BACK ON THE WATER

Sea Scouts chapter resurfaces in Kingston

As a kid, Bill Eggers had a neighbor who took him sailing on the Hudson River.

It was a grand adventure for the young boy and one that stayed with him throughout his life. “I loved it,” he said. But he, like he said so many others, found the river to be “this impenetrable thing.” So, while that one experience on the water stayed with him throughout much of his life, it wasn’t until he was 40 that he finally got the chance to get back on the water.

“I never knew how to get into it, until I was 40 and I finally got to get out again,” he said.

Today, Eggers brings the thrill of being out on the water to other local youths, some who may not otherwise have the chance to get out on the river.

Eggers is the “skipper” of Sea Scouts Ship 609, a youth organization affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The organization, open to boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 21, focuses on boating skills, water safety and maritime knowledge.

Like other scouting programs, Sea Scouts fosters leadership and education with the scouts themselves running the meeting and badges that can be earned for completing skills.

The local chapter, or ship, as each chapter is called, is chartered by the Hudson River Maritime Museum, which provides a meeting place to the organization and a place to dock the group’s 26-foot sailboat.

Sea Scouts is not new to the Kingston area.

Eggers said there had been a local Sea Scouts ship, also sponsored by the Hudson River Maritime Museum for about a decade, however it folded a few years ago. Last year, Eggers, who had been a Boy Scout leader and always had an interest in working with the Sea Scouts, decided to reconstitute the local chapter.

Today, there are eight scouts in the Ship 609, including some who until joining the program had never been aboard a boat before.

In May, several of its members traveled to New Jersey where they met up with another group for a weekend aboard that ship’s vintage army transport boat and cruise on the New York Harbor. Members also manned a booth at Brightwork: A Maker’s Festival on the Rondout, and spent a day kayacking and paddle boarding.

In the winter, the group works on boater safety, nautical map reading and other water- and boater-related skills.

“We want to give them a chance to get out on the water, to learn boater safety, water safety and leadership skills.

“And we want to have fun and get kids out on the water,” Eggers said.

TANIA BARRICKLO—DAILY FREEMAN William Eggers, left, the Skipper of Ship 609 of the Sea Scouts stationed at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, N.Y., talks about the different knots used on boats with Liz Penta of Woodstock, her son Leo Heywood and his friend Saskia Schnaidt. The group was visiting the museum recently during the Boat Building Challenge.

Alexander Finger, 18, from Accord, right, with Skipper Eggers in the stern.

PHOTOS PROVIDED Jillian Eggers, 20, of High Falls.