sailingpj

I am doing that at a certain level, though not directly via the VOA.

It is going to be interesting to see how this all works out over the next year. We are the only ship in our area trying to run this way. Every other ship has a much more rigid adult directed structure.

"If I send out more of a targeted mass email, I might include 2-3 positions... you never know you might be hearing back from someone for a UC function, who emails back because they are interested in Training or a Merit Badge Councilor question." That is reasonable, and you aren't putting in your positions with your church, and your position with other organizations. Like Basement said, it gets comedic when people have positions they are no longer part of, or positions with other organizations that don't apply to scouting.

He runs around attempting to keep the parents off our backs, and worrying that it is all going to fall apart. I split my time between coaching our quarterdeck, teaching the crew stuff, and explaining to him that everything is actually working.

I just thought I would mention that this is the Sea Scout Centennial, and there are going to be some pretty awesome events happening around the country celebrating it this year. Now would be a fantastic time to get in touch with a local ship to see about celebrating with them. Sea Scouts have a lot of fun when they party, and I am sure that there is a ship in your area that would be very happy to take your troop out on the water for a day or two. If anybody wants more info local to your area let me know, I know a fair amount about whats going to be happening, especially in the western region.

Well I finally convinced my Skipper to let the crew elect a full quarterdeck, and to let them actually do their jobs. While it took a lot of coaching on the part of one of our other senior crew members and I, the quarterdeck put together a full calender for this next year with no adult intervention. About a month ago that other crew member and I trained the new quarterdeck for their positions. Our Yeoman has taken over the previously parent run ship newsletter. The Purser is working with the treasurer to keep track of our money. The Storekeeper started an inventory of all our stuff (two large conex boxes, plus the stuff on the boat). Our Bosun is starting to get the hang of doing her thing. The two bosun mates are starting to also do their jobs. I predict that in less than 2 months that other senior crew member and I will no longer need to whisper suggestions to the bosun. We should be able to just step back and wait for them to come up to us with questions. This is shaping up to be a pretty awesome year for our crew.

I've seen that. I just laugh. Personally I rarely do more than just my first name. If I have to email people from other ships that I haven't met or talked to before I will do my full name, and ship name, but that is rare.

Don't lump Sea Scouts in with all the rest of you all. In 2010 there were 6000-7000 Sea Scouts. Now we are up to 7000-8000.

I discovered a new challenge for a "Are you tougher than a Sea Scout?" show. Welding in a closet. The goal: Move a metal plate and bracketish thing from one side of the closet to the other. The closet is just big enough to wield a saws all, and to get the correct angles you have to get all the way into it. Somehow I had sparks bouncing up under my welding mask. Of course with that new welding merit badge I guess Boy Scouts could do it too.

I read through this and was laughing because I never heard of half the people mentioned so far. That thought reminded me of something that happened a couple months ago. A couple days after Steve Jobs died I mentioned him to my 6th graders. Despite every computer on campus having an apple on it, they had not clue who he was. That just astonished me. I still can't imagine someone not knowing who he was. To me not knowing who Steve Jobs was is like dividing by zero. It just can't happen. Especially living as close as we do to silicone valley.

How about "Are you tougher than a Sea Scout?" Contestants would have to survive a regatta like AMR, then go on a long cruise.

Lisabob's scenario pulled me into this thread. I had something quite similar happen to me a while back, though it was via email, not on facebook. In Lisa's scenario the BSA Media Guidelines have no application. Leader Z needs to work on taking the high road. What Scout A did in response was exactly in line with what is currently being taught in school to avoid bullying.

I am quite amazed that nobody mentioned Louis L'amour.

On my ships summer cruise I threatened to do a vegetarian day and make tofu(no food allergies or picky eaters in the crew). Since I did not want to wake up under water I did not actually plan that sort of day. Unfortunately one of the other scouts meals decided to take flying lessons when we got hit by a wake on our beam. The only thing that survived was the broccoli because he hadn't taken it out of the fridge yet. I went to help him find some spare food to make dinner with. Well I found a bunch of spaghetti, so I suggested that he make that. He commented that we didn't have any sauce, so according to him I grabbed a pot and magically pulled spaghetti sauce out of thin air. What I did was take a can of diced tomatoes, and two cans of tomato paste, put them in a pot, and add water. I also threw in some salt and pepper to give it a little more flavor. So I guess what I am suggesting is that spaghetti can be a good vegetarian dinner, and like the others you can always cook up a bit of sausage to put on top.

My Sea Scout ship has a steel boat, so a couple of us have picked up basic welding skills along the way. It is definitely a lot of fun, and with the proper precautions nobody gets hurt.

I went through a picky phase when I was 10ish. My mom simply said you eat whats in front of you, or you make your own dinner. Fast forward a couple years and I was cooking dinner for the family on a regular basis. If acorn squash isn't being cooked you don't have to eat it.

"If you want pretty much any kind of license to operate vessels at sea for pay from the Coast Guard, there is an age test. Here's probably the simplest to obtain, which requires a minimum age of 18 for carrying small numbers of passengers: " As someone who is waiting to be able to take that test, I must say that the sea time requirements and the knowledge that you must have to get that license are much harder than the age restriction. I don't even have a problem with saying you have to be 18 to get a license. I don't like that they let you get one license when you turn 18, then most of the rest when you turn 19.

I'm not that unique. I personally know a couple dozen people under 18 who are plenty qualified to teach others how to safely drive a jetski. Many Sea Scouts have the necessary skills. Beavah brought it up, and I am still frustrated with a group of adult leaders that seem to think that just because someone is a third their age that person must not be worth listening to. Especially when they have no clue what they are doing and can't drive a boat without breaking it or hitting something.

I have been an instructor at a local yacht club's youth sailing summer program. I have delivered several boats from one port to another, including one trip up the entire coast of Mexico, and another trip covering most of the east coast. I have the knowledge and sea time to get a captains license that would allow me to take paying customers up to 200 nautical miles offshore. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 miles at sea under my belt. I have spent several years teaching teenagers how to safely operate everything from PWC and Zodiaks, to 50 foot power and sailing vessels. I have also spent a year and a half teaching math at a middle school; and I am working on my third year of college education. Based solely on those qualifications would any of you have a problem with me teaching your children how to operate a jetski? Now what do you think when I tell you I am 18? Does that change anything? Edited to add: btw, the only reason I don't have that captains license is because the Coast Guard won't give me the license I want, and qualify for, until I turn 19. As for the original topic, I think that most council camps probably won't have the resources to run a PWC, or ATV program. While I think that any program that strive to teach PWC operators how to be safe is a good thing, I don't think that it really has a place in scouting yet. That is not to say that there can't be a place for them, but the program has to be put on correctly.(This message has been edited by sailingpj)

I'm just laying out all the options. Some people may even look here for ideas on how to fix a hole in their Sea Scout boat. You would want them to surf away with the idea that duct tape is the only way to fix it.

"And if your solution to fixing a 2" hole in your sailboat is duct tape, you migt be a Sea Scout." The spray on foam stuff works well too.

"Yes, I'm fine with this. It's reasonable for the person signing off to have some standard for what an acceptable bandage is. But what if the bandage was perfect? The Scout learned it two minutes ago, did it perfectly. Will he remember it in a week? Probably not if he doesn't practice it again. But if he's done it correctly, would you then not sign off? Or is it once and done? " Here is what I do. I see that a scout in my ship has just learned a bowline, or perhaps I just taught it to them. They ask me to sign it off. I tell them to come back to me next week and I'll see if they still remember it. 8 times in 10 they come back and struggle a little, but eventually get a bowline. I give them some advice, maybe show them a different way of tying it, or a new use, then tell them to come back next week. Now 8 time in 10 they can tie it on their first or second try. If so I sign them off and give them more opportunities to tie it practically. Like say something needs to get secured, I will ask that person to go do it. If by the third week they still can't tie it in less than 4 tries (I use that as a baseline because even though I have been tying knots all my life I still spaz out and forget a knot once in a while), then I tell them to keep practicing and come back again. I may also suggest to another member of the crew that they help this person practice. As the skills get more complicated the process takes longer, like navigation normally take 4-8 weeks for someone to learn well enough to be useful.

As for the Centennial, there are a lot of events all over the country going on. http://seascouts100.wordpress.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea-Scout-Centennial-2012-Countdown/122235897815341

Google sites gets indexed by both google and Yahoo. It just takes a few days for them to catch on to you. Also, if you don't have any links to or from other sites you won't show up in the search engines. That is just the way their algorithms work.

"WHere's sailing PJ when I need him" When you asked that I was leaping out of a 30 foot tower for Breeches Buoy. Eagle92 is right on with the uniforms. Though most ships also have a t-shirts that they use for the youth work uniform. Sea Scouts is the greatest, most fun program that has ever been invented.