BoatUS Sea Scout National Flagship Award Goes to San Leandro, CA, Sea Scout Ship 700, Makai

Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) awarded its 11th National Sea Scout Flagship Award over Memorial Day Weekend and, once again, the honor for the top-performing unit in the nation went to the West Coast, recognizing Ship 700, Makai, of San Leandro, California. The Sea Scouts and their adult leader, Robert Karn, the skipper of Ship 700, accepted the award in a ceremony at the 61st Annual Ancient Mariner Regatta held every year at the USS Hornet Museum on San Francisco Bay. Keith Christopher, national director for BSA Sea Scouts, presented the Flagship trophy on behalf of BoatUS.

Ship 700 is the fifth California Sea Scout unit to earn this recognition since BoatUS revived the Flagship Award in 2002 to help celebrate Sea Scouting’s 90th anniversary. Last year Sea Scouting marked a century of service in getting young men and women on the water in boats, large and small.

Like all Sea Scout units, Ship 700 uses boats, seamanship and nautical skills to develop character and leadership qualities in young people, age 14 to 20. With two-dozen youths active in the program, Ship 700 operates the Boson, a 50' wooden classic motor yacht designed by John Hacker and built in 1937. She is berthed at the San Leandro Marina on the east shore of San Francisco Bay. The group’s primary vessel is the Once Bitten, a diesel-powered 58' former US Coast Guard harbor patrol craft from the 1950's, and it, too, is a wooden boat. To earn the Flagship recognition, the ship and its crew compiled an impressive record of accomplishments, with 42 days of on-the-water activities last year, including a 17-day summer cruise, plus 15 community service projects and numerous other achievements.

Sea Scout Ship 700, SSS Makai of San Leandro, California, winners of the BoatUS Sea Scout National Flagship Award.

Operated by Boy Scouts of America, Sea Scouting has 6,500 youths, about one-third female, participating in 550 Ships nationwide, and regular activities ranging from formal training in boat handling, rules of the road and safety drills, to boat maintenance, electronics and engine repair, with a good measure of fun thrown in.

About BoatUS:
Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) is the nation’s leading advocate for recreational boaters providing its over half-million members with government representation, services such as 24-hour on-the-water boat towing as well as roadside assistance for boat trailers and tow vehicles, feature-packed boat insurance programs, money-saving benefits that include marina and West Marine shopping discounts, and vital information that improves the boating, fishing and sailing lifestyle. Its member-funded BoatUS Foundation is a national leader promoting safe, clean and responsible boating.

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