A Cos Cob resident who is shooting to earn the prestigious rank of Eagle Scout is counting on his work in mapping one of the town's mooring fields to earn that coveted title.

Matthew Stolfi, 16, led a group of fellow scouts in mapping mooring spots in Greenwich Cove throughout the summer.

"It was a lot of fun, we got to go out in a boat almost every day and I learned a lot of different things," he said about his time spent on the water.

Boat owners attach their boats to the moorings, usually because their boats, primarily sailboats sit too deep in the water to tie at a dock, or are too long to tie at a town-owned dock.

An Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the scouting movement. To earn the designation scouts have to undertake an extensive service project that the scout organizes and leads.

"You have to show leadership, organize others and work together to achieve a goal," he said.

John Sanna, a member of the First Selectman's Coastal Resources Advisory Committee who acted as sponsor for the project, said the information collected by Stolfi and his team will help decide where new boats can be moored and also make better use of the water.

"The harbor master (Jonathan Asch) will know precisely where each mooring is. Once we have all that information, for example, the size of the boat, the length of the line they have in the water, the swing ratio can be determined," he said.

The swing ratio is the circle that a boat anchored in the water will move around, said Sanna. Knowing that, the harbor master can safely place boats so they don't strike other moored boats, Sanna said.

Asch can also use the information to determine if there is open space to place new boats in, said Sanna.

"All he has to do then is put the moorings in where the circles don't overlap," he said.

Expenses for the summer project, such as gas for the boats, was picked up by individuals, Sanna said, including himself.

The students used a hand-held GPS unit to record the latitude and longitude of each mooring.

The measurements would be taken over a two-hour time period, one hour on each side of high tide, said Sanna.

"You have to have the line be as taut as possible," he said. That was done to ensure the measurements were as accurate as possible. A slack line at low tide would see the mooring move around in the water, resulting in an inexact measurement, Sanna said.

There are approximately 700 moorings in waters off Greenwich split almost equally between four town-managed mooring fields and four private yacht clubs.

The software used to record the information was developed by Manchester-based Fuss & O'Neill Technologies, Sanna said. It's paid for by $5 from every mooring fee.

The information will be bundled with other information such as names of boat owners, length of boat and emergency contact information that will also be available to Greenwich Police.

"This is being done, one, for public safety and also for harbor management," he said.

Staff Writer Frank MacEachern can be reached at frank.maceachern@scni.com or 203-625-4434.