LIHUE — When Larry Richardson and his son Max Richardson pitched the idea of starting a Sea Scouts program on Kauai 10 years ago, the response could have sunk their plans.
It will never work, they were told. Nobody will give you a boat, someone said. No kids will want to join, another said.
The Richardsons didn’t listen.
“We were like, ‘We’re going to get a big boat, we’re going to go around to the islands, take kids, it’s going to be super awesome,’” Larry Richardson said.
A few saw the potential, and that was enough to keep their hopes afloat.
Looking back, Larry Richardson said it was kind of like the moon landing.
“It was considered basically impossible,” he said. “We didn’t stop to think about that. We just did it. That’s kind of how it was in the Sea Scouts. It was kind of amazing.”
A decade later, an estimated 200 youths have gone through the program that teaches basic seamanship, but more much, too, Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami said during a short ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Nawiliwili Harbor Saturday morning.
“There are lessons to be learned on that ocean that you will not learn in any classroom,” he said to about 50 people. “Things like humility, how to be humble. If there is anything on this Earth that can humble the most powerful person in the world, it is to spend a few hours on the ocean, especially when it’s rough.”
Walter Simpson, a supervisor with Matson, presented a $1,000 check to the Kauai Sea Scouts, a program they have long supported.
Matson, he noted, is in the shipping industry, and shares a bond with Sea Scouts.
“They’re part of the ocean family,” Simpson said.
Justin Shackleford, senior chief petty officer with the Coast Guard, said Scouting was an important part of his life growing up, and he earned Eagle Scout honors.
“I loved it,” he said. “I had a great time. Some of my best memories as a kid were from Scouting.”
He congratulated Larry Richardson for heading up the program, which is part of the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council Kauai District.
Larry Richardson said he and his son had experience as Sea Scouts in the Bay Area before moving to Kauai. Max Richardson spent eight years in the Coast Guard.
When they saw there was no Sea Scout program on Kauai, they were determined to start one.
“There was all this sea and there was no Scouts,” Max Richardson said.
“We started with one adult leader, Larry, and one Scout, that was me,” he said. “That gave the skeptics a lot of ammo.”
That wasn’t the only challenge.
They needed a boat to get kids, and they needed kids to get a boat. Eventually, they got both. Keiki, at least 13, began coming out, and a 40-foot boat with living accommodations, later named Sea Scout Ship Decisive, was donated.
Since then, keiki have gone on outings to all the Hawaiian islands except Hawaii, with their longest outing 26 days. They learn to be navigators, engineers, cooks and deck hands during their monthly cruises.
They have excelled in competitions and even performed rescues, one on the Wailua River and one off the coast of Molokai.
Larry Richardson said the kids are the crew. He has watched as some came in tentative and doubted whether they could grasp seamanship. After a few months, they were driving the boat and having a blast at sea.
“They run the show,” Max Richardson said. “We just make sure they run it right.”
And they do.
The National Flagship Fleet recognizes the best Sea Scout programs in the country for “excellence in program, youth achievement and adult commitment.” Typically, less than 10 units nationally receive this honor — Kauai Sea Scouts have earned it three years in a row.
Sea Scouts Gillian Altman and Makaya Kaduce, both 14, said they’ve learned seamanship skills, have had fun and made good friends on their adventures.
“When you’re in a 40-foot boat in the middle of the ocean, it really bonds you way more than seeing a kid at school every day,” Altman said.
“I’ve always loved boats,” said Kaduce, who grew up on Kauai. “When I found out about Sea Scouts, that’s perfect for me. It’s just cool to be part of it.”
Both praised Larry Richardson for being “the best skipper.”
“He makes it fun, but he also teaches us so much,” Altman said.
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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
