The Klondike Derby & SeaBase Preparations

Greetings Scouts,

Klondike Derby
The Klonike Derby Polar Bear Challenge 2022 is coming up and this will be an exciting opportunity to test your fire building, lashing, orienteering, first aid, totn’chip, and of course increase your scout spirit by attending this exciting event. Our Troop has a long standing tradition of participating and doing our best. This year the Klondike will be held at TL Storer which is great but will present a logistics challenge since its an hour and half away. While I welcome winter camping, the notion of leaving late Friday and getting into a tent site deep into TL Storer (and we know the grounds), would be challenging in the dark, with snow/ice and late night.

​So given that information, we will have a new plan getting ready and leaving early on Saturday morning and returning mid afternoon Sunday. There is a lot of planning for SPL Lucien, ASPL’ Cameron and Charlie, to organize the troop, plan and prepare our troop, be prepared with equipment and all that goes into the Klondike. This also includes a troop or patrol inspection on gear and equipment including enough water, having  fire building and weatherproof matches, weather report, duty rooster and camp site inspection. This is a great opportunity to tune up scout skills, camping skills, organizational skills, and leave no trace skills. Stay tuned for more detailed information.

Seabase Preparation
Last Monday two USCG Captains, Director or Marine Ops and Academic Dean  at the Sea Education Association (www.sea.edu) , an education program that takes students out to sea, met with us to discuss going to sea. They volunteered their time to help prepare our scouts and I’m grateful for their expert help and preparation. We will need to spend more time in depth but the important thing is to get started.

These skills apply to not only Seabase scouts but somewhat make up the safety and risk procedures for our troop and are important.  Some key things are Ship, Shipmate and Self meaning  - ship is our mission and our base, everyone takes care of that first, then its taking care of each other and finally take care of yourself in that order. We depend on the actions of others to stay safe and take on challenges. Scout do this all the time whether we are winter camping, climbing Mt. Washington, at Philmont or at Sea. Here’s what they covered.

• Safety at SEA
  • Emergency Theory - Response and Prevention Overview, SAR System
  • Man Overboard prevention and response
  • Tools for emergencies – VHF Radio, mayday, pan-pan, securite
  • Tools for emergencies - EPIRBS
• Working with the Ocean
  • Principles of Weather 
  • Principles of Waves/Oceanography 
• Sailing Theory
  • Points of Sail
  • Center of effort and center of lateral resistance @age 14 audience
  • Keeping watch on a ship, teamwork, etc. 
• Being a good Shipmate (15 min)
  • Ship – damage control, watch standing, doing things right
  • Shipmate – courtesy, being neat/shipshape
  • Self – hygiene, attitude

We recorded this session and I’ll have more information on how to access it at the next meeting. 
The next couple meetings will be in preparation for the Klondike. Let’s “Be Prepared”. Troop 132 has a reputation to maintain in the district and let’s do our best.

Remember to do your good turn daily!
 
Mr. Duggan, Scoutmaster