This Friday the 9th of August, you may see the Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR arrive into Honolulu Harbor and berth at Aloha Tower Pier 10/11. She will depart on Tuesday the 13th, and will head back to Vallejo, California. The ship is presently manned with officers and staff from Texas Maritime Academy. All cadets on the ship are from Texas A&M as well. There are no cadets from California Maritime Academy onboard.
This is an awkward situation for all concerned. The arrangement was dictated by leadership at MARAD in Washington DC. Both schools were given no choice but to abide by this directive for the foreseeable future. Texas A&M has been without a suitable training ship for a few years. In the short term, they have ‘partnered’ with CMA and placed Texas cadets aboard the TSGB for training cruises in the past. But that didn’t work out this year. The decision by MARAD to let Texas A&M operate their own ship for their cruise was dictated by MARAD, as MARAD is the owner of all the training ships provided to all State Maritime Academies.
The GOLDEN BEAR has been a key component of our fundraising event in years past. This year’s training cruise ‘switch’ by MARAD has impacted our 2019 fundraising effort. The ship’s arrival into Honolulu Harbor, without any Cal Maritime “presence” further complicated our planning. We just learned of this arrangement recently. We knew that CMA would not be visiting Honolulu on their training cruise this year. But the ship’s arrival into Honolulu with Texas A&M cadets was something we just learned about and was a bit of a surprise.
But our financial needs continue. Our LYMAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND currently supports three cadets at Cal Maritime. This month our 2019 recipient, 25 year old Gabrielle Harrington from the island of Kauai, will start her four year education at CMA. We are very proud to have our second female recipient and the first scholarship award to an individual born and raised on Kauai Island.
Matson has generously donated $2,500 and initiated our 2019 fundraising drive. We are tremendously thankful for their continued support. We would like to invite all our other maritime ohana and friends to send any donation amount in to continue our mission to support Hawaii cadets attending the California Maritime Academy. We truly appreciate your continued kokua and support!