le Voyageur

Often times BSA policies and procedures are confusing, and for the new unit leader it is very easy to stray outside of the bounds of these guidelines. Using resources at the District (Commissioner sevices) and Council (Trainers) level is often the best way to avoid this problem. But, in all fairness, and not to just point the finger at new unit leaders, I've seen Districts hosting camporees who's key leaders either didn't know the rules, or elected to ignore the rules when it came to their program (running high C.O.P.E. activities without a C.O.P.E. director being the worse). But for any un

With the dry bag, I try to get as much air out as possible. Most of the time I'll have several mesh bags on hand which are loaded with rocks for anchors. These are then clipped to the dry bags using carabiners along with one end of the recovery rope. Lacking mesh bags, then stuff sacks can serve the same purpose. By the time breakfast is over they have dried out and are ready for their intended use. For the recovery rope, this can be any inexpensive 7mm to 9mm nylon rope found at one's local hardware store (avoid the cotton cloths line rope, it's too weak) . If you're sinking in moving water

When I solo backpack in Yosemite, I never bear bag. As long as I stay away from the tourist sites I've never had any problem...but with scouts, and away from the water it's back to the traditional. It also seems that dry bags tend to work a lot better since they can be sealed tighter, then say a stuff sack, or a backpack. Sinking a dry bag of food and smellables occured to me while while canoeing in grizz country...seemed to be the better solution in dealing with these guys....

For a pretty good book of recipes for trail meals June FLeming's "The Well Fed Backpacker" is hard to beat....to find a copy use ISBN 0-394-73804-7 at http://isbn.nu/ Here's a couple from her book... Spiced Hot Milk Mix 2 cups instant dry milk 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground netmeg 1/4 cup brown sugar To use: Put 1/3 cup mix in your cup, slowly fill with HOT water as you stir Mexican Mocha 1 1/2 cups instant cocoa mix 1 1/2 cups instant dry milk 1/2 cup instant cofre powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon powdered, dri

That sure didn't work, have to work on posting in morse code later... ..././.// ..- .-../.-/-/./.-.

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That's not good. There is one last solution you can try, but it could get ugly (speaking from experience). Time for the parents to go directly to the keepers of the Charter and make immediate demands for a new COR, and for them to rectify the problem. If the chartering organization fails to listen, and fails to provide you with the support you need then, it's time to move to another organization that has an keener interest in the scouting program....

KS This guide covers basic celestial navigation besides the map and compass. Chapter 11 covers "Direction from the Sky: North of the Tropics" and... Chapter 12, the tropics and south of the tropics One of the better chapters (Chap. 4) will take you step by step and show you how to convert countour lines into slope angles,average grade and foot, rise per mile, etc. using simple math. Info that makes the topo truly 3D in the field. I'll look around for a few additional books on the subjects and post them for you since my interest is in ancient and primative sailing

Being a Unit Commissioner this would be my suggestion, and does not burden the ASM's with decisions that they should not have to deal with. The simple solution is for the Troop Committe Chairman, and the Charter Organizational Rep to have a private chat with the SM and set an ultimatum, and a dead line to fix the problem. With the number of ASM's in this unit finding another SM shouldn't be that difficult....

Come late May, the Council that I'll be working for this summer will be sending me to NCS Trek Leader training in Jacksonville, Florida. The only council in the area seems to be the Florida Northern Council, and who's camp is Camp Shand. So, anybody out there who could give me a bit of a run down on this camp and where it is located? This information is needed for route planning - Since it is only 700 miles (rough guess) from my place to Jacksonville, I plan to bike down, and enjoy a week on the road....

I'm with you on this one... Those little radios on the river combined with hand and paddle signals between the lead boat and the sweep makes for a safer run...

KS This book may help Land Navigation Handbook, the Sierra Club Guide to Map and Compass W.S. Kals 1983 ISBN 0-87156-331-2 to locate a copy, do a ISBN search at http://isbn.nu/ Question: Where in Korea are you at?? Did a det at Osan, many, many moons ago.

E. I fully agree with your observations in your last post. However, if you would reference my post that started this thread you will see that the techinues are simple, and easy to learn. These are what I teach to adults and older scouts and require knowing very little science. These techniques may not may be in the Scout handbook, but are the better method of meeting First Class Req. 1 ("Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a compass"). My last two posts, explaining the science were written for adults, not for scouts.

This system is the one that I like to use for the main repel line. The redundancy is that the scout is topped roped to another line on an independent anchor. Also, the belayer is not only anchored, but often placed outside of the system. Additional redundancies can be added in such as a prusik brake on the guide hand side.

JB A post note (trying to do too many things at once) That Canadian systems sounds interesting...would very much like to see it. Somehow, I get the impression that this is rigged around a Gurada knot....thanks for sharing

Take a look at http://www.rescue70.org/roperes.htm I use this on a seperate achcor independent of the haul line. My set up is anchor, biner, mariner knot, biner, pursik brake on the haul line....

For first aid gear - http://www.mooremedical.com As a post note, don't carry first aid items that you are not trained to use, not qualified to use, or not certified to use... For fastwater/whitewater the four big concerns are hypothermia, brokenbones/head injuries, drowning, and difficult extractions with long transport times to an ER. As stated in the above post, first aiders are not trained in setting bones, and WFR's and WEMT's won't even consider doing it. However, the one exception to that rule is when dealing with an angulated fracture with no distal pulse. The limb then m

Wow! Do I disagree with celestial direction finding being useful only for a survival skill. Talk about bad advise. And the First Class requirements for this area is very weak and often glossed over,being taught by unit leaders working rote from a scout handbook filled with assumptions. I've also never seen an Eagle Scout, let alone a First Class scout who could find Polaris (when asked they will point to either Sirus or Jupiter, the reason is, is that they are taught that Polaris is the brightest object in the night sky). The shadow stick method for the moon is a varition used for direction

This is what I carry in the canoe when treking with scouts 1 cell phone 1 GPS unit Maps of the area 4 Cyalumes 1 small flashlight 12 - 2x2 24 - 4x4 4 - 3 inch roller bandages 6 - 6 cravats Adhesive bandages (band aids) various sizes 6 rolls of adhesive tape Steri-strips, 12 each 35 cc irgation syringe 4 rolls of 1 1/2 inch athletic tape 4 elastic bandages (3") Molefoam, 2 sheets Second Skin, 1 pack Space Blanket 2 Sam Splints 1 CPR Face Shield Stephascope BP Cuff 1 set of airways EMT shears 4 hemostats 2 McGills 1 No Neck C collar (adu

To be honest, I've not heard of that one, and is, in my mind, ramped with misconceptions. Consider this, that the moon is the most evasive of all celestial bodies. It moves westward with the stars each day because of the earth's rotation, but it also slips eastward relative to stars because of its own orbital motion around the earth. Since the moon circles the earth once a month, it progresses through the stars at a rate of 360 degs. per (roughly) 30 days, or about 12 degs. per day. If the moon is next to the star Aldebaran on one night, on the next night it will be about 12 degs. to the east

Keeping it light is about the best way to enjoy backpacking. So, thought that I would share my gear list. This is the gear that makes up my base load (everything but food, water, and stove fuel)...all weights are in ounces Backpack 12.5 Sleeping Bag 17.0 Hammock 34.0 Space Blanket 1.5 Cooking Set 10.0 Water Filter 8.0 Stove 1.0 Fuel Bottle 1.5 Water Bottles (2) 3.0 Anorak 8.0 Tuque 1.5 Shirt 6.0

It is very rare to see any COR serving an active role not only with the units that they sponsor, but also within the overall scouting program. What COR's fail to realize is, is that by having one vote at both the district and council level, just how powerful they could be if they would only band together as a team to serve the common interest of scouting in their area. And in reguard to this thought, I wonder if a COR could cast proxy votes. If would be something to show up a council budget meeting with 20 or 30 votes in one's pocket!

Forgot, a quick way to release a line under tension, should that be required is with the Mariner knot. However, I agree with you. The first pull should be done by trying the "10 Boy Scouts" technique first before heading up the scale. On a side note, I don't know which is worse. Breaking a livery boat, or leaving it pinned in the river and letting the rental guys worry about it (if the boat is pinned hard underwater and in an undercut rock it's left, not worth it if it puts people's lives at risk). Either way, I don't think you'll be getting your deposit back....

The amount of force often depends on how the boat is pinned, how the canoe is built, what the canoe is made of, and volume and flow rate of the water. No easy answer to a lot of variables. But basically, I employ two lines, the first is the "dump" line which will flip the craft over and help get some of the water out. Here, I like to use a 3 to 1 pulley system. And the other line, using a z drag is used to pull the boat into the main current so that it will wash out. The other problem is direction of pull, often times (it seems) that the river will pin a boat in places that require an off axis

Canoeing in bear country can be made a lot safer by ignoring the traditional method of bear bagging..ie. hangin stuff in the trees. My method is simply to put food and smellables in the dry bags and sink them in deep water. A recovery rope staked near shore, and kept under water completes the set up...........