wooden vessels in the passenger trade have their hull planking fastenings examined. After this first fastening-inspection year, selected fastenings will be inspected every fifth year hereafter. Due to the density of the wood out of which PRIDE II is built, X-rays of the fastenings are not good enough to determine condition of the fastenings. So we must break out 16 bungs and carefully pull out 16 fastenings, then replace and re-bung them. With the help of the past foreman of PRIDE II's construction, Leroy Surosky of Peregrine Construction in Baltimore, and his employee and a past engineer for PRIDE II during the recent Asia and Europe campaigns, John Shellenberger, my hope is this exercise will go smoothly as well as prove that PRIDE II is in excellent condition.

The transit from Baltimore to Portsmouth was mostly uneventful. But not for the crew as it was their first time underway together and it was a full overnight transit without any sails available. But they all have experience on similar boats prior to coming to PRIDE II. The four most senior crewmembers (1st mate, 2nd mate, bosun, and engineer) have sailed PRIDE II before, so a simple motorboat ride down the Chesapeake Bay was not very demanding. Still there was several group sessions to explain "safety and procedure" prior to departure, as well as during the transit. As luck would have it, a cold front was coming and so there was rain and wind followed by dropping temperatures.

Strangely, we had some propeller packing gland trouble on the way down. They were getting pretty warm to the touch and the engineer had to play with them more than usual. Then in the morning of arrival in Portsmouth with the wind having shifted from ahead out of the south to behind out of the north, I had the crew set the foretopsail. We have found from practice that sending the fortopyard with the sail bent onto the yard prior to going up makes the act of getting that sail set easier. So with the wind aft and PRIDE II ahead of schedule, I had the crew set the foretopsail. This was more work than normal as there were errors in the running of some of the controlling lines.

But all those problems are now corrected and the sail looks good harbor-furled up on the yard. While the ship is up in drydock, the rest of the sails will get bent on and, with luck, we should be able to sail back to Baltimore after re-launching with new bottom paint, new hull markings, and new zincs.

Cheers
Captain Miles