Sea Base Lottery?

[eagle90]

Just a bit of background -  Our troop went to the Sea Base three times (2006, 2008, 2010).  SInce then we have put in for a spot, and for the last seven years have not gotten a lottery spot.  That is a whole generation of scouts - a whole Scouting career - that could not attend one of the BSA's premiere spots.

 

Anyone else have similar experiences?  Do you think there is a batter way to assign spots?  Just frustrated with getting these rejection notices year after year and having to disappoint our scouts.

 

Dale

[revdmv]

It took us 3 years, but our troop picked up a week for live aboard diving this year, after a week was turned back. We just checked the website each day after the deadline for deposits, and got lucky and grabbed the week as soon as it opened.

 

Of the big three, it was the most difficult one for us to secure a spot. 

[Chisos]

I'm just curious eagle90, how flexible were you with dates/types of itineraries, etc. in your request?

[Krampus]

Just a bit of background -  Our troop went to the Sea Base three times (2006, 2008, 2010).  SInce then we have put in for a spot, and for the last seven years have not gotten a lottery spot.  That is a whole generation of scouts - a whole Scouting career - that could not attend one of the BSA's premiere spots.

 

Anyone else have similar experiences?  Do you think there is a batter way to assign spots?  Just frustrated with getting these rejection notices year after year and having to disappoint our scouts.

 

Dale

Seabase is tough because it is not like the Philmont lottery where you simply say "We're interested" and hope to get picked. We found this out the hard way one year and got nothing. I called Seabase to find out what we did wrong and got a lovely lady who explained it to me like this:

• Pick several treks.
• Pick several dates. MANY dates.

This is how the lottery works (as explained by this lady):

• Seabase starts in June. The lottery runs all June dates and all June treks.
• If ONLY selected June dates for your trek you are out of the lottery.
• If you selected OTHER DATES (like in July and August), you are still in the lottery.

So the best way to increase your chances is to pick SEVERAL treks and SEVERAL dates. For example, if you want "Tall Ships Adventure", select that trek and pick ALL THE DATES for the entire summer. This way you will ALWAYS be in the lottery for each week they pick. If you pick just June 15th-24th you get ONE shot. That's it.

 

Hope that helps!

 

EDIT: You can try getting in a council contingent by contacting your council to see if there are openings. Also, call around to other councils. You'd be surprised how many councils send contingents with slots still open.

[jr56]

I had the same experience with Philmont............we tried for years to get in, and were never able to.   This was back in the days when you had to phone in.