Here is our wonderful camp site, named Daytona Beach. We were right on the waterfront, so the boys got to do a lot of swimming in their free time. You can see our kitchen/eating area on the right, our troop trailer in the center and our screened-fly gathering spot on the left. The leader's tent is also in this area behind the gathering area. Notice the boy's tents are not near this area. They are actually located behind the photographer several more yards. Note for Scoutmasters: Sound falls off proportionally to the square of the distance traveled. This is a technical way of saying, the farther away the boys are the less of them you'll hear.
Here we see Mitchell helping to cook breakfast: sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns. You would be amazed at how much a group of 12-year old boys can eat. Mitchell is helped in his breakfast preparations by two of the fathers that accompanied us on this trip; one of them his own.
The first class the boys took was for the Small Boat Sailing merit badge. This merit badge is the main reason we chose BLAB this year as it is one of the few camps in Utah that offers sailing. The boys had to learn how to handle a sailboat, how to tack and jibe, how to get into and out of irons, how to right a capsized boat, and a multitude of other information about the boats and sailing in general. Every boy took this class and they enjoyed sailing very much. However, Spencer (3rd standing from the left) did not enjoy it when the sailboat he was righting in the water came down squarely on top of his head.
The second class of the week was canoeing. Some had already earned their canoeing merit badge and so weren't present at this class. This class also represents the last pictures I was able to take at camp, but I'll explain more on that later. The boys had to learn how to paddle a canoe alone and with a partner, how to drain a swamped canoe in both shallow and deep water, the parts of the canoe and paddle, and how to take care of the canoe and paddle. The boys had to kiss their paddle if they ever set the blade/tip down in the sand because that hurts the paddle. They quickly learned not to do that. In the photo you can see C.C. (standing in red trunks) who taught the class but who also was our camp friend. He helped keep us informed about the goings on at camp. Mostly. There were some omissions, that led to some minor issues. (yeah, C.C. you heard me, issues.) But again the boys loved the canoeing class.For me, canoeing was less fun because as you can see from the photos in the web album, I was out on the water with my camera to get good pictures of the boys swamping their canoes and practicing their strokes. I got some good pictures, but soon felt I was tempting fate by remaining on the water. As I was heading back to shore, I reached out to help with another canoe, and my canoe decided I wanted to go swimming. With my camera. And my cell phone. And the merit badge cards in my pocket. Yeah, canoes can be like that. Needless to say, that's where the photos end, but that wasn't the end of the week. No. This was only the second day of camp.
The boys took various classes the rest of the week and they earned nearly every badge for the classes they took including rifle shooting (.22 caliber long rifles), shotgun shooting, environmental science, photography, lifesaving, indian lore, and woodcarving. Those that didn't complete their badges only had a few requirements left and should still finish their badges quickly. In all, they had a fun week. For one boy, this was the first time he had been away from his parents for more than one night. Not one of them got homesick, and I think they all learned some valuable lessons at scout camp.
1 comment:
Looks brilliant! I love camping and fishing more than chocolate peanut M&M's. I'm going to a talk with Ray Mears next month. Cant wait. Everybody should have some kind of bushcraft knowledge in my opinion.
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