BoatUS and Sea Scouts, BSA recognizes Sea Scout Ship 1942 ‘Dragonlady’ of Arlington, Virginia of the National Capital Area Council as the recipient of the 2014 BoatUS and the Sea Scouts, BSA “National Flagship” Award. It is presented in recognition of excellence in program quality, youth achievement, and adult commitment. It is these attributes, as reflected by ‘Dragonlady’ and its exemplary program of seamanship and youth development, that they were honored with this award.
A heartfelt congratulation goes to Ship teen Boatswain Philip Whittlesey (AP), their Skipper Tom Ballew (AP), and the dedicated Dragonlady crew and the many adult volunteers of their committee. The S.S.S. 1942, Dragonlady name has been inscribed on a perpetual trophy now on display at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas. An identical trophy will be presented to the ship’s leadership at an appropriate public gathering within the Scout Council.
The “2014 National Flagship” award is Sea Scout ‘Ship 1942’ third time in the BSA national spotlight as they were also the “2007 National Flagship” and one of the ships named to the “2012 Flagship Fleet.” Ship 1942 annually meets the Journey to Excellence (JTE) “Gold” highest unit measurement level and has been a Northeast Regional Standard Ship since 2002. Sea Scout ‘Ship 1942’ is a large unit averaging between 30 and 40 male and female teen youth members all of which are members in the local Power Squadron. It owes a very large part of their overall success to the Northern Virginia Sail and Power Squadron’s (NVSPS) very dedicated Power Squadron trainers like Jay Nelson (AP) and J.J. FitzGerald (JN) who bring their various nautical training instruction to the teen Sea Scouts every winter when their boats are all laid up. The Ship 1942 teens take as a minimum: (1) America’s Boating Course; (2) Seamanship; and coastal (3) Piloting.
Ship 1942 inventory of sailing craft is currently 15 boats (twelve of those named after a Scout Law: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful….) ranging in size from their training fleet of six 19-foot Flying Scot vessels home-ported out of the Washington Sailing Marina (just north of Old Town Alexandria, VA) in sight of the Washington Monument, to their larger fleet of cruiser-sized sloops 30 to 40-feet based in Solomons, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Ship 1942 is blessed with 35 very passionate registered adult Skipper, Mates, and Committee Members (many of which are also Power Squadron members) – 33 are fully trained for their positions of responsibility (with a combined total of hundreds years of experience and thousands of miles of off-shore sailing).
The youth spent 68 days on-the-water this past year with 36 of those involving an overnight activity. The teenage “Quarterdeck Officers” met a total of 17 times to plan their many year around activities which included an additional 26 nights of tent camping, and 14 nights of cabin camping. The annual 9-day Long Cruise was totally planned out by the teen Quarterdeck for a roundtrip voyage of 350-miles, to the northern most reaches of the Chesapeake Bay and return to their homeport at Solomons, Maryland.
This past year the Ship 1942 promoted its 19th Quartermaster since 2004 (Sea Scouting’s highest rank), sent its 30th teen off to successfully navigate through the rigorous Sea Scout SEAL leadership afloat training, its 11th youth member had the opportunity to sail aboard the 295-foot square-rigged Cadet training ship - U.S. Coast Guard Braque Eagle. Ship 1942 has broken the code and helped mentor its 9th graduating senior off to a military service academy – this latest one to West Point (3 of our past Sea Scouts have attended the U.S. Naval Academy, 3 to the U.S. Air Force Academy, 1 to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and 1 to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy).
The highlight of the year for Ship 1942 was participating with their partner NVS&PS in their Bridge’s Change-of-Watch and piping aboard the new Officers, helping to man the Power Squadron’s local Dulles Expo Boat Show Booth, and best of all taking many Afghanistan recovering “Wounded Warriors” undergoing treatment at the Walter Reed Military Hospital and their families to a day sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and a sunset Bar-B-Q picnic.
The year’s program included, but not limited to: the annual Northeast Regional Bridge of Honor and Sea Scout Ball; taking 1st place in the eastern seaboard’s Henry Nygard Regatta for the seventh consecutive year; hosted dozens of Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venture Scouts as guests during their very busy 9-month sailing season; provided merit badge instruction in smallboat sailing, oceanography, and weather to over 80 Boy Scouts in their semi-annual ‘recruiting’ Open House called: Merit Badges Afloat.
Ship 1942 provided assistance to other Sea Scout Ships throughout the Scout Northeast Region in their annual advanced nautical training weeks of, “Camp Able” and “Life Guard Certification.” Their youth members completed work on their Quartermaster, Eagle Scout, and Venture Silver awards. Participated in hundreds of hours of community service events and stream clean-up projects. Conducted 26 major year around activities along with the annual U.S. Power Squadron taught winter Saturday training courses too numerous to mention.
Bravo Zulu to Ship 1942 teen Boatswain Philip Whittlesey (AP), their Skipper Tom Ballew (AP), their very dedicated adult leaders along with their Northern Virginia Sail and Power Squadron on-the-water partners for their most outstanding Sea Scouting youth program in the nation in delivering on the Scouting Promise and promoting boating safety. And yes, all their sailing craft have met their annual Vessel Safety Checks and the every adult or youth is in their lifejacket 100% of the time while underway. http://www.seascout1942.com
