Sea Scouts at a Camporee

[sailingpj]

Well, I just had an interesting weekend. My ship was invited to a camporee. We went up and ran a lashing event, competed in a couple of the other events, and showed off one of our regatta events. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.

 

I must say, there is something I just don't get. They handed out some awards. Four 1st place ribbons, three 2nd place ribbons, two 3rd place ribbons, and one participant ribbon. Our ship got the participant. I get that. We were just there to have fun and show off a little. How does the scoring work to get 4 1st places? I saw no evidence of separate classes or anything like that.

 

Ok, back to my report of the weekend. We kinda scared the knot event people with how fast we tied all the knots. They told us the seven knots that we had to tie, then they said that we as a group just had to tie them once, and that there were books we could use, and that it wasn't timed. There was only one knot that we had to look up, and as soon as I saw it I knew what it was. A taughtline hitch is the same as a knot required for Ordinary. Everyone in our ship just grabbed a line and we were done the judges even knew we had started. Then a couple of us really started to show off.

 

In the afternoon we showed off Scuttlebutt for a couple hours. That generated some interest. They were amazed that we are allowed to run such a "dangerous" event. We kinda overplayed the danger though because half the crew I had running it aren't on my regatta team, so I had to stop it almost every other run for a safety DQ.

 

All in all it was a pretty fun weekend, and we can't wait to do it again. We also got a couple of troops interested in coming down to one of our regattas.

[Eagle92]

Sailing,

 

For whatever reason, I've found that camporees are going to a point system for awarding ribbons, instead of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. For example, if you have 126-150 points, you get a blue ribbon; 101-125 = Red ribbon, etc.

 

As for the knots; hehehe

 

As for getting interest in the program, YES!

[pchadbo]

PJ,

Sounds like a great weekend and some good cross-pollination among scouting programs. and just to twist your tail, I would seriously hope a bunch of sailors would know how to tie knots;)

 

and as a Cubbie leader I am as curious as you are how four troops or patrols could finish first.

[shortridge]

What is Scuttlebutt, and how is it done/played/performed?

[sailingpj]

You start with a 60 gallon barrel full (to 3 inches of the rim) of water. You also start with three wooden spars, a couple grommets, a few blocks, and a few pieces of line (all with very specific dimensions).

 

You tie the top of the spars together, lift them up to form a tripod over the barrel. Then you hook up the barrel to the blocks and lift it three feet in the air. Then you break it all down again. Time doesn't stop until all the gear is back in a certain area, and the crew is lined up and the coxswain calls them to attention. All the knots have to be tied a certain way, and if the spars slip, the blocks swing, the barrel swings, the person in charge of the the blocks lets go of them before they are attached to the barrel, if the spars aren't planted correctly, or any other dangerous things happen it is considered a safety DQ. If any of the crew (except the coxswain, and barrelmen) talk you get penalized. 30 seconds the first time, 60 the second time, and DQ the third time.

 

The time needed to qualify is 3 minutes, and a competitive time is less than 2:20.

 

It is dangerous because if someone doesn't do their job correctly the spars will fall, and those spars are kinda heavy, and they really hurt when they hit you in the head.

 

EDIT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttlebutt

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qUXaO4AALw(This message has been edited by sailingpj)

[qwazse]

I'm calling my crew president. I think we have the activity for May's meeting.

 

I'm glad you could "raise the bar" for some boys and their leaders. That's the point of camporees. As for scoring: not decided by the boys, I bet.

 

When sailing can be done with just velcro, we'll see how well the Sea Scouts of the future can tie knots!

[SeattlePioneer]

Often times camporees will have separate categories for competetors ---- recently formed patrols of new Scouts, experienced patrols, Webelos dens and such. I'm guessing that's why there were several 1st place finishers.

 

Glad your SeaScouts had a good time!

[srisom]

Scuttlebutt sounds similar to Atomic Drum or Reactor that our units have done over the years. Can be great fun and great to watch.

 

As for the ribbons, it seems like some feel good slipping in. Since normally would have a 1,2 and 3 or perhaps some ties, most units would get a participation ribbon. This would hopefully encourage them to work harder the next time. No one really likes to get just a participation ribbon as it means you lost.

 

 

[sailingpj]

http://www.ancientmariner.us/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=1:necessary-documents&Itemid=64

 

If you go there you can download the boarding guide for the Ancient Mariner Regatta. That has the rules for this event.

 

If you do it make sure the head lashing is super tight. Get it tight, then tighten it some more. The like and spars should creak very loudly when they get spread. If it isn't tight enough one or more spars will slip and the whole thing will fall on someone's head.

 

As for the awards, it seemed to me that everyone got something.

 

The thing I am most happy about is that our crew of 7 out shouted two troops of 20. At evening flags on saturday they asked for everyone to do their cheers, and gave out stickers to the group that was loudest. We won the stickers.

[sailingpj]

Yeah, like I said, we got the only participant award. It is going on the wall with all the rest of our participant/catboat awards.