SEA SCOUT SHIP 185 OFFERS HIGH ADVENTURE OPPORTUNITIES
HIGH ADVENTURE…In, On, Around, and Under the Water…Since 1912
The Sea Scouts are the least known Program of the Boy Scouts of America, but are the second oldest Program, after the Scouts, BSA Program. Cub Scouts, BSA is for Elementary School kids, Scouts, BSA is for Middle and Junior High School kids, and Sea Scouts, BSA is coeducational and is for High School and College age youth (Ages 14-21).
Sea Scout Ship 185 “Valhalla” is based at the Tampa Sailing Squadron in Apollo Beach, and meets Tuesdays and tries to get on the water. Ship 185 Cruises Sailboats on weekends and owns a Catalina 36. Ship 185 Races Sailboats twice a month. Every Summer, Ship 185 has a Long Cruise which lasts for ten days. We have sailed from Apollo Beach to Ft. Myers, to Key West, to the Marquesas keys, to the Dry Tortugas before beginning the 48 hour sail home, compass heading 002 degrees for about 212 nautical miles on the Blue Water return Sail from the Dry Tortugas to Apollo Beach.
Additionally, the last weekend of April every year, Ship 185 hosts the Tampa Bay Sea Scout Regatta where 10-15 Ships from around Florida descend on Apollo Beach and the Tampa Sailing Squadron to compete and have fun.
Not only do you get all the benefits of Scouting in terms of leadership development, citizenship development, character development, all of the things that you get in Scouting, but you get to do things that are all High Adventure. A Scout gets to push himself, test himself, in a safe way. Ship 185 does a lot of things that most teenagers don’t get to do. Not many people get to sail from Tampa to the Dry Tortugas on a 36-foot Sailboat.
Once a Scout earns first-class rank in their troop, they can finish up their Eagle Scout Rank in the Ship. The Sea Scouts also have their own advancement program. The Quartermaster Rank is the highest Rank in Sea Scouting, and is the equivalent rank to the Eagle Scout rank, except that is harder to achieve because more is expected and required of the older Scouts. Only about one in 180 Sea Scouts achieves the Quartermaster Rank while about one in 20 Scouts earn their Eagle Scout Rank