Boy Scouts announce new sea base director

A championship-winning college sailing coach with nearly 30 years of experience at sea will become the director of the Boy Scouts’ Newport Sea Base, officials announced Friday.

George Wood will begin as base director Feb. 1. He will fill a post that has been vacant since early August, when former sea base director Charlie Abbott was fired for undisclosed reasons after six months with the base.

Wood has been head sailing coach at the College of Charleston in South Carolina since 1980, according to a statement from the Orange County Council of Boy Scouts.

Under his coaching, the school’s varsity sailing team won 13 national championships. Wood also has several degrees in physical education, including a doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1975.

The sea base on West Coast Highway in Newport Beach offers programs for Boy Scouts and the community in sailing and other water-based activities, with a focus on youth education.

It has gone through a number of changes recently, with several staff departures prior to Abbott’s dismissal, and the news early this year that the base’s 101-year-old tall ship Argus faced an expensive overhaul or retirement.