A summer boating camp on the Throggs Neck waterfront has won the top prize at this year's National Boating Safety Awards. SUNY Maritime College's Maritime Adventure Boat Camp received the Sea Tow Foundation's Boating Safety Excellence Award, the highest honor in the program, and also took the award for Best Youth Boating Safety Initiative. The college announced the wins on Oct. 23.

Two awards, one camp

The Sea Tow Foundation named the camp the winner on Oct. 12, and both awards were presented on Oct. 6 at IBEX, the boatbuilding industry trade show, in Tampa, Florida. The National Boating Safety Awards are in their eighth year and recognize work across recreational boating that helps make boaters safer and more confident. This year's program had nine categories, including education, community engagement, technology and advocacy. The Boating Safety Excellence Award goes to a single winner chosen from among the category winners, for its lasting impact on the future of boating.

From four campers to about 100 a day

The camp started in 2006 with four participants. In summer 2025 it marked its 20th year with about 100 campers a day. It is built for Bronx kids with little or no time on the water, from rising fifth graders through ninth graders.

Campers spend their days powerboating, sailing, kayaking, swimming and studying marine science on the East River and the western end of Long Island Sound, all from the college's campus at Fort Schuyler, at the tip of the Throggs Neck peninsula. Along the way they earn the New York State Boating Safety Certificate, the credential the state requires to operate a motorboat.

Every session opens with a safety briefing and a lesson in fitting a life jacket properly, and everyone on the water, campers, instructors and chaperones alike, wears a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.

Paying for it

The camp's stated goal is to give financial assistance to a quarter of its campers. In 2025, 72 campers received assistance totaling $63,687, according to the college. Families surveyed from 2021 through 2025 gave the camp an average overall rating of 4.93 out of 5.

Many families find the camp through Boogie Down to the Sound, Maritime College's free annual waterfront festival, which draws about 1,000 people from the surrounding neighborhoods. The college says more than half of those who come have never been on a boat.

About SUNY Maritime

SUNY Maritime College trains mariners, engineers and officers for the merchant marine and the shipping industry, and its waterfront sits inside the walls of Fort Schuyler, the 19th-century fort at the end of the peninsula. The college's waterfront office runs the boat camp along with other community programs, summer camps, powerboat and sail training, and public events.

Other recent news from the campus: Maritime College held its annual STEAM Day for families earlier in October, and its first open house of the admissions season.

How to sign up

Maritime Adventure Boat Camp is a summer program, and the college posts camp details and registration on its Waterfront pages. Families who want word on next summer's sessions can join the waterfront mailing list, email waterfront@sunymaritime.edu or call the waterfront office at 718-409-2992. SUNY Maritime College is at 6 Pennyfield Avenue in the Bronx.

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