S.F. Sea Scouts Enjoy Annual Two-Week Summer Cruise

Every summer, San Francisco Sea Scouts take a two-week cruise into the California Delta. Sea Scout Imani Ezzat shared the following story about this year’s cruise.

Recently, the San Francisco Sea Scouts Viking (all girls) and Corsair (all boys) went on our annual two-week summer cruise up the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Stockton. We spent the first four days sailing from marina to marina, before heading to Power Squadron Island.

Both groups spent two nights there, with Viking anchoring out the first night so that newer members could experience an anchor watch and learn what to look out for when anchored overnight. We also performed a capsize drill on Corsair, in which the boat is intentionally tipped over and then righted. That’s something we do every year on summer cruise, and it’s essential training for the unlikely scenario in which a boat actually capsizes — plus, it’s fun.

Corsair and Viking spent the rest of summer cruise in company, which was cool because we collectively had six boats that crew members could rotate between. We stopped at Benicia, which was exciting, because we did another thing we hadn’t done in the past: The crew got to participate in a race on boats belonging to members of the Benicia Yacht Club. The yacht club generously hosted us for dinner, so that everyone who wanted to had an opportunity to race and didn’t have to worry about cooking. The racing was super-fun, and some scouts even got to drive! It was also really interesting because while Corsair and Viking have spinnaker sails, we don’t ordinarily sail with them, so getting the chance to spinnaker-sail was unusual and a great experience.

From Benicia, we left at 4 a.m. to sail through San Pablo Bay and up Raccoon Strait to Tiburon. That was fun because the first part of the sail was in the dark, and learning to read buoys by timing the flashes was neat. We arrived in Tiburon early and had some free time to explore the town, while some of our members sailed again in the Corinthian Yacht Club Friday night race.

On the final day of summer cruise, we sailed from Tiburon back to Aquatic Park, where we cleaned everything up and put all the boats away. All in all, it was a great summer cruise, and the largest one yet, with 44 youth! I for one cannot wait for next summer when we do it all again.

In 2023, the Sea Scout Ship Viking (Ship 100) was named the 2023–2024 BoatUS National Flagship based on its outstanding Scouting program.

Learn more about the S.F. Sea Scouts here.