Dirigo II

Check out Dirigo II, the 72' wooden Alden Schooner that Steve Alexander from Friends of Sea Scouts of Maryland, Inc. is buying. The Latin word "dirigo" means "I lead." Steve is going out to California in about 6 months and will to sail the vessel through the Panama Canal and on to MD. That is one beautiful boat! Oh, how I'd love to be on that sail. (And I smell a Ship 7916 long cruise in 2009!)

Recognition and Press Event

This afternoon Sea Scout Ship 7916 held a recognition ceremony and press event on the dock at Leesylvania State Park, with the Catalina 22, Takin' it Breezy tied aside. Myra Lindsey, reporter from the Old Bridge Observer attended and took photos to use in her upcoming story on our unit.

Left to right:

Kenneth Benson, Leesylvania Park manager, who made access a reality.
Sarah F., Youth Fund Raising Chair, Sea Scout Ship 7916.
B.J. Richardson, Commander of VFW Post 7916, or Charter Organization. The Post provides us with a meeting place, and gave us generous start up funds to help us obtain the Amanda Grace.
Earnie Porta, Mayor of Occoquan and Sea Scout Committee Chair.
Caitlín K., Yeoman for Ship 7916.
Gregg Reynolds, who, with his wife Jean, donated the MacGregor 23, Seeking Peace.
Delegate Scott Lingamfelter, a lifelong sailor who provided assistance with head of state parks in SSS 7916's obtaining use of the park.
Leo Smith, erstwhile member of the Occoquan Town Council. Mr. Smith is in Membership Sales with Carefree Boat Club, which provides us use of the Catalina 22 Takin' it Breezy, thanks to his request on our behalf.
Mark M., Sea Scout, member of Ship 7916.
Jean Reynolds, co-donor of the cutter-rigged MacGregor 23, Seeking Peace.
Shay Seaborne, Skipper of Sea Scout Ship 7916.
John Ashton, longtime sailor and friend of Gregg Reynolds from crew inception at Woodbridge Senior High School. Mr. Ashton successfully pursued his idea of mooring at Leesylvania State Park, where we have immediate access to the river.
Daniel S., Storekeeper for Ship 7916.

Ice Cream Stick Ship

Check out the Thor, a 50-foot replica Viking ship made from 15 million recycled ice-cream sticks!

Painting Amanda Grace

Yesterday morning six Scouts and two adult leaders from of our Ship drove up to Maryland to paint the hull of our donated boat, the Amanda Grace. At our last meeting, several of us Scouts had been debating what color paint we should use, and joking that it should be purple or even pink. But since Daniel's father could black for free as a donation, that's what we went with.
As most of us had helped to paint der PeLiKan, it wasn't as interesting, but we were more experienced and even with fewer rollers and quite a bit of joking around and teasing each other, the job was finished a lot more quickly. (Although it could have also been that the Amanda Grace is only 27' in length as opposed to the 46' of der PeLiKan.)