sailingpj

Yes, there is engineering, welding, drill, painting, fiberglass work. There are requirements for each rank that have you doing progressively bigger projects on your boat. You also have to be able to use all the tools commonly used on the boats your ship has. We have steel, wood, and fiberglass, so you have to be able to work on all three.

You are probably right, I can't come up with empirical evidence, however I have never met a Quartermaster that cannot tie a square knot. I have taught 3 eagle scouts how to tie a square knot after they had earned their eagle. They came and joined a Sea Scout ship for more challenge. One of them quit because we held him to higher standards than he wanted to achieve. That is my anecdotal evidence based on three you eagle scouts. One was 14, and the other two were 16 and 17. The 14 year old was the one that quit. Maybe I have just had bad experiences, but notice one other thing; there is no internet forum full of Sea Scout adult leaders complaining about people watering down the advancement process. There are no questions about people trying to get around the rank requirements on a technicality. It is not so much the comparison to Eagle that bothers me, it is more the dismissive look that I often get when people reach that conclusion.

It is not just you.

"You need a better crew handling the sea scout websites. For now, just have a homepage membership link to a simple static webpage detailing where the units are and point of contacts. Simple, can be done in an hour." Perhaps building the page can be done in an hour, but tracking down all the contact info is a lot harder than that. Beascout now has a way for ships to show up as ships. I don't know it, but there is a way.

There are some people working to publicize Sea Scouts right now. We are actually getting a fair amount of publicity this year. There are cities, and states around the country that are honoring the Sea Scout Centennial. Unfortunately not a whole lot of it is getting out of the Sea Scout community. You will see a fair amount of info about it on the Western Region Facebook page, the Sea Scout Centennial Blog, and the new Western Region Sea Scout Blog (links below). The content for those blogs is being gathered by the National and Regional Boatswains. Many local ship are also getting their events noticed in their local newspapers and such. The new National Sea Scout website is still in Beta, but it can be seen here: newseascout.org The Centennial Blog: seascouts100.wordpress.com The Western Region Blog: wrseascouts.wordpress.com

"Ask someone on the street about the 100 year old Eagle Scout Award and they most likely will not know exactly what is needed to earn it, but will know it take a certain something big to get it done." Ask someone on the street about the 100 year old Sea Scout Quartermaster award that is harder than Eagle, and you will get an even blanker stare than Venturing Silver. Once you explain it the person always says something to the effect of "So its like Eagle." Here is the thing about Sea Scout advancement. By the time you reach Able, our second highest rank, you have learned most of the skills. Except for a couple things, such as getting lifeguard certified, the requirements are all about teaching a crew all the skills. Take Marlinespike for an example: "6. Marlinspike Seamanship a. Teach the Apprentice, Ordinary, and Able marlinspike seamanship requirements to a crew. b. Make an eye splice in double-braided line." For apprentice there are 8 knots. For Ordinary there are another 7 knots, and you have to "Name the various materials used to manufacture rope, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and the characteristics of laid and braided rope. Discuss the meaning of lay, thread, strand, and hawser. Explain how rope is sized and measured. Demonstrate your ability to secure a line to pilings, bitts, cleats, and rings, and to coil, flake, and flemish a line. Demonstrate how to cut and heat-seal a synthetic line and whip the end of plain-laid line using waxed cord or similar material. For Able you have to complete a back splice, eye splice, short splice, long splice, and a palm-and-needle whipping. Sew a flat seam, round seam, and grommet eye in canvas or sail material. Describe how each is used in construction of and the care of sails. Describe the parts of a block and explain how blocks are sized. Describe the following types of tackle: luff, gun, double purchase, single whip, and runner. With the help of another shipmate, reeve a double purchase tackle. So for Quartermaster you have to know all of those things well enough to teach them to a crew. Not one person, a crew. Marlinespike is actually one of the easier requirements to do. Then there is boat handling, navigation, rules of the road, and much more. Many of your Eagle requirements are requirements for Able. Lifesaving for one, and First Aide for another, though we are required to get CPR certified and take the Red Cross Standard First Aide course. Having just gone and skimmed through the Eagle requirements for the first time I say that Eagle is actually easier than Able. You might be able to make a case for it being on level with Able, but you will have difficulty convincing me. I hope I did not offend anyone, but I am tired of people lessening Quartermaster by making it sound equivalent to things that are less than it. I also don't mean to put down Eagle. It is definitely an accomplishment, but Quartermaster is just, in my mind at least, a bigger accomplishment. While you all are complaining about people watering down the Boy Scout advancement process, in the most recent requirement change they shifted several requirements down a rank, and added more to the top. Here is the link to the current Quartermaster requirements. There are links along the bottom of the page to the other ranks as well. http://seascout.org/about/program/advancement/quartermaster.html

Sea Scouts get not one, but two ranks that get you an upgrade in the Navy and Coast Guard. Able gets you E-2, and Quartermaster gets you E-3.

I'm debating about it. I was all for it until I saw the cost of the plane tickets for me. Now I am on the fence.

1 set of youth dress whites (all my bling) 1 set of youth dress blues (all my bling) 1 set of adult dress blues (just the bare minimum) 1 set of adult khakis (bare minimum) 2 chambray work uniforms (These have a bunch of patches because I last wore them at jambo) 3 activity uniforms (three ships) I wear the different uniforms based on what position I am actively working at the time (though that gets a little fuzzy at times), and my geographic location.(This message has been edited by sailingpj)

I've been in that position in Sea Scouts for about a year now, and it is definitely weird. It is especially odd and annoying, here in the Bay Area because of what we call the JO program. Area 3 in the Western region basically decided to treat the 18-21 range as neither crew, nor officer. In this area once you turn 18 and graduate high school you become a JO. You can no longer compete at the regattas, and you wear the adult uniform. When a ship cruises a JO doesn't really stand a watch. They are usually set as OOD in training, or they are assigned to teach a new person something. It is weird when you put on the khaki shirt because the people who were just your crew mates are not anymore. While you can hang out with them, it just isn't the same. Then when you go hang out with the officers, that is just weird too. The youngest officer on my ship is 29. The rest are in their mid 40s or late 50s. There are only about 10 people in this age range in this area right now, so at regattas and such we usually hang out together. We even team up every year and go compete at regattas in other areas that allow us to compete. While we have fun and all, it is always a little awkward. That is one reason why there are so few of us. The few that don't go to college or just drift away from the crew naturally tend not to stick around after they see what being a JO is actually like.

It would be nice if you could get Sea Scout uniforms from them.

I think the reason that a lot of you aren't seeing a whole lot of atavism from the under 25 group is that most of it is happening online. I see a lot more of the political chit chat happening online versus in person. I think that is actually a better system. It allows for a lot more free debate, and it allows people to provide sources for their information, and you get to hear from a lot wider range of people. Facebook is not only used for people to talk about the mundane things in their life. Look at the response online to things like SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA. Whatever you personally believe about those pieces of legislation, the word got out on the internet very quickly, and there was massive debate about them. I also think that things are moving faster. Take the civil rights movement, that took years. Due to peoples ability to communicate so rapidly now it does not take as long for things to happen, so when do happen they happen fast. In internet time a month may as well be a year. I am also just going to leave this here. http://www.youthrights.org/issues/curfew/curfew-faq/

"And the closet doesn't have a door. You get into it through a removable ceiling panel and hang upside down from the attic while you weld. Also, every once in a while, someone makes the whole closet rock back and forth. Oh, also, it doesn't so much have a floor as it has a mass of pipes, ductwork, electrical cords, and a hole to a spot in the basement that is essentially inaccessible. Anything you drop goes into that hole. " EXACTLY!!!!

So I am considering doing the staff thing again at the 2013 Jamboree. I was just wondering what airport would be best to fly into? The cost of flying from San Francisco to Beckley is like $560+. That's more than the staff fee. Does anyone over in that area know of a better airport to fly into? I just saw a flight into Charleston for $476. That's a bit better.(This message has been edited by sailingpj)

I take offense at the idea that just because a boat has a sail it is easy to sail. I challenge any of you to get out on a laser and sail against me all day. No namby pamby row boating wuss could do this for 5-8 hours a day: http://performancesailinggear.com/images/SEA/Laser%20sailing%20bre1.jpg Or this: http://spinerphotospot.co.cc/images/Cats/laser-sailing-boat.jpg Or this: http://www.sailing.org.ph/tlyc/hobie/PSAsm1.jpg And are you really going to tell me that this is easy? http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc11/d0uglass/eb01525d8c.jpg I know everyone on these boats would meet the weight standards of the BSA. http://youtu.be/4-PpU8MUbHE Compare those to this: http://whitehallrow.com/sshow/boatshot-new.jpg Or this: http://pidge2571.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/fat-man-boat.jpg I say the sail boating is a lot better.

Why would you ever want to shoot at Bullwinkle?

I didn't miss pie day. I ate an apple pie.

Sorry, I am still getting used to thinking about other time zones.

"The red-headed step child of Scouts are the Sea Scouts, not Cub Scouts. All, I know that every council is different so situations vary, except Sea Scouts being the redheaded step child. " Eagle92, you put it too nicely. Sea Scouts are the black sheep of the redheaded step child family.

That seems like a perfectly reasonable chain of events.

Two minutes is a hella long time to grab 4 things off a table. Next time they should only get one minute.

The presentation will also be available at www.communitymediacenter.net at the same times.

Well there is going to be a 1 hour long presentation about Sea Scout history on Comcast Channel 30 this month. It will be playing on Wednesdays at 8 PM, Thursdays at 10:30 AM, and Saturdays at 1 PM. It should be a very good presentation.

Try downloading AVG. They have a 1 month free trial, and even their free program is pretty good at finding stuff, and blocking stuff.

The centennial blog tells about a lot of the goings on around the country. http://seascouts100.wordpress.com/