Sea Scout Quotes & Stories

Sea Scout Quotes

Attitude: the difference between Ordeal and Adventure

Informal motto for Ship 956
Holly Bird
Mate, SSS 956
Clearwater/Dunedin, Florida
http://www.ship956.org

Sea Scout Stories

A few years ago we had a thread on Seascout-Net that could have been characterized as "those embarrassing moments we all would like to forget." One such moment for me happened almost 20 years ago when my Ship was brand new and our District Chairman offered to take us out on his Columbia 41 sailboat. It turns out that the reason he offered to take us out on his boat was that he had NO IDEA what he was doing on the boat. He never had any boating training of any sort, and was looking to us to be the experts.

Everything went fine for the first several hours until late in the day when we were sailing in an area that, according to the charts should have been about 8 feet deep (or about 2 feet deeper than the boat's draft). Yup, you guessed it. All of a sudden we had a dramatic reduction in speed, though miraculously we didn't come to a complete stop. (That's the wonder of the Chesapeake Bay ... much of it is muddy bottom, which often won't stop you completely if you're paying attention.) Well, my crew and I executed a 180 degree turn and sailed out the way we came in, and I'm not certain that the District Chairman ever knew what happened. Still, it was really embarrassing to have run his boat aground.

A postscript to this story came in a private message from a Sea Scout leader on the West Coast, who told me that if you don't run your boat aground occasionally, you just aren't getting out on the water enough. I haven't taken that as a challenge to run our Ship's boats aground, but it was comforting to remember that we all do it once in a while.

Bruce Johnson
Skipper, S.S.S. Columbia Ranger
Columbia, Maryland
http://www.seascout.net/ship361/

I might add that in the boating industry we often hear, "If you sail the Chesapeake and claim to never have run aground than you are either lying, or you are a dockside sailor only."

Sally Reuther
Skipper, Ship 91
Annapolis, Maryland

In my experience, there are four types of sailors:

Those who have been sea-sick;
and those who haven't YET;
Those who have run aground;
and those who haven't YET.

I can only wish that I was still in the category of "haven't YET" in both cases, but having hit a poorly-marked-but-fully-submerged shrimp trawler in Galveston Bay, and spent the following hour bailing the boat as we headed back to our dock, I can only claim to be a category 3 sailor: Have run aground, but haven't yet been sea-sick.

Charles Chopin
Skipper, Ship 12
Newport, Rhode Island

We were at anchor. The engine crew leader had been on the boat for three weeks and was getting rummy. I rolled him out and told him to start the generator so I/we could start the coffee. He looked up at me and said, "But Mr. Hibbard we have thirty watts of shore power."

Same young man brought the Arthur Foss, the 110 year old direct reversing tug, to full power in reverse during a race a few years later, thereby earning the name of Wrong way.

We were up in Friday Harbor, and the Sea Scouts wrapped the smallest Boy Scout in tin foil and sent him up the mast so they could calibrate the radar. Used semaphore flags to get him to move right or left or back up. Friday Harbor in the summer must have 500 people on the dock.

Canadian Traffic has different rules than the U.S. system, and we were still operating under Canadian VTS one summer when we needed to change charts. They called and the Skipper handed me the mike. The very professional young woman asked were we are. I start to read the lat longs off the GPS when she told me to give her a landmark off the chart. This probably means they have lost the wooden boat again. So I said, "Just a minute, we went off the map." Dead Silence. The Skipper is rolling on the deck. New voice, old man, "Do you have a chart? How are you navigating?" I explained, but later thought I should have said soto voce to the navigator, "Hurry up with that place mat." Rogers, the Skipper, said that would have brought out the Coast Guard for a full inspection. So it is possibly just as well I didn't think too quick.

Hank Hibbard
Tacoma, Washington

My First Mate and I, both US Sailing certified instructors, took a man and his two daughters out for a charter sail on a charter company's boat. While sailing on a beam reach, we heard a noise that sounded an awful lot like anchor chain running. We looked at each other, and, not wanting to alarm our guests, immediately took action: we eased the sails, the boat rounded up on anchor, sails came down and one of us said "Isn't it about time to cool off and go for a swim?" This came off pretty smooth... we were lucky. Moral: Make sure anchor is lashed down so it does not go overboard unexpectedly.

John Nisbet
Skipper, SSS Tsunami! (603)
League City, Texas

In the late eighties, Boy's Life wanted to do an article about our iceboating Scouts and some regional officials wanted to come along for the day.

They came to Geneva Lake and photographed and interviewed the Sea Scouts that were sailing our DNs and our side-by-side skeeter. One of the boys suggested that the reporter, photographer and the regional officials along with our Scout Executive and District Executive go for a cruise on our Class A ice yacht. I wanted to throttle that Sea Scout!) :-)

They all climbed aboard using the forward baskets, the forward parts of the after baskets and on the runner plank. We sailed gracefully along at an easy speed when OOOPS! we sailed into a seam! :-) The runners broke through and we were in the water! The Sea Scouts were trained and lead the officials onto good ice by walking along the backbone. No one got wet. Immediately, our Skeeter Ice Boat Club four wheeled emergency vehicle raced out, hooked on and hauled the A back onto good ice.

The officials asked what had occurred and I answered by saying that was a demonstration of the safety of iceboating, the iceboat version of abandon ship procedures and how quickly the rescue service responds. We all had a chuckle out of that embarrassing moment.

Yours in Sea Scouts,
Bill Sills
Skipper, Ship 1
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Well, I wasn't in Sea Scouts at the time, but I did fancy myself as a hot shot racing sailor -- until I ran my catamaran unto a reef in the harbor at Papeete Bay, Tahiti. It was just my wife and I, and neither of us had shoes. We had no motor, no paddles and nothing to fend us off the sharp coral. Only a rising tide saved us. I have learned a lot since then.

Tom Simiele
Skipper, SSS Indefatigable

Last October 2001, about a month after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Achilles Club and Manhattan Kayak held their handicap kayak marathon row around Manhattan Island. Ship 243 Seahorse was asked to serve as a Safety Boat for the race, providing a platform for press, course officials, and emergency personnel, as well as provide a visible boundary to those non-affiliated watercraft operating near the race course. Many volunteers dropped out before the day of the event, several afraid to cruise the NYC waterways, some involved in other rescue activities at Ground Zero. On the Seahorse, we had a skeleton complement: the Skipper, 2 Mates, and 3 Youth. Showing both our sympathy and support, the Crew manned the starboard rails to salute the World Trade Center as we motored by. A Scout is Courteous, Reverent. When the ship arrived at Pier 63, we received instructions and many words of appreciation for honoring our commitment to this event. A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, and Helpful. Beginning at 0900 hours, the Ship worked tirelessly until 1830, taking their role and responsibilities quite seriously. A Scout is Obedient, Brave, and Cheerful.

Our Logbook details all the activities of those 11+ hours on a rough and stormy sea. For many that weekend the Sea Scout Promise was honored by the manner Seahorse conducted themselves. The training and the attitudes we preach and practice paid off. Examples of this were:

To guard against water accidents. The presence of Ship 243 and the Seahorse let the kayakers know that someone was standing by ready to act in case of an emergency.
To know the location and proper use of the life saving devices on every boat I board. We constantly train how to use the equipment onboard Seahorse as well as train all guests who board her. We used safety hoists to bring exhausted racers onboard, we towed back to dock kayaks, and we provided safe passage for individuals in distress.
To be prepared to render aid to those in need. The crew maintained a constant watch over the kayakers we were protecting. They did not run for cover during a rescue attempt when we were hit by freezing rain from a squall. They tended to a kayaker suffering from possible hypothermia by carefully carrying the man below, got him dried off and dressed in their own clothes, while they warmed him in the engine room, then gave him hot food and drink. A Scout is Prepared, Thrifty, and Clean.
To seek to preserve the motto of the sea: "Women and children first". We had a guest onboard confined to a wheelchair. During the downpour, the adults were involved in rescue operations. The crew not involved in this effort held a tarp over the young lady to shield her from the rain and stayed with her so she was not frightened. They selflessly showed concern for everyone, without looking for recognition or applause. A Scout is Friendly, Kind.

Bravo Zulu to Ship 243 for a job well done.

Deidre Buchner
Mate and Committee Chair
Ship 243 - Seahorse (NJ)