PORT TOWNSEND — Those “Lil’ Scuppers” won’t be left ashore anymore now that the Northwest Maritime Center has for the first time launched a new youth program for kids from 5 to 7 years old.
The Lil’ Scuppers program, named for the hole placed in the side of a ship at deck level to allow water to run off, is intended to introduce kids to the maritime experience through fun hands-on activities, said Rob Sanderson, maritime center waterfront programs manager.
Meet real captains
The youngsters will meet real captains — as a matter of fact, head sailing instructor Beth Bland is close to captain’s certification — crew and shipwrights in their element.
The children also will head out to sea on rowboats, powerboats and sailboats, learning what it takes to live on and by the sea.
“In the past, parents dropped off older kids and left the little kids moping back in the car,” Sanderson said.
Twelve Scuppers were in the pilot program, and Sanderson said a second class of the same size is likely this summer.
The program taught by Bland and assistant instructor Cloe Aldridge was launched Tuesday, with the Scuppers playing around on a mock pirate ship in front of the Cupola House.
The Cupola House will be the home of the Northwest Maritime Center until its new headquarters opens in stages later this summer and early next year at the end of Water Street.
Bland and Aldridge showed the children how colorful pinwheels can be used to test the wind direction and how to read a marine compass.
Later that morning, the 12 exuberant youngsters boarded the center’s longboat, Townshend, to unwrap its sails and get a feel for a wooden boat moored on the waters of Point Hudson Marina.
There are four different themes offered for the Scuppers: Mariners, Pirates and Privateers, Pacific Northwest Native Americans and Shipwrights.
All themes will focus on fundamental nautical skills, including knot tying, basic weather, boat types and parts, with field trips to meet shipwrights, sailmakers, riggers, fisherman and other “salty dogs,” Sanderson said.
Entry level
Lil’ Scuppers is now the entry level for kids in the maritime center’s “Messing About On Boats,” which was at the same time Tuesday being taken to the next level out on the end of the center’s dock.
There, sailing dinghies were launched by youths from 7 to 10 years old, under the watchful eye of teenage instructors who have been sailing most of their lives.
While part of the program is intended to expose youths to maritime careers, Sanderson said, “Our priority is to build self-esteem, confidence and pride.”
The youngsters can work toward being head sailing instructors, becoming assistant instructors at 16.
The maritime center now has seven youths 19 and younger instructing younger sailors.
Rangi Ferris, almost 19, is one of them.
“I grew up sailing and was sailing with my parents on the South Pacific at 4 years old,” he said with a smile as sails behind him glowed like lanterns in the morning sun on the dock’s edge.
He plans to enter the California Maritime Academy to further his career.
Ferris is joined by fellow instructor Emma Gunn, 19, a Seattle University sophomore.
“I first took up sailing with the program back in Hadlock at age 8, and that was 11 years ago,” said Gunn before leading her young sailors, who were from 10 to 16 years old, on a water-hydration toast before setting their sailing dinghies out to the glassy waters of Port Townsend Bay to launch another learning season on the water.
Both Ferris and Gunn have competed with Port Townsend High School’s sailing team, which Sanderson said practices “in stronger winds and stronger currents,” making it a highly competitive team in the state.
Among the students was Cody Cline, 10, and his 15-year-old brother, Kyle, of North Kitsap County, who has dreams of competing in the sailing Olympics one day.
Kyle Cline, who has been in the center’s sailing program four years, said he is moving up in the program “for the love of sailing.”
He wants to continue his competitive training as a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
Sanderson, who said the Northwest Maritime Center has many sailing programs for adults as well, can be contacted about the program at 360-385-3628, ext. 103, or rob@nwmaritime.org.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
