Two of our Orthodox Sea Scouts received their Quartermaster Awards this year: Philip and Tamara Sokolov, siblings of Christopher Sokolov, who received his Quartermaster several years ago and received the Young American award last year at the BSA National Meeting. All three are children of Fr. Victor and Pres. Barbara Sokolov. Fr. Victor is the Dean of Holy Trinity OCA Cathedral in San Francisco. There are two more younger girls - Anna and Mosha - who as you can imagine are expected to keep the Sokolov Sea Scout tradition alive.

The Quartermaster Award is the highest award in Sea Scouts. It is comparable to Eagle Scout in that they are the only awards conferred by the National Advancement Committee, it is the culmination of a series or advancement ranks spanning the 4-6 years a youth is a Sea Scout, involves a comprehensive service project, board of review process, etc.

Philip is a student at Sonoma Junior College, a member of Ship 22 - Corsair, and holds the Alpha Omega Orthodox religious award. Tamara just graduated from the Waldorf School in San Francisco and is a member of Ship 100 - Viking. Ships Corsair and Viking are "sister" ships - Corsair is all male and Viking is all female. The ships sail historic sailing whaleboats out of the Aquatic Park/Fisherman's Wharf area of downtown San Francisco, near the National Maritime Museum. The ships have a 60 year history of serving youth in San Francisco.

We have quite a few Orthodox in Ships Corsair and Viking. Besides those mentioned, we have four other Greek Orthodox Scouts - two male and two female. Hugh Hunter and Dessie Fafoutis are members of Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox parish in Ignatio, California, and will be receiving a special award from the Daughters of the American Revolution on January 5, 2002 in relation to their Sea Scout Activities.

The attached picture shows all of the 2001 Quartermasters of Corsair and Viking, who were recognized at a Bridge of Awards on February 24, 2001. They are: Angelica Marden, Claire Tarlson, Tamara Sokolov, and Philip Sokolov.

For more information, contact Nick Tarlson 415/956-5700...