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The little catapult that could

Buffalo Skipper

By Buffalo Skipper
in Open Discussion - Program

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Buffalo Skipper Senior Member

Buffalo Skipper

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We just came back from our district camporee, and I have a very fun story to pass on to the gang. The camporee had a Renaissance theme, and there were events like Don Quixote Dragon Fire, Stump the Wizard, catapult, chariot races and the like. It was a lot of fun. The event was organized and run by the troops SPLs and has been 1 year in the planning (it was originally planned to be the Spring Camporee, but severe weather caused it to be cancelled). However, I want to tell to you about the catapult competition, in which scouts competed for both distance and accuracy.

 

Most troops brought in pre-assembled catapults on trailers. Some were behemoths standing up to 10 tall, with construction grade lumber, others were monstrous machines made with cut timbers 4+ thick. One troop had their catapult fine tuned by the adults and hardly a scout touched it all afternoon, except perhaps to pull the firing cord. Some were operated with bungee cords, others were trebuchets with up to 150 pounds of concrete bags/counter weights; one even worked out a rope twising mechanism so powerful that it bent the rebar base of the capault arm. It was an amazing sight to see these all lined up and launching.

 

But at the end of this row was our troops catapult, and it was as flatas a pancake. Like an oversized H it was in the shape of a hexagon with all the end points connected with rope to keep the base stable. It had no upper structure, existing in only 2 dimensions, flat on the ground. One scout had built a model with dowels and had sold the troop on the idea, but a minimal amount of preparation had gone into building it. This one scouts dad was coaching the troop on how it was supposed to be built, but he insisted that the scouts do the work, demonstating a lashing, then untying it so that a scout could crate the final product. The scouts would work on it for a while, then one patrol or the other would run off to compete in afternoon events, eventually coming back to work on it some more before heading to another completion. It never appeared as if much progress was being made, but about the time the other troops were disassembling their siege machines, loading them back on their trailers, ours slowly began to grow.

 

Two posts with small Ys went up about 4, one lashed to each junction of the H base. No A-frame of wood to keep this steady--instead these posts were kept upright with rope supports in front, back and on the side. Eventually, a cross beam was added and a flimsy little catapult arm lashed to it. Fifteen minutes before the events closed, when all the other troops were long gone, we were left alone with the judges on the field, and ready to give it a shot. While the other machines were powered with large counterweights, ours had only the power of a few scouts to pull the arm down, and it looked as if one good pull would send the whole thing crashing to the ground. We had 2 practice tries. The softball was loaded, and the scouts pulled down. The ball went backwards 20. They loaded it again, readjusting the net; this time the ball only travelled 10 in the wrong direction. Quickly, as time was running out, they found a stick in the woods and lashed it across the end to keep the ball on the arm and in the basket. The first competitive launch actually worked sent the ball forward, but only about 15. This was an accuracy attempt, as we knew we could never get close to the 150 yards of the adult-manufactured trebuchets; the accuracy target was 75 distant. On the last attempt, everyone gave it their all, the softball flew out into the field and landed a less than 12 from the target bucket.

 

All the troops had long gone, knowing exactly who had preformed what; imagine their surprise at the campfire when it was announced that our troop with the little catapult that could (no one else had even seen it upright!) had taken the blue ribbon. Long before I even believed it would be capable of even launching a projectile, I was proud of our boys for the great effort and persistence they had put into the project. They had not quit. I cannot tell you how big that lump in my throat swelled when they were done and had stolen first place.

 

We have a small troop; those who built the catapult were every one 11 and 12 years old. They lost every other event as several other troops patrols were stacked by combing patrols with 16 and 17 year old high school athletes. One particular troop had 20 scouts present, combined into one patrol, and they took first or second in at least 10 events. I saw the same 3 or 4 scouts competing at every station. Not very scout like, but in spite of that our guys had fun! I think they understood why they lost everything else, and rather than get discouraged, they became more determined to practice and improve their skills. The next day, after every other troop had left the scout camp, our scouts were practicing skills (without adult supervision). One group was working on an orienteering course while others were working with an new scout on his Totin' Chip and Firem'n Chit and ensuring he had completed his joining (Scout) requirements. They were in no rush and I told them I was very proud that they were the last troop to leave. This may have been the best team and moral building exercise our troop could have experienced. We are moving forward, slowly, but steadily improving.

 

I hope you don't mind my bragging on our scouts for a few minutes. As outlandishly as I have embellished this, it is no tall tale. It really happened just like that, and it is a story I will remember for the rest of my life. I hope the scouts remember it so fondly as well.

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Scoutfish Senior Member

Scoutfish

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Buffalo; By all means brag all you want. You are bragging for the right reasons!

 

Last year, my son and I entered our pack "Parent-Son Cookoff".

It was a dessert competiton.

 

Now, I have always been one to let my son do as much work as safety allows. I wasn't really expecting a first year scout to do that spectacular, so it was more of a participation thing.

Now...what's a dessert that isn't way too overly complicated for a 7 year old?

 

CHEESECAKE! We went out and bought the ingredients. My son measured out all the ingredients. He mixed up the crust stuff by hand. He spread the crust in the pie plate. He mixed up the cheese cake ingredients too.

 

The high light was when he decided to lick what was left in the Philledelphia Cream Cheese package! LOL! IMagine if you can a kid who loks like he just sucked a lemon, while muttering out loud:"That's good stuff right there!"

LOL! I almost messed up my pants from laughing so hard!

 

So after the chesecakesat up, we made out own letters designating out pack number and den number. then I helped him create the Fleur-de-lis symbol with gel frosting.

 

At the Christmas party, we put his cheesecake with all the other desserts. I was floored. Sheet cakes were total mock ups of camp sites complete with melted marshmello camp fires, jellow lakes, pretzel stick trees with green frosting leaves.

 

There was a gingerbread Boyscout den with gingerbread scouts inside, There was a 3-D firetruck cake with working lights.

 

My wife even suggested we take our sons cake back to our table to maybe save him some hurt feelings.

 

Well lo and behold. My son won for originality in his division, buyt also took the Overall Grand Champion Trophy!

 

Why? because it was obvious that a cub scout made the cheesecake and not an adult while a scout watched!

So I say brag away all you want!

 

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