Sea Scouts and Mariners
By Dale Mack
I joined the Sea Scout Ship Golden
Fin (#363) as a youth member in April of 1973, and Laura joined the Mariner
Scout Ship Tiki Too (#960) as a youth member in the spring of
1976. The Tiki Too was co-registered as a Mariner unit
with the Girl Scouts, and as a Sea Scout unit with the Boy Scouts.
We were both very active in our units. I earned my Quartermaster in 1976, and Laura earned her U.S.C.G. Operator's License in 1982. Both Laura and I eventually became adult leaders in our respective units.
For me, the latter half of my college years saw a
reduction in my involvement because I was attending school in another part of the state.
I spent my summer vacations with the Golden Fin, and
continued to serve as the head judge for the Flotilla rowing event at the annual Ancient
Mariner Regatta (AMR, held every Memorial weekend).
Although our paths crossed at Sea Scout events several times over the years, Laura and I never actually met until 1984. I had relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Sacramento area, and was interested in getting involved with a unit again. One afternoon, I met the Tiki Too at Camp Pollock, in Sacramento, where Laura and her dad Don were training their crew in preparation for AMR. Laura was so intensely focused on the crew that she hardly remembers me being there (the Tiki Too won Clipper that year). Shortly after AMR, Laura's dad assumed the role of Skipper as Laura headed to Southern California to complete her college education. I soon found myself swamped at work, so AMR and the Old Salts Regatta was the extent of my participation in 1984. I finally joined the Tiki Too in the spring of 1985 while Laura was away at school.
In the summer of 1985, Laura (on break from college) joined the Tiki
Too for cruises in June and August. We began dating and became engaged
six months later.
We were married a month after Laura's graduation in June 1986, and we continued to lead the Tiki Too until the spring of 1987, when a combination of our desire to start a family, my mom's final months with cancer, and Sea Scout political unpleasantries made us decide that we needed to shift our priorities. We stepped down as leaders of the Tiki Too, and assumed roles as trainers for Sea Scouts within the local council, while I continued to serve as a Flotilla judge for various regattas. During that time, we acquired a Catalina 22 sailboat, and become very active in the Sacramento C22 fleet. Our official involvement with Sea Scouts came to an end in December 1989, when my company relocated us overseas to Singapore.
The Boats
The Golden Fin operated a 63' AVR (hull #
C-56156) built in 1943 by Stephens Brothers, Stockton, California. The vessel was
transferred from the U.S. military to Scouts in the 1950's, during which time it was
converted from twin Hallscott gasoline engines over to twin General Motors Detroit 671
diesel engines.
The boat's Sea Scout career started as the Sea Hawk
(#35) of Berkeley, California. In the early 1960's, the vessel was transferred to
the Golden Fin (#363) of Concord, California, and moved to
Martinez Marina. On July 4, 1979, just two weeks before the boat was scheduled to
complete its U.S.C.G recertification, the boat was destroyed by fire in what appeared to
be a juvenile prank gone wrong.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of Skipper Chick Russell and the Sea Scout ship Albatross
(#72), the burning vessel was towed out of Martinez Marina and to the adjacent mud flats,
where it burning for over two hours before a fireboat from Mare Island could arrive.
Following the loss of the AVR, the Golden Fin operated a very successful smallboat sailing program the the unit inherited in 1977 when it merged with the Cormorant (#196) of Pittsburg, and the Sea Lion of Antioch. In 1981, while I was off at college, the unit acquired the 50' Sea Scout Ship Zarahemla which it operated for a couple of years before the unit faded from existence.
The Tiki Too
operated an old wooden boat of unknown origin, powered by a Budda diesel. By 1978,
the vessel needed to be replaced, so Laura and her dad, began searching for a replacement.
In 1980, through a combination of partial donation and partial purchase,
the unit acquired a 34' Chris-Craft Sea Skiff built in 1963, and powered by twin 287
gasoline engines. The boat was eventually U.S.C.G certified for eighteen, and
berthed at Sherwood Marina in Sacramento.
The boat remained in service with the Tiki Too until Laura and I left in 1987. Ownership of the boat was transferred from the Girl Scouts to the Boy Scouts, and was assigned to the Trident (#777) of Sacramento.
Share Your Photos
Laura and I have an extensive photo collection of people and boats in Sea Scouts during the 1970's and 1980's we'd be happy to share electronically.