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| ALEXANDRIA PAIS/Staff
photographer | |
| Kenneth Apostolico, center, reviewing a
lesson with Harry Rivera, 16, a New Brunswick High
School student, right. Sea Scout Joe Butch, right,
looked on. |
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| ALEXANDRIA PAIS/Staff
photographer | |
| Richard Beck, a committee member,
attaching a pole to the mast of a sailboat in a Sea
Scout lesson last week at New Brunswick High School. |
 |
| ALEXANDRIA PAIS/Staff
photographer | |
| Beck attaching the post to the
mast. |
|
|
"I
like challenges and this seemed like a new challenge," said
Borke, a junior at New Brunswick High School where he plays
football. "I'm a little bit of a daredevil."
His classmate, Johanna Monterrey, plans to join the New
Brunswick chapter of Sea Scouts for a different type of
adrenaline rush. She wants to overcome her fear of the water
and learn to swim.
"I don't like to get in the water so I'm going to be
nervous and scared," said Monterrey, 20.
The Sea Scouts, a sailing group for people aged 14 to 21,
might seem like an unusual idea in New Brunswick where some of
new recruits don't know how to swim and many have never been
on a boat.
But that's the point, according to city resident and
Rutgers University graduate Brian Beck, who is starting the
New Brunswick unit.
"We're taking steps to expose the kids to new things," said
Beck, 33. "We provide a unique opportunity to learn skills and
access maritime experiences that otherwise are not available
to young people from our city."
There are 14 Sea Scouts groups, called ships, in New
Jersey, including Ship 14 in Metuchen. Efforts to start a unit
in Perth Amboy are underway.
Sea Scouts, which is part of the Boy Scouts of America but
open to men and women, also aims to teach members navigation,
oceanography and leadership skills while introducing them to
career opportunities in the nautical field.
On Thursday night, at the second recruitment meeting for
New Brunswick's Sea Scout Ship 132, a dozen people learned
from Beck how to hoist the sails on a Lightning-class boat.
The teens climbed on the green, 19-foot-long wooden boat as
it sat on a trailer in the parking lot of the New Brunswick
High School. Aided by dim lights from the school and the
direction of Beck, the recruits and some of their parents
helped seat the 26-foot-high mast and later called out, "hull,
boom, stern" as they were quizzed about the parts of the boat.
"It has a lot of parts and I'm not going to remember them,"
said New Brunswick resident Heyman Perez, 19, who also will
learn to swim with the group. Members must pass a swimming
test before sailing or can choose to participate in land-based
activities with Sea Scouts, Beck said.
Beck, manager of an e-commerce company in New Brunswick,
said he decided to start a Sea Scouts unit because he is a
lifelong sailor who enjoys working with children.
The New Brunswick-area unit is sponsored by the Greater
Brunswick Charter School and supported by the New Brunswick
HUB Teen Center, city Board of Education and the Raritan Yacht
Club in Perth Amboy, which has agreed to host the New
Brunswick Sea Scouts.
Beck hopes to attract about 25 young participants plus
adult advisors and begin racing this summer. He and his
father, Richard Beck of Freehold, plan to use three
Lightning-class boats they own and hope to obtain a few more
once a storage site is found.
The 700-pound, centerboard boats, which were built in the
late 1950s and early 1960s, need some restoration work --
another skill the young Sea Scouts will learn. The Becks
recently paid $250 for one of the boats. A new version with a
trailer and sails would cost close to $20,000, according to
the senior Beck.
The Sea Scouts plan to hold fund-raisers to finance
uniforms and trips to places like the U.S. Naval Academy in
Annapolis, Md.
People who want to volunteer with the group, donate to it
or learn more about it can call Beck at (732) 208-2763.
Sharon Waters: (732) 565-7270; swaters@thnt.com
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