Navigare Necesse Est – Vivere Non
Translation: an unnavigated life is not worth living. This is the motto of the Chornomortsi. We are a division of older scouts members of the Ukrainian scouting organization PLAST. Our name is Chornomortsi, or “Sailors of the Black Sea”. Our members all share an interest in maritime activities.
For almost 100 years now we have been organizing our annual Morskiy Tabir sea scout camp. Every year, our counselors spend a week in the wilderness, teaching teenage campers the basics about sailing, water skiing, wake boarding, canoeing, kayaking, boating, stand up paddleboarding, swimming, lifeguarding and fishing. We also periodically run smaller weekend events for the scouts of PLAST, and a number of us are active scoutmasters in our respective cities.
Our emblem, which is worn by all full members of Chornomortsi, is rich with symbolic meaning about our origins. For example, our colors represent the waters of the Black Sea, the white sails of our ships, and the blue Ukrainian sky.
The constellation Orion helps us navigate the seas, and the gold admiral’s anchor is a symbol of everlasting hope. In our ranks we have engineers, lawyers, doctors, artists, university students, a nuclear physicist and even a rocket scientist.
Our 50+ members span across the United States and Canada with pockets of activity in Cleveland, New York City, Boston, New Jersey, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, and the Pacific Northwest.
