The yard of the White Holly is reflected in the pilot house window as Sea Scout Jeremy Tover of Antioch stands watch. (Shmuel Thaler / Sentinel)

CAPITOLA — Many of these teens had never been on an ocean cruise. Now, however, they are the ones manning the ship.

With a crew of 35, 14 female and 11 male teens are taking on the roles of navigators, galley crew and maintenance workers for two weeks as they travel up and down the California coast on the White Holly.

The White Holly, owned by the Seamen’s Training Center, is the only live-aboard training vessel in the United States.

The ship, originally used by the U.S. Coast Guard, was christened on D-Day and took ammunition to other ships. The ship’s steel hull is "really rare these days," said Joanne Keune, board director of the Seamen’s Training Center, a school for mariners, which donated the ship for this cruise.

The teens are all Sea Scouts, a program to teach teens how to sail using hand-on training.

"With the Sea Scouts on board, it’s easy because they want to be here," said Capt. Vince Backen.

Although the Sea Scouts have all had on-the-water training, they have never experienced life on the open sea.

"We’re not used to this whole rock back and forth thing," said Brandi Holt, 14, of Kelseyville. Holt is the navigator on this cruise.

It took her about a day and a half to get used to the swaying, she said.

"This is one of the largest vessels my crew has cruised on," she said.

Along with their duties on the ship, the teens got to enjoy the day in Capitola learning to surf.

During their watch time, however, they have to wear their work uniforms, Holt said. She was wearing her dress whites.

The teenage crew also spends time in the engineering room and monitors the generators.

"When I go into the Navy, it will help me a lot" to already have practical engineering training from being on a ship, said Nicole Scuderi, 16, from Kelseyville.

The ship stands out from the others anchored behind the Capitola Wharf, since it is 133 feet long and weighs 299 tons.

The Sea Scout crew had to raise its own money for the trip’s food, fuel and supplies by selling hot dogs and hamburgers for four days at the NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

ConocoPhillips also donated $2,000 in fuel.

The trip started Saturday in Sausalito. They stayed in Santa Cruz over the weekend and arrived in Capitola on Monday morning.

Keune said some of the teen crew members had never seen the Golden Gate Bridge until they went under it.

Other new experiences have included seeing whales and sharks.

The ship departs for Monterey today. The cruise will take the Sea Scouts to Morro Bay and the Farallon Islands before they head back to Sausalito.

Contact Rachel Gallegos at mailto:rgallegos@santacruzsentinel.com?subject=Sea Scouts make waves at sea.