Scouts On the Water

Scouts On the Water. Mainstays of the Cove. , Scouts On the Water , The west part of the cove (to your left) is home to the Sea Scouts Base and the Maritime Heritage Learning Center. Since 1947, young people have used the boathouse and wharf there to learn how to build and maintain wooden boats - and to sail in one of the most challenging harbors in the world. , , Note the two whaleboats on the cove: the red Viking and the blue Corsair. You'll likely see the Scouts sailing or working on these vessels on weekends. Their training also includes tying knots, reading charts, sanding, painting, and caring for sails and gear. , , Built in the 1930s, Viking and Corsair were gifts to the Sea Scouts from the U.S. Navy. The boathouse and wharf you see today were built by the US Army Coast Artillery Corps in 1943. , , This park's non-profit partner, the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association, shares in the tradition of teaching maritime skills at the Maritime Heritage Learning Center. , , Through a regular Youth Boat Building program, local high school students construct a wooden boat from scratch over eight weeks of lessons. Classes also cover navigation, weather, sailing, and outdoor leadership. The small craft they build are then used by younger students who learn rowing and sailing at Maritime Summer Camp. , , Mainstays of the Cove , Look out to the cove. Do you see rowers and swimmers? Yes, they really are out there - in waters that average 56°F (13°C)! , More likely than not, many are members of the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club, or the South End Rowing Club. These organizations are based in the white wooden buildings at the end of the beach to your right. , , Swimmers frequented this cove long before Aquatic Park existed. A bathhouse was documented here in 1863 and at least three were open 20 years later. By the early 1900s, however, these facilities had closed as more popular indoor baths opened elsewhere in the city. , , How would you spend a day in Aquatic Park? The park opened in January 1939 to welcome beachgoers, swimmers, and boaters. Since then, people have come to enjoy a variety of activities, including water-skiing demonstrations, bocce ball games, and puppet shows (below). , , Hardy members of swimming and rowing clubs began moving in. The Dolphin, South End, and Ariel clubs, in particular, left the city's more industrialized southeastern waterfront to enjoy the waters here. , , They - along with the Vittoria Colonna women's club and the San Francisco Recreation League - then fought to preserve this cove for recreation. Their decades-long fight led to the construction of Aquatic Park in 1935 by the City of San Francisco and Works Progress Administration. , , From 1939 to 1941, this building you're in served as the Aquatic Park Bathhouse - the latest and grandest of bathhouses by this slice of the bay. , , Images: Black Point Cove (above), ca. 1870. The Neptune Bath-house is at the center, to the left of the red-brick factory complex that is now part of Ghirardelli Square. Dolphin Swimming and Rowing Club members at their first boathouse by Van Ness Avenue on what is now Aquatic Park Cove (far left).