Sea Scouts Ship 915, Boca Ciega Yacht Club —

“If There’s Wind, We Sail”

By Cathy Salustri Vanguard, May 2009 Southwinds Magazine

Just after the sun sets on a more-than-chilly Wednesday night in February, two teenagers walk along the docks at the Boca Ciega Yacht Club in Gulfport, FL. The hoods from their sweatshirts protect their ears from the wind, and they walk arm and arm from the docks into the clubhouse. As the twilight ebbs away into darkness, stars show their faces, and the clubhouse comes alive with light, laughter and teenagers.

“Okay, who turned down the air-conditioning?” Skipper Joel Heyne jokes as he plugs in a space heater. Someone else throws a bag of Snickers miniatures onto the table and conversation momentarily pauses as Sea Scouts Ship 915 pauses to consider the mix of chocolate and nuts. Brandon and Hannah—the two teens who watched the sunset off the club’s docks—take their seats. Across the table, Dylan and Donald sit down. At the head of the table, Karissa, the boatswain, takes the lead. Dylan used to date Brandon. That’s how she started coming to Sea Scouts Ship 915. When she and Brandon broke up, she kept coming to the meetings and sailing. Hannah Golightly started coming to Sea Scouts and started dating Brandon, and Dylan’s moved on to Donald. This Sunday Dylan, Krista and Karissa will hop on a J/22 and sail around Apollo Beach—practice for the Gasparilla Women’s Regatta. Krista and Karissa attend St. Pete High. The dynamics of the group of teen sailors aren’t that confusing once Krista, the high school junior tasked with patiently explaining the intricacies of the Sea Scouts to an outsider, explains it all a few times.

“We’ve been a ship for almost two years,” she says. A ship is the Sea Scouts counterpart to its terrestrial equivalent, the Boy Scouts troop. “It was crazy at first, I won’t lie to you— there was some drama. But now we’ve gotten to know each other and we all get along.” As the group jokes at the start of the meeting and struggles with parliamentary procedure, Administrative Mate Tony Angel explains how a storm helped Ship 915 morph from a random group of assorted teenagers into a team of sailors.

“After a whole day of sailing, we made it (from Caladesi Island) to Clearwater. They sailed in 7-foot seas,” Angel says. Ship 915 hid behind the bridge, sunk two anchors and rafted its two sailboats together. The wind— gusting to 25—came up from the south, and the teens watched it rip the main on one boat and the jib on the other.

After that, Angel says, the group gelled. Learning how to sail in less-than-perfect conditions is all part of being a Sea Scout. Angel says he and the other group leaders wait for days when “the sky is green and roiling” and take the Scouts out on the ship’s 30-foot Hunter, Toga.

“We take them out into a storm front, where you know you’re going to have gusts of wind, so you can experience it in a controlled environment,” Angel says. On the sheltered waters of Boca Ciega Bay, Krista, Karissa, Brandon and the others learn to put aside who’s dating whom to work learning how to handle a boat in a storm.

“We take them out and show them that if you reef a boat down in time—not too late—that you can manage a stiff breeze. Although we take them into Boca Ciega Bay, it teaches them how to handle a boat in the Gulf.” Angel stops, pokes around the Boca Ciega Yacht Club, and chuckles. “They’re actually more mature in sailing a boat in those conditions than many of our adult members.”

Some of the Sea Scouts, like Krista, sailed before they joined the Scouts.

“My dad sails a 30-foot Tartan. Every Sunday he and I go out; it’s really good bonding for us.” When Krista met Joel and he told her about Sea Scouts, a part of the Boy Scouts of America’s “Venture Scouting” for teens 14-20, she started coming to the meetings.

“All the people here are really fantastic. I love sailing and it’s great to have a place to go,” she says. Sea Scouts compose the largest-growing scouting group, and the Scouts have the final word on all Ship business from what to do for the next fundraiser to how to spend the money they raise. The Scouts decided to sell their 26-foot Pearson and use the money to fix up the donated Hunter sloop Toga, so named, Krista says, “Because when people call us over the radio they have to say our name three times.”

Scouts like Krista work with new Scouts who don’t know how to sail.

“We teach the kids unfamiliar with sailing. Mostly it’s just practice, just getting out there,” she says. Everyone gets a chance to get out there; this spring break they’ll sail down to Cayo Costa State Park. The seven-day trip will give the scouts plenty of time at the helm but also give them the chance to navigate, keep watch and provision a boat. At tonight’s meeting, Angel explains that they can keep the costs down by preparing their own meals rather than eating at restaurants.

They’ll take Toga as well as Seraphim, Angel’s 31-foot Hunter sloop, and Krista’s father’s 30-foot Tartan. If they could get a second boat they’d use that instead of one of the adults’ boats, but so far, no one’s come forward to donate a 26- or 27-foot boat. They’ve got the slip ready and waiting, courtesy of Boca Ciega Yacht Club and the city of Gulfport. Boca Ciega Yacht Club leases the slips and its building from Gulfport, and Angel says Gulfport city staff and elected officials treat the Sea Scouts very well.

“The city of Gulfport has been really, really supportive, and it’s wonderful the relationship we have with them.” Angel says. The city doesn’t charge the Sea Scouts for their wet slips or the dry slip they use for their canoes. In exchange, Joel and the Scouts don’t charge the city to teach Gulfport’s youth to sail.

“In a very real way, they’re a service organization,” Angel says of the Scouts.

The Scouts also compete in regattas. They took first place in the 2008 Apollo Beach Regatta and took trophies home from the Commodore’s Cup in Miami. Several adults mention that the girls hold their own with adults in most regattas and that Donald sails just as well as Joel. “He’s just a natural; he loves boats—any part of a boat. Joel has to work to keep ahead of him,” Angel laughs.

Toward the end of the meeting, Ship 915 discusses its next outing and what the Scouts will do if they don’t have wind. Some say paintball; others vote for billiards. As the conversation grows more spirited, Brandon reminds the group that they’re only discussing a backup plan and that they’re really there to get out on the water.

“I say if there’s wind, we sail,” Brandon says.

“What if it’s cold?” his girlfriend asks.

“It doesn’t matter. If it’s cold, if it’s rain, sun, whatever— if there’s wind,” Brandon says, “we sail.”