Members of the Sea Scout Ship Dragon focused on the morning of July 17. They were charged with sanding down a traditional John Gardner-designed dory boat at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point Campus, and George Spragg and Larry Magee, nine-year members and past presidents of the local chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association, were on-hand to provide guidance.
“We’re taking a boat that was already started and that was donated to the Sea Scouts,” Magee said. “We’re helping them finish it off at a time we’re allotted to work with the kids. It’s a doable process. It helps the kids to get started, get their hands dirty, and start to learn with wood, measuring tools, and other general work with boat building.”
John Gardner was the longtime director of boat-building classes with 19th-century methods at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The local TSCA is named after Gardner and continues his legacy. According to its Web site, “Our obligation is to make sure that the richness of our small-craft heritage is passed on intact to the generations that will come after us.”
It was only a year ago that Marshall Parsons, skipper of the Sea Scout Ship Dragon-Ship 584, was piecing together this new program, which encourages young people age 14 to 21 to take on nautical marine-themed outdoor challenges. His vision of implementing the Sea Scout program has come full circle as the dedicated group of scouts worked diligently to finish the wooden boat.
“It needs finishing off,” Magee said looking at the boat, “and all the trim work. The basic hull was complete when we got it, but we have to put on the in-walls, the in-rails…the in-wall will provide a lot of strength and rigidity to the boat,” he explained.
“Once we do that, then we’re going to put what is called a seat-riser and that will enable us to put seats wherever we want to put them. It gives a lot of flexibility, so that has to be the right length and the right angle.”
Adult Sea Scout member Cathy Kincaid-Greer said that throughout the project, the scouts have shown an increased desire to learn and build up their store of nautical knowledge.
“They really enjoy it,” she added. “They love getting in and doing something physical.”
Rosa Iott, a Sea Scout bosn (a term used to identify leaders and coordinators in Sea Scouts) rushed onto the boat. The 17-year-old apologized for her tardiness and explained she had come straight from work.
“It’s really fun and hard, too,” said Iott, a Fitch High School student, when asked about her responsibilities as bosn. “But I like the power,” she added, smiling.
Now that the program is off the ground, Parsons continues to look for more participating teenagers who are willing to take the Sea Scout challenge.
Youth and adults are invited to join the John Gardner Chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association to work on finishing this and another wooden boat this summer. Work will be done from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the University of Connecticut Avery Point Campus, 1084 Shennecossett Road, Groton, on Tuesday, July 29 and also Thursdays, July 24 and 31; there is no cost to participate. Bring lunch and weather-appropriate clothes. Most work will be done outside, but workers will have access to the boat house.
For more information, call 860-536-1113; visit http://subvetsgroton.org/seascout/default.aspx or www.seascout.org/index.html; or send e-mail to twinpars@earthlink.net.