Sea Scouts salute 50 years

SEA SCOUT: Sarah Rowland, 12, enjoys being a Shackleton Sea Scout.

SEA TRADITION: Shackleton Sea Scouts 'toss oars' with the launch of cutter Endurance in 1958. Many of the commands and traditions are still used today.

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Fifty years on, Shackleton Sea Scouts is still holding strong to its seafaring traditions.

The Riverside youth group is celebrating its 50th jubilee next month with a splash.

Sea scouts is similar to scouts – covering camping, tramping and survival but also including water activities.

Sailing, kayaking, rowing, swimming and ironman are all part of sea scouts and are contested at regular regattas, says jubilee organiser Julie Rowland.

It covers boys and girls from six to 15, with groups divided into kea, cub and sea scouts according to ages, she says.

Shackleton Sea Scouts has about 60 members.

Mrs Rowland says this year the group won the Northland regatta in March and scooped a number of awards in the Auckland regatta.

Sea scouts is very physical and is also structured and disciplined, she says.

It is also very competitive.

"You have to have very good self-discipline."

One of the highlights of sea scouts is the survival camps, where the kids carry all their own equipment and have to set up camp themselves.

A survival camp is planned for June 21 and, as well as fending for themselves, members will have to make a stretcher to carry a ‘patient’ out of the bush.

Mrs Rowland says the exact starting date of Shackleton Sea Scouts is not known but its water-front den in Riverside was opened in 1958.

Fifty years on, many of the core values like teamwork have not changed, she says.

One change is having girls in the former male-only group, she says.

Girls started in cubs and keas after a policy change in 1989, and the first girl sea scout started at Shackleton four years ago.

Sarah Rowland, 12, says she doesn’t mind being one of the few girls in the group.

She likes rowing – especially when she is the cox who orders the other rowers around.

She says she also likes sailing and a chance to try different things, such as rock wall climbing.

The 50th reunion, on July 26, will be a chance for old members to meet up and have a go in the sea scout’s boats and watercraft.

The day will end with a dinner at A’Fare, where places are limited to 120.

Any former members interested in coming to the reunion can contact Julie Rowland on 021 0555 146.

- © Fairfax NZ News