LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i’s Sea Scouts had an opportunity for hands-on training from the U.S. Coast Guard, said Larry Richardson, commodore of the Aloha Council Sea Scouting. The scouts were treated to a ride-along aboard the Coast Guard 47-foot motor life
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i’s Sea Scouts had an opportunity for hands-on training from the U.S. Coast Guard, said Larry Richardson, commodore of the Aloha Council Sea Scouting.
The scouts were treated to a ride-along aboard the Coast Guard 47-foot motor life boat and were given some on-the-water training by the crew aboard the craft, Richardson said in a news release.
Some of the skills the scouts practiced included helmsmanship, line-handling, man-overboard skills and numerous other seamanship skills, including some discussion on life in the Coast Guard.
The SSS Decisive is the newest Sea Scout ship of the Boy Scouts of America, Aloha Council, and is based on Kaua‘i, states the MySpace website for the Sea Scouts.
The ship is named for the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Decisive, and the SSS Decisive is a very active ship with weekly meetings, activities and cruises.
Meetings are held every Wednesday night at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club’s clubhouse in the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor, and cruises are planned at least once a month, the website states.
Recently, Richardson and a handful of Sea Scouts were manning the Aloha Council’s booth at the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau Fair to raise awareness about its program.
Coast Guard recommends filing plans
The Garden Island
LIHU‘E — U.S. Coast Guard officials Monday strongly urged allmariners to file float plans after a cutter and helicopter weredispatched from O‘ahu Sunday night to search for an overdue Kaua‘iman, a news release states.
The unidentified mariner told friends he intended to journey by seafrom Hanalei to Polihale in an unidentified form of sea craft,departing Hanalei at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
A friend called Coast Guard Station Kaua‘i at the Nawiliwili SmallBoat Harbor when the mariner didn’t arrive at Polihale State Parkas expected.
The man was rescued from a rocky shoreline along the Na Pali Coastaround 10 p.m., was hoisted into an O‘ahu-based Coast Guard HH-65Dolphin helicopter, and brought to Lihu‘e Airport, where he was metby family members.
After a family friend notified the local station, Coast GuardHonolulu launched the Dolphin from Air Station Barbers Point at8:51 p.m. to begin a search. The Coast Guard Cutter Ahi wasnotified and joined the search at 9:13 p.m.
At 9:40 p.m. the Dolphin reached the search area.
The crew spotted the man waving a light from the rocky shorelineand a rescue swimmer was lowered to evaluate the situation.
The man was hoisted into the helicopter.
The Coast Guard recommends that all mariners file a float planbefore heading out on the water, the release states.
A float plan can greatly reduce the time spent searching should anindividual be reported overdue.
See http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/float_planning.aspx for moreinformation and a float plan template.
