Ancient Mariner Sea Scout Regatta Test of Skills

Blustery winds and cool temperatures welcomed West Coast Sea Scouts to the Ancient Mariner Regatta held at the Cal Maritime Academy at the mouth of the Carquinez Strait in Vallejo, California. Attending this three-day event on May 23–25 were 165 Sea Scouts from as far south as Dana Point, California, and as far north as Portland, Oregon, with the crews competing in a total of 26 maritime-skill competitions for awards that emphasized the teamwork necessary on a crewed vessel.

The temporary closure of the boat basin at the Academy shoreline prevented on-water sailing competition, so those events were replaced by sailboat rigging, which required individual Scouts to rig and de-rig the mainsail and jib on a Capri 14, coupled with a 25-question multiple-choice quiz. Attention to detail was an important component of this competition, which required precise tensions for halyard, outhaul, downhaul, vang and mainsheet lines, as well as proper sail shape.

The teamwork necessary on any crewed vessel was perhaps best demonstrated by the Breeches Buoy competition, which was historically used by US Coast Guard rescue teams on shoal-bound coastlines like the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where rescue of passengers and crew from ships aground was necessary. Sea Scouts are organized as “Ships” with each Ship led by a bosun, who provides the leadership for both the event logistics and then the timed execution of the rescue of a crew member from a 17-foot-high tower with a crow’s nest.

In many ways, the strangely named gear required to effect a Breeches Buoy rescue seems dauntingly complex, but no more so than the standing and running rigging on any large sailboat, which become understandable if broken down into their functional parts. Components like the shot line, endless whip tail block and hawser are laid out on the “shore,” and the “onboard” crew take their positions in the crow’s nest before the timed competition begins. Latitude 38 witnessed a very impressive start-to-finish rescue time of just over six minutes without miscue or penalty points assigned!

Other maritime skills were tested in knot tying, marlinspike work, heaving-line toss, compass and relative bearing, along with physical tests of stamina in the obstacle course, swimming and rope climb. The competitive challenge for each Ship is to participate in as many events as possible over two days, with scores of Satisfactory or higher. Awards are set up to recognize the success of each Ship that performs at the highest level in the most events.

This year’s Clipper Class award went to eight Ships for completing events with an average score of 75% or higher:
MSS Tradewind, Redwood City
SSS Shasta Kraken, Redding
SSS Gryphon, Redwood City
SSS Terrapin, Palo Alto
SSS Chaser, Napa, teamed with SSS Albatross, Martinez
SSS Sea Fox, Alameda
Mariner Tea, Dana Point

Latitude 38‘s June issue will be on the docks tomorrow. Go check it out!