|
Ship 25's Log Book of Past Activities First Year: 2000-2001 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
First Year
Highlights:
More Recent
Years:
|
 FIRST CHARTER YEAR - 4/1/2001 to 3/31/2002
It's official! We are launched and get underway, ready for adventure! It all really began a month earlier when Venturing Crew 25 went to the Merchant Marine Academy Camporee at King's Point, Long Island, 28-30 April. See photos. We had such a great time rowing the Monomoy lifeboats and breathing the salt air that we had decided to convert our crew into a Sea Scout Ship. We had previously heard that "Sea Scouts have More Fun", that "Sea Scouting is the BSA's Best Kept Secret", and that "You'll Never Forget the Day You Joined Sea Scouting." We decided to put these slogans to the test, and have NOT been disappointed. The following is the log of our Ship's journey on Scouting's Sea.
The combined USMC Evening Parade and Joint Forces Air Show expedition was a great success. Those crewmembers who could leave York early went directly to the Parade. Those who could not met up with the rest of us at Andrews Air Force Base. The Marines put on their usual excellent show, and the off and on drizzle did nothing to dampen the Marines' precision and splendor. It is the kind of performance that makes one proud to be an American. The Air Show filled the skies with aircraft of every description performing daring maneuvers. The Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine had excellent static displays inside the various hangers on the runway. Each of us came away with bags of colorful and informative literature.
Ship 25 exceeded expectations in its first official Sea Scout outing. We took First Place in the canoe slalom, Second in the swim meet, Third in the heaving line toss, Fourth in the life ring toss, and overall ranked 7th out of 11 ships. We thought we also placed first in sailing competition, but the wind blew the score sheets away, and then they handed the prize to someone else. Oh well! The Saturday night dance was awesome, and will long be recounted as long as Sea Scouts tell stories. The group rendition of YMCA was absolutely spectacular. Sunday morning we attended the memorial service and watched as the Monsignor was rowed to sea in the long boat and then laid a wreath upon the waters. On the way back, we stopped at the Navy Exchange for Naval Station Annapolis and picked up our white and working blue uniforms. See photos.
Skipper Kain embarked on Der PeLiKan with five other intrepid Sea Scout leaders for a "brush up" on advanced seamanship skills. Excitement, in addition to the regular training, included Der PeLiKan being rammed while at anchor by another boat that was not keeping proper lookout. Saturday night was spent touring Annapolis. The skipper reports that Der PeLiKan training cruises are a great way to learn or improve nautical skills and be with fun people on a beautiful 46' Morgan Ketch while sailing the waters of one of America's great bays. What's not to like? Sign up for a Der PeLiKan training cruise today! See photos.
This event did not get conducted for Ship 25 due to the rush to get prepared for the Long Cruise. It will be rescheduled to a later date.
None of the Ship 25 Crewmembers were eligible this year, but we hope to have some members gain the necessary qualifications in order to be selected to participate next year.
Rescheduled due to Long Cruise.
Ship 25 was embarked on its Long Cruise at this time. We did, however, see a number of the tall ships while on the Long Cruise itself.
Rescheduled due to Long Cruise.
Our Long Cruise did not return to the Chesapeake July 25 July. Consequently, we missed the Raft Out, but hope to participate next year.
THE BIG ONE! 856 nautical miles over four and one-half weeks. George, Kelyn, Maureen, Mary, and the skipper journeyed to the Glen Cove Yacht Club on Long Island to pick up TWIZZLER, our 24' auxiliary racing sloop, and to thank donor Bob Bennett with a bushel of Chesapeake crabs. After the turnover, Mary drove the skipper's GMC Suburban back to York, and the rest of us began our first long cruise. Our first port of call was Port Jefferson, NY, where the crew enjoyed the Starbucks cafe while the skipper journeyed by taxi to get various boat supplies. We then proceeded past Montauk Point in an all-night sail to Block Island, RI. We anchored at first light in the Great Salt Pond, then got under way again as soon as we were rested. Proceeding across the open ocean toward Martha's Vineyard, we encountered 10 foot seas, which are quite impressive when viewed from a small boat. Kelyn was knocked out of her bunk, and everybody on deck wore PFD's and safety harnesses. We finally arrived at Menemsha on the Vineyard late in the evening, and literally ran down the road to get dinner at the local crab shack before it closed. We arrived just in the nick of time and talked the proprietor out of fish chowder, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and rolls. A finer treat was never had. Leaving the Vineyard the next day, we proceeded up Vineyard Sound to Hyannis, MA. We obviously passed the Kennedy Compound on the way, but could not tell exactly which one it was. In Hyannis, Wes and Adam came onboard, and George, Maureen, and Kelyn departed with Adam's mother for the drive back to York. The next day, the skipper, Wes, and Adam sailed into Stage Harbor at Chatham, Massachusetts and anchored in a delightful cove. Tours of Adam's summer home, the village of Chatham, and the beach with it's quaint lighthouse made for great memories. Departing Chatham Roads for Nantucket, we skirted the sands of Monomoy Island and watched lobstermen at work on the waters. That evening we sailed into Nantucket harbor and dropped the hook, feeling much like the returning whaler men did in days of old. Nantucket was memorable for its town walking tour, showers, laundry, the whaling museum, the lifesaving museum, a fine restaurant, and literally millions of dollars of 100' plus yachts partying in the harbor in pre-Fourth of July festivities. Departing Nantucket for Plymouth, the crew did well with the challenge of navigating TWIZZLER through the tricky shoals of Pollock Rip at night under sail without lighted buoys. GPS and a vigilant bow lookout with a powerful light made all the difference. The rest of the night watch saw us running before the wind up the east coast of Cape Cod. In the afternoon we eventually altered course due east for Plymouth, MA. We felt like pilgrims indeed arriving in Plymouth harbor the afternoon of July 4. We anchored away from the town near the harbor entrance, but soon were surrounded by a huge armada of small boats awaiting that evening's fireworks show. Anchors began to drag, and tempers began to flare. It took us ten tries to get our hook re-set, and by then the show was over and the armada was gone. Next morning, however, we had the satisfaction of seeing one of other boats from the night before high and dry. Its skipper, who had been so hasty to criticize us, had forgotten to allow for the tidal range. His only damage, however, was to his pride, and he floated off at high tide (hopefully somewhat more humble). We were invited onboard a lovely boat crewed by a nice British couple, who had sailed from Sweden to England to the Caribbean and now to Plymouth. They had self steering, a wind generator, and a security system to deter pirate boarders. Plymouth Rock was still there after all these years, including four moves, being split in half, and then cemented back together. More interesting was the Mayflower II replica. We could much more readily appreciate the plight of the Pilgrims locked below decks for two months in a November crossing, and we could also appreciate the skill and fortitude of the mariners who got them all safely to the New World. From Plymouth, we sailed south, motored through the Cape Cod Canal, and proceeded down Buzzards Bay to Woods Hole. After some tricky night piloting thought the tremendous currents of the Hole, and correcting a mistaken buoy assumption in the nick of time, we came safely to anchor in Woods Hole harbor. The next morning we discovered a large motor yacht had not been so lucky, and watched as the Coast Guard and eventually a salvage tug labored to free her from the rocks. We marveled at the House Floats in the harbor (little cottages on floats, complete with stoves, docks, and dormer windows), then rowed ashore to the Woods Hole Yacht Club landing. Then we walked into town and saw the MBI (Marine Biological Institute) aquarium and seals plus the WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute). At this point, Wes and Adam departed by trolley and bus back to Wes's vehicle at Hyannis for the drive back to York. The skipper continued the tour of the town including the Woods Hole Historical Society and the Candy Go Nuts (great milkshakes!). The next day the skipper single-handed TWIZZLER across Buzzards Bay to Fairhaven/New Bedford, Massachusetts, another great whaling port. While the Fairhaven Shipyard did a rigging survey on TWIZZLER, the skipper hiked to New Bedford to see the whaling museum and the seaman's chapel with its memorial plaques that inspired Herman Melville to create the character of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. Proceeding down the Acushnet River from the New Bedford hurricane barrier, TWIZZLER reentered Buzzards Bay and then when up the Sakonet River to Fall River, Massachusetts. The highlight there was the U.S.S. Massachusetts, the World War II battleship that fired the first and the last 16" shells of the war and never had a crewmember killed by enemy action, despite receiving enemy shell damage. "Big Mamie" is very well preserved, and is proud to host tours of her interior spaces. Her many turrets, engine rooms, galley, CIC, cobbler shop, print shop, armory, brig, berthing areas, medical areas, etc. plus the many displays take an entire day to appreciate. She is also is willing to host Scout units for weekend sleepovers. Next to the mammoth battleship are a destroyer, a sub, two WWII patrol torpedo boats, and a Soviet guided missile gunboat, all also open for tours. Adjacent to Battleship Cove is the replica of the H.M.S. Bounty used in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" as well as the Fall River Line Museum, dedicated to the great and luxurious passenger steamers that carried travelers between Boston and New York for almost a century. That museum can consume a good half-day. The next port of call was Newport, RI, where the skipper relived fond memories of his duty there while in the U.S. Navy. An unexpected bonus was the opportunity to sail up close to the decommissioned carriers FORESTALL and SARATOGA and the battlewagon U.S.S. IOWA. The Iowa class battleships were the largest and finest ever built, and it brought a tear to the skipper's eye to see one "laid up", never likely to go to sea again. The skipper spotted his old office window at the Naval Academy Prep School, and then proceeded to Fort Adams to tour the World Museum of Yachting. The oyster stew at the Black Pearl, and the pasta at Sallas's were every bit as good as the skipper remembered from over twenty years before. The Newport fog lifted, and TWIZZLER stood out of Narragansett Bay headed for Saybrook, Connecticut via Fisher's Island Sound. The tides and currents were favorable, and that part of the voyage was uneventful. Not so the next day's departure, when due to heavy currents TWIZZLER went down the Connecticut River on one side of a buoy and DINK, the ever-faithful tender being towed astern, decided to go down the other side of the buoy. There was a loud snap as the bow fitting on DINK parted. The skipper then had to do some tricky shallow water maneuvering to recover and re-attach DINK. A long day's sail down Long Island Sound eventually brought TWIZZLER back to Glen Cove, NY, the original point of departure weeks before. The next morning, to avoid having to re-set a dragging anchor, the skipper motored to Mosquito Cove for gas for the Honda outboard. This trusty 1985 4-stroke Honda behaved with remarkable dependability throughout the cruise whenever an "iron wind" was needed. The short hop from Glen Cove, NY to Bay View Marina, NY, allowed the skipper the benefit of an early arrival there to await Mate Doug McIntosh who arrived by train to help the skipper bring TWIZZLER to the Chesapeake. The next day the skipper and the mate set out for City Island, NY to get more gas and to view the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy from the sea. Crew 25 had been to the USMMA in April for a camporee, and that helped start the notion of dual-registering Venturing Crew 25 as a Ship 25. From City Island, we passed under the Throgs Neck Bridge, past the New York Maritime Academy, Riker's Island with its prison and prison ships, through Hell Gate, past the United Nations Building, under the Brooklyn Bridge, past Governor's Island and the Statute of Liberty, past Ellis Island, and finally under the Verazanno Narrows Bridge into the lower Bay. That night we anchored in Atlantic Highlands, N.J. behind Sandy Hook. With most of the trip behind us, it now seemed appropriate to view the summer's hit movie thriller, The Perfect Storm. With the waves we had encountered between Block Island and Martha's Vineyard, and with the fishing ships we had seen in New Bedford and Fairhaven, we could appreciate the film much more that most of the rest of the audience. Atlantic Highlands to Barnegat Inlet was fairly straightforward sailing. As we sailed by Atlantic City, it seems as if we were looking at a modern Sodom and Gomorra compared to the quaint New England towns we had enjoyed for most of the cruise. At Barnegat, a friendly fisherman gave us some fresh swordfish steaks, and the mate tried a sunset sail in DINK. Porpoises escorted TWIZZLER back into the open sea the next morning, and we headed for Cape May. We arrived in the evening, in time to rendezvous with Carla, our mate's wife, who drove down from York to drop off George for his second cruise segment, and to take her husband back to work. The next day George and the skipper (father and son) motored through the Cape May canal, avoided the huge wakes of the Cape May Ferry, and headed up the Delaware Bay under gray skies, the first of the cruise. Currents were favorable through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and after a stop at Schaeffer's Canal House for fuel, TWIZZLER finished the canal transit, entered the Chesapeake Bay, and came to anchor off the mouth of the Bohemia Rive. That evening's gorgeous sunset was unfortunately the precursor of the next day's heavy rains. George and the skipper took turns standing watch in driving rain while TWIZZLER wallowed her way past Poole's Island, North Point, and up the Patapsco River to Old Road Bay, TWIZZLER's new home port. Mate Al Miller eventually arrived from York by van with his wife Ruthie to greet the intrepid but very wet sailors and take them home to York, to showers, to washers and dryers, and the official end of Ship 25's first Long Cruise. See photos and more photos.
No youth members had yet met the eligibility requirements for Seal training.
George, Jason, Mate Mary, and the skipper, hooked up two Luger day sailers on trailers and headed to Deep Creek Lake. It's about a four-hour drive, so we arrived close to midnight. However, the campsite was still abuzz with other Sea Scouts who were also late arrivals, so we didn't feel bad. On Saturday, the skipper instructed anyone interested in the fine art of rowing, while George and Jason took advantage of the training opportunities being offered. Mate Mary soaked up the sun, and enjoyed talking with other Sea Scout leaders. That evening, after a long search, we found the Sea Scout picnic dinner, and proceed with everyone to the local miniature golf course. On Sunday, the skipper and mate packed the boats while George and Jason rode the torpedo behind Skipper Crabtree's speedboat. During this adventure, Jason learned why wearing glasses while being pulled at high speed through the water is generally not a good idea. Other than that, we all returned safe, sound, enthusiastic, and ready for more.
What was supposed to be a 9 p.m. Friday night departure for Edgewater turned into an 11 p.m. departure as Boatswain Adam was doing such a great job of playing the trombone in the Central High School band that the football game went into overtime. George, Kelyn, Adam, Jason, and the skipper nevertheless eventually got under way towing DINK on her trailer. Arriving at Camp Letts well after midnight, we were reassured that some Sea Scouts never sleep. The night owls guided us to our respective cabins. George and the skipper decided to sleep out under the stars instead. Saturday morning, Chairman Wes arrived with one of the Luger day sailers. While the youth chilled out the in hot sun, the skipper taught Venturing Adult Leader Basic Training to two students from the York-Adams Area Council. In the late afternoon, course completed, everyone piled into Wes's Suburban for an inspection tour of nearby Annapolis. Back at Camp Letts, we searched high and low for the much-anticipated Saturday night dance. Alas, it did not rival the excitement of the Regatta dance, so the crew hopped back into Wes's Suburban and went to a scary movie in Annapolis. Sunday morning we loaded up the Luger and headed back to York.
The Sea Scouts and Sea Scouters of Ship 25 turned out once again at Shiloh Nursery to direct the parking of automobiles at the Nursery's fall open house. Pursuant to a filed BSA Fund-raising Permit, the Ship does this activity in the Spring and Fall to raise money to finance the Ship's various activities. Not only is it financially beneficial, it is a real "power trip" to tell all the visitors "where to go."
The Skipper, both Adams, and Joe piled into the Skipper's Suburban and headed for the wilds of Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. Since we were late getting our reservations in, there was "no room for us at the inn", but we covered ourselves in glory by actually sleeping out in tents in the sub-freezing weather. We were warm in our down bags, so the only real disadvantage to the plan was the fact that we were camped right next to the local Llama ranch, and it seems the Llamas wake the rooster up even before dawn. The weekend was full of learning neat Sea Scout skills like close order drill, marlinspike seamanship, navigation, rules of the road, etc. There were plenty of social opportunities as well, since the dining hall was a great commons area for Sea Scouts between classes. The food was fine, and the snowball fights were even better. Saturday night's dance was not up to Regatta standards, but nevertheless a good time was had by all. See photos.
This morning Joe, Adam, Mike, the Skipper, Mr. Miller and Mr. Blackford rendezvoused at Kain Park to complete Joe's Eagle Scout service project, which is the construction of a 13-step staircase and platform on the back side of the band stand for the York County Parks Department. We were finished by mid-afternoon, and mutually agreed that the magnificent staircase was truly the 8th wonder of the modern world. Some of us then hopped in the Skipper's Suburban and headed to Annapolis, Maryland to pick up Sea Scout uniform parts at the Navy Exchange and to have a great seafood dinner on the Annapolis waterfront.
S.S.S. YORKSHIRE was given the place of honor at the Galleria Mall Show on Saturday, 3 February. We rigged our 14' sailing Whitehall, Tuscarora, and had her right in the middle of the mall. We also rigged our land ship and displayed the skipper's nautical memorabilia. York-Adams Area Flotilla Commodore Don Young was on hand to distribute safe boating flyers. A hit with the younger visitors was the "mini-ship" consisting of a 2' cube with wheel on one end and working propeller and rudder on the other. We hope our display will result in some new members coming to join in the fun of Sea Scouting. See photos.
Our Sea Scouts assisted in the presentation of the colors and also with the order of service. It was truly inspiring to see Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Sea Scouts all carrying their colors forward to the front of the church. Yorkshire United Methodist Church is one of the few, if not the only, sponsoring institution to have a Pack, a Troop, and Crew, and a Ship. The skipper presented a major display of Scouting memorabilia in Fellowship Hall after the service.
Skipper Kain assisted Chesapeake Flotilla Wardroom Chairman Jerry Crabtree sand the bottom of the Wardroom's flagship, der PeLiKan, preparatory to having her bottom painted the next day. Sailing isn't all fun and games.
The skipper, the bo'sun, George, Kelyn, Tim, and Adam piled into the faithful Suburban and headed on down the road to Bridgeport, NJ. Arriving at the Holiday Inn Executive Conference Center, the crew headed for the indoor pool while the skipper and the bo'sun had tons of fun going to meetings. Two bells in the first dog watch saw the transformation of our motley crew into some really dapper, well-dressed men and lady about town and we lined up to enter the ballroom for dinner and the Bridge of Honor ceremony. Kelyn got our vote for the loveliest Sea Scout present. Chairman Garrod joined us just in time for dinner. During the Bridge of Honor, our bo'sun Adam received the award as Ship 25's Sea Scout of the Year. Our "other" Adam was recognized for his earning the Eagle rank in land Scouts. None-too-soon the land ship was cleared away and the deck was ready for the main event - the Sea Scout Ball. Our crew tripped the light fantastic until eight bells signaled the official end to the evening. Next morning the crew went swimming and played pool while the bo'sun and the skipper (yup! you guessed it) went to MORE meetings. After a stop at the local WahWah, we headed into Wilmington, DE to visit the State of Delaware's tall ship, Kalmar Nyckel. The Nyckel is a faithful recreation of a three-masted Pinnance that in 1638 brought the first settlers to the Delaware Valley from Sweden. George's cousin, Kent Ayres, is the assistant engineer on the Nyckel, and he gave us a stem to stern tour rarely seen by the general public. If Wilmington wasn't so far away, it is likely the entire crew of Ship 25 would have signed up then and there for the Nyckel's sail training program. En route home, we had the good fortune to find an "all you can eat" pizza buffet. It is unlikely the establishment made any profit on our meal. Totally worn out by a "sticky claw" battle, the crew soon fell asleep while the skipper kept the Suburban "in the channel" for home. See photos. SECOND CHARTER YEAR - 4/1/2001 to 3/31/2002
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
