The Luna snow dance

Last year we suffered a setback when Luna's cover collapsed during a snow storm. This year we beefed up the frame and purchased a custom reinforced canopy. So far so good!

Two days ago we all peered out the windows around the Chesapeake Bay and noticed a thick grey cloud bank forming, the temperature was dropping, and the air smelled of snow. Yesterday afternoon our snow plan went into effect as the white stuff started falling. Around six, the shipwright, Cory and I headed for the farm to see how things were holding. The headlights hit Luna's bow and Merry Christmas to us! There was our cover- slightly sagging under the wet snow, but standing it was.

First light, still standing!

Informational video

Thank you to one of our newest members Baran Hill, founder of FundraisCZAR, for putting together the video found at the link below. He braved the cold last weekend to spend the day at the farm shooting video. We hope you enjoy his production! If you are interested in his work or having him produce a video, please subscribe to his video channel through the link provided.

http://www.youtube.com/user/fundraiseCZAR?email=share_video_user

FOUR LETTER WORDS

This weeks conversations around the farm consists of four letter words that we had not heard in a while. The weather has taken a turn i'm afraid. "John, it's cold, put more wood on the fire! Man it looks like its going to snow again. Is there warm food for lunch? You mean we're going out in the cold and WORK!?"

Yes, were still here.

Ahoy friends,

We have been off the web for a bit to let us focus on some administrative and fund raising needs. Rest assured loyal followers, we're still making great progress on Luna, our 18th century Bermuda Sloop is still under construction.

We would like to thank our sister organization, Blackbeard's Crew for their recent contribution to the construction fund. The crew graciously sets aside 10% of their event profits to the construction fund.

Our first corporate fundraiser/ meet and greet, held at Half Moone Terminal was a success. We signed on over a dozen new members and had just as many renew. We welcome The Port of Virginia and Principle Advantage, Ltd as corporate donors as well. Thank you to Ann and Angie for coordinating the efforts.

Corporate sponsorship

Dear CSF friends and family,

On ,December  8th we will be hosting a  reception at Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center  located at the Nauticus Complex in Downtown Norfolk. Tickets are $50.00 and include an annual membership.

We are in need of sponsors for various elements of construction. Our most immediate needs are:
Conex storage container- $1500.00
Fiberglass materials- $30,000.00
Rigging-$40,000.00
Marine grade plywood- $8000.00
Volunteers- Priceless

Please RSVP with Ann Flandermayer at (757) 675 1876 or e-mail annflan@principle-advantage.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

combining new and old

Hmmm- that doesn't look like it belongs in the new plans.
Yup, you guessed it. Out it goes! This is the old engine compartment.

Work has been continuing at a steady pace.  We may not always have masses working at one time, but our dedicated volunteers come and go as they can and as long as there are a couple of people on hand changes are seen weekly!

Treasures lost in time waiting to be discovered.

So what is it?

Continued from last week........ 

Work days and Schooner Appreciation Days

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on more deck beams. This weekend was spent cleaning the shop, stacking wood, and getting ready for winter. Last seasons heavy snow did Luna's vinyl and pvc pipe framed cover in. We added a laminated ridge pole and uprights to the frame so we should be o.k. this season. Then Adam, one of our volunteers, pointed out a very simple observation. "It snowed last year, we're not going to see anything for another ten years." He's probably right, but as the local saying goes. "If you don't like the weather on the Chesapeake Bay, wait an hour, it'll change."

Making Deck Beams

Sigh.... Our problem of the day is this rotting deck beam, which needs to be replaced before we can lay down any new decking. This one is located at the forward end of the engine compartment. Fortunately, there is a solid beam located just forward of this one.

9/26/10 Luna updates

Most of us have been away for the past few weekends working events. Today we returned to Luna to continue work and see what the shipwright has been up to. The last sets of pictures showed her completed outer hull and beginnings of the new quarter deck located at the aft, or back end, of the hull. Work has now shifted in two directions. The deck is beginning to be worked on and the bow is continuing to be stripped down to solid wood.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Well its been eight years since the journalist Dave Berry introduced the world to Ol' Chumbucket and Capn' Slappy who created Talk Like A Pirate Day. This once small gathering has turned into a novelty cult following of sorts celebrated by thousands around the world. No- really, it is! Check out their web site and see for yourself.  http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html.

The Foundation was contacted by the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia to help them celebrate their annual Talk Like A Pirate Day events. Who are we to say no to an offer like that! Sometimes we just need to work an event to remind us why we got into this project to start with. The Mariners Museum is the National Maritime Museum sporting over 60,000 square feet of gallery space! Their collection includes rare ships figureheads, an amazing collection of hand crafted ships models with such detail you would swear they were real. The museum also holds many USS Monitor artifacts. To learn more about the museum visit their web site, http://www.marinersmuseum.org/ . This was our first time working with the Museum and we had a wonderful time!

Hampton Bay Days

Hampton Bay Days celebrated its 28th anniversary promoting stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay this past weekend. This was our second time participating in the bay education area. We actually had two sites as the Custom House was back at the waterfront as well.

Saturday was an almost picture perfect day with low heat and few clouds. Somewhat smaller than last years booth, this year we packed our 10x10 foot space with as much as we could so folks can see the work we are accomplishing on Luna and our education programs.

whiskey plank- n. the board which completes construction of a ship’s or boat’s hull.

Ben has the honors of cutting and fastening
the last board- the Whiskey Plank as Adam
looks on after fastening his just below.
Way to go gang!

Two milestones were reached this past week!

 First- Ben is out of the boat which can only mean one thing. The last of the frames have been completed. This has been a major focus since the beginning of the project. We still have several frames up for adoption. $300 will pay for a frames material and provide a plaque with your name or dedication on it placed inside Luna for permanent display.

Second- With the completion of the last couple of frames we were able to place the last two planks on Luna's reshaped  hull. In wooden ship construction this milestone last board is called the Whiskey Plank. Tradition goes that a shot or ten of whiskey is partaken and work subsequently stops for the day. Not for us, a resounding HUZZAH! was heard and work continued. This completes her new quarter deck hull exterior. The next step is the remaining deck beams and deck itself.

updates

Last week we shared a photo of Luna as we found her. This week we are happy to share our artists rendering of her fully rigged and standing by for action!

pictures are worth 1000 words

We begin this weeks blog with a visit from Scott Watts who was in town delivering a boat and came by to see Luna. Scott and his family generously donated Luna to the Foundation and have been following along in her construction. This is his first time seeing her in almost three years- Geez, has it really been that long? Here is Scott enjoying the view from the stern. Thank you for making this possible! 

The shipwright spent the weekend working on the transom windows. Looking at the picture, the four vertical slats at the top of the boat show the approximate size of each framed area. The major concern is obviously keeping water out. The challenge though is being able to open them when needed and keeping the structure strong enough to take on crashing waves over the stern while keeping her historical appearance. While we don't plan on doing bluewater cruising, rogue storms on the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound have knocked down more than one ship, so safety is foremost in our thoughts.

Our Custom House made quite a splash at its debut in Hampton at this years Hunt for Hampton History and Blackbeard Festival. Local photographer Anthony Prater captured this picture at the Blackbeard Festival and did a little photo-shop magic to turn it into a painting. Anthony is a freelance photographer and has been working on a few photo projects in the downtown area focusing on the city's architecture. Thanks for allowing us to use the picture Anthony! In the background is the Kalmar Nykel, Delawares state ship.

Of Workdays and Pictures

We returned to the workshop after being driven off by the heat for a couple of weeks and darned if we didn't make some progress! In the meantime, I learned how to add pictures to the blog- there's no stopping me now!


Today was busy with six of us on site through the day. Our money shot for the day is the roughing in of the first two new quarter deck beams! Despite the rest of our absence, the shipwright has almost completed the stern and we surprised ourselves today by being able to set the new beams in place as the final job of the day. This puts a whole new perspective on the size of the cabin. Pictured are the shipwright and Larry, who has been out to several events with us and joined us for the first time on the farm today.

Blackeard Festival

The 11th annual Hampton Blackbeard Festival is over and all have had a chance to rest. To begin, we can't thank our members and their patient families for the turn out this weekend.

The beer pull went amazingly well. We had 16 show up, which enabled us to man two sites. Thank you to all who made it out and endured the heat.

update

This week has been busy on the Foundation front. This Saturday the 26th will find members at Hamptons Street Fest. We will be manning a beer tent to raise funds for "Luna" and draw attention to the 10th annual Hampton Blackbeard Festival. Stop by and say hello....

Preparations are under way for the Blackbeard Festival. If you are visiting, please stop by the tent and say hello. We will be located in Mill Point Park, same corner as usual.

This Sunday was spent moving lumber. It seems we had lost quite a bit of floor space in the workshop to lots and lots of lumber. So, the area known as the "chicken coop" was cleaned out. The coops resident tractor has a new home coming and the lumber was stacked in its new digs to continue drying. This included oak, juniper, pine, red cedar and a couple pieces of mystery wood (more on the mystery wood later). Photos would be a good addition right about now, but I don't have any. To give an idea of the size lumber we work with the cedar planks are 18 inches wide by 16 feet long, which we mill down and use for hull planks. The largest pieces of oak are six by ten inches by almost 20 feet long, hence the need for steel tipped footwear. These monsters will form the new keelson. The Juniper is to be used for deck stringers.

On to mystery wood. When we began the process of rebulding Luna, we knew we had our work cut out for us, literally! As we began stripping back the layers of accumulated muck and goo, we found various stages of repair and restoration. Eventually, the idea was hatched to save odd and unique pieces that we found. Eventually we identified eight different woods that were used in her repair or reconstruction, this included a cedar tree stump which was used to hold up the V-birth. Other species included oak, juniper, pine, walnut, mahognany, oak, and several unidentified pieces that we hope to find a project for because they were too nice to throw out.

Sunday is a work day. Hope to see you there.

.Our members

The backbone of any volunteer organization is its members and the Foundation is no different. A concern of potential volunteers is not having experience as a reenactor or know anything about building ships. Our reply to that is "thats ok." Being a volunteer for the Foundation does not mean you need to be an expert at anything, but an interest and a willingness to learn is. Here are some of our most frequently asked questions and our replies.

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to our Blog. Other than our website, this is our first attempt at mass electronic communications.

Last weekend found us in Deltaville, Virginia at the Deltaville Maritime Museum hosting a Colonial Maritime Festival. Visting colonial maritime reenactors from the East Coast arrived Thursday and Friday, setting up camp and visiting "The Farm" where Luna is undergoing her makeover. Friday afternoon, participants learned from each other as we had a chance to show off our own abilities and projects to each other. We also hosted the local elementary school first graders for an hour as they were at the Museum on a field trip. That night we set off in the "Explorer", the museums 1600's reproduction schallop, for a row around the creek.