mashmaster

OK, I am pretty psyched now.  There is a meeting tonight and my son said he didn't want to go because his uniform is dirty and he wants to set a good example when he shows up.  That is a good sign.

On 6/18/2018 at 5:17 PM, perdidochas said:

I've been an ASM, primarily for the pay raises. My salary was doubled every year I was a Scouter.  

I do it for the hand shakes 🙂

I ama district vice-chair for communication and I started a thorough newsletter and most find it very useful.  Front page contains a calendar for the next three months, the rest is pictures and articles of interesting information.

For your position, make sure the training is offered, staffed with quality instructors, and at a convenient time for volunteers.

Welcome

24 minutes ago, qwazse said:

If there's an active ship nearby, it may be well worth his time.

And @MattR, you would have been right a couple of years ago. For a while, Sea Scouts was put under the Venturing division. Then it move back to being its own thing. No clue why.

It is possible to have a venturing crew that boats a lot. (E.g. Canoe Trails.) The differences would be the advancement structure, uniforming, and probably the dedication to maintaining their own vessel(s).

He might also consider something completely different like Civil Air Patrol. I've seen a couple of scouts really enjoy moving on to that.

There is a ship near by, they have 7 sailboats and 10 active scouts 🙂  We are going to sail with the skipper at the end of the month.  

Civil Air Patrol?  Tell me more about that.

1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I went into our shed and found the duffel bags the troop used the last time they went (before my time).  They're much bigger than the 24" that is mentioned in the participant's guide.  Ugh.

This is my first time going on a HA trip and I'm the adult organizer.  I spend much of my waking hours certain I've missed something very important.

We have 2 crew members who are also Sea Scouts and an adult who is retired Coast Guard, so we at least have some experienced sailors.

Did anyone have trouble with seasickness?  I've encouraged parents to talk to their pediatrician about motion sickness medicine when they got their physicals. I got a prescription for myself since I'm susceptible to motion sickness.

Did your crew take inflatable sleeping pads?

Much appreciated!!

When you arrive, if the staff thinks your bags are too big they will provide you bags to transfer into.  I am sure you will be fine.  

Sounds like you will have a lot of experience onboard.

Some of our scouts took a bonine everyday,  I have sailed before so I didn't take anything.  We didn't get sick.

I used a inflatable sleeping pad, it is a Klymit pad (the V-Luxe) and was a little wide.  The standard Klymit pad would work better.

20 minutes ago, MattR said:

Do you mean a venturing ship? Could be the ticket.

No a Sea Scout Ship.  It is a separate entity from Venturing.

My son is burning out on Boy Scouts, he had a blast at Sea Base sailing.  Anyone here do Sea Scouts?  If so, how did you mix that in?

1 hour ago, 69RoadRunner said:

How did you handle getting your gear there for people who brought their own snorkel gear?  Did you take the fins or use Sea Base fins?

The participant guide says that all gear except snorkel and sleep gear must fit in the 24" duffel bag. That's fine once you're there, but how did you fly with that gear?

I know you need very little personal gear.  I can only assume people don't bring fins.

One person brought their own snorkel gear, they just need to put it into a mesh bag they can borough at Sea Base.  The gear they have is pretty darn decent so we all used that.  They only thing I would bring is a prescription mask if needed.

We bought the duffles from Seabase, everything fit in that fine.  You don't need a lot of gear.  This is the bag we used: http://www.fsbshipstore.com/duffelbags.html .  The bags fit as carry on luggage.  Each boy had a string bag they used for their camera, playing cards, book.

Feel free to ask questions, if you need someone to join you on the big boat let me know and I will go out 🙂

35 minutes ago, Hawkwin said:

Thanks for sharing! I think I am looking forward more to this event (hopefully next summer) more than any other HA destination.

You are welcome. It isn't physically challenging like other HA but it is mentally challenging.  I would go back in a minute.

We just returned from Sea Base this week.  I thought I would write up a trip report, maybe there will be something useful for crews in the future.  If not, I promise to include a couple of pretty pictures.  Every crew is different so YMMV.

Our crew: 4 boys and 4 adults.  one boy is going into his senior year of high school the others were all entering their freshman year or 8th grade next year (almost 14 or just 14).  Our boys did not have a strong bond coming into the crew and tend to be on the introverted side of things.  I would have prefered there to be 3 adults rather than 4, 2 is a bit scary in case one of them has to drop out for some reason at the last minute.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale in the afternoon, got the van we rented from SIXT and checked into the Hampton Inn that had a deal that came in our Sea Base information.  Then we went to the beach and played in the water and sand.  Then just hung out at the hotel until we left the next morning.

The drive to Sea Base is about 2 hours or so. We stopped in Homestead at Walmart for a few items and Key Largo at a Subway for lunch along the way.  Check in is pretty chill and there is someone there to walk you through the entire process.  After check-in you do a snorkel test, meet with your boat's captain, and have dinner at Sea Base, then you board the boat and sail away.

The boat we were on was a 41' Morgan.  Space is very limited, so be prepared to be very close to your crewmates throughout the trip.  You will have to do anchor watch based on what your crew leader sets up.  So for 2 hours each night you will be up to watch the boat to make sure it doesn't float away.  e.g. 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6.  Sleeping for adults is very difficult, there just isn't a lot of space.  Bring a blow up pillow, but there really isn't much room for pads.  Expect to sleep in unusual positions.  The boys seem to adapt to this well.  It is hot and stuffy down below, but limited space on top and windy....

Each day you will sail to a reef location or two and snorkel.  The snorkeling is very fun and there are lots of fish.  The boys will be taught how to do everything on the boat.  While going between locations, you will fish as hopefully catch something.  Sailing is a lot of waiting then a sprint to hurry up then back to waiting.   There will be a lot of time the boys will nap, read, or play cards.  The captain will make sure the boys are each taking turns sailing the boat and will teach them  what they need to know how to do.

Mid week, you will dock at Marathon key and clean the boat.  There are showers and laundry there.  Bring a few tide pods, a load to was is $3 and $2 to dry.  You will meet other crews there and hang out until 10pm, watch a movie, play cards.  Our crew met a crew from Pittsburgh and they meshed very well.  New found friends.  That night you have AC on the boat and no anchor watch.  It is wonderful!

Then you go back out to sea for a couple of days.  When you come back to Sea Base, you clean the boat up take showers and chill.  It is so relaxing.  They put on a luau for the boys on the last night, they all seemed to have a great time.  The food is pretty decent as well.

The next morning we left, we stopped at a gator farm for a show and fan boat ride.  That was a highlight for some.  We went to the one near Homestead and they have a scout price, no reservations required.

Our boys all had a great time, they all pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone in some manner.  I wish our boys had been able to gel better as a team prior to the trek.  We tried to get them together but our crew was just that way.  They were young and not super mature.  When they meshed with the older crew that helped a lot.

Key Logistic items:

• From day 1, start using an app like splitwise so you can track expenses and who paid for what and who owes who.  We didn't start with it and lost track of a few transactions about who paid what.
• We pre-rented a 15-seat van from SIXT via KAYAK.  It was reasonable.  For some reason I couldn't pre-buy cheaper insurance so that was $40/day.  Normally, I turn it down but since this was a group trip we opted in for it.  There is $9/day toll fee you need to pay for the van.  Still cheaper than a shuttle service and you have flexibility.  Seabase now wants you to have a vehicle at camp.
• We bought the duffle bags from Sea Base, space is very limited on the boat so the made space work well.  We embroidered the bags so we knew whose bag was whose.
• Bring a few tide pods with you for the laundry at mid week and at the end.  The clothes stink....BAD!
• Pack every outfit in a gallon ziplock bag, to keep the smell contained.  Wow it smells!
• Bring backup camera batteries.   A few of us had the Fuli waterproof point and shoot cameras, those did a great job.  The GoPros didn't seem as useful.

Yes absolutely.  As a father of daughters who were Girl Scouts and seen first hand how the program didn't work I would love to help guide girls if they wanted to scout.

Our crew is so excited!

11 hours ago, SSScout said:

I forgot there are big neck nalgenes and small neck nalgenes.  The bottles are nearly indestructible, but how would you clean the egg out of the inside?  Long brush, I guess. Eggs do not really need refrigeration for short times (days?) if not cracked, true, but why risk the contamination in a water bottle?  When I carried eggs, I decided it was sufficient (safe) to put them in a ziplock bag and cushion them well in a hard case.  I had an old metal lunch box that a half dozen paperboard egg carton just fit in. Put the half dozen in the ziplock, into the lunchbox, into the pack. Never had a problem.   Paper board egg carton was fire starter. Ziplock was used (sometimes) as a egg-ina-bag scramble (in boiling water, right?) .  

Yes wide mouth nalgenes, shaking soaping water works well to clean it, a bottle brush is even better.   We keep the nalgene in the cooler, I would rather wash a nalgene that is only used for eggs than the mess a ziplock bag the split and spilled eggs all over the place.

I really like the Osprey Talon 22

49 minutes ago, SSScout said:

"""  throw it all in the Nalgene """" ?  ? ?   Whose Nalgene are you going to mess up?  And how do you cook in a Nalgene water bottle??  Or is there another kind ? Or has Coleman really come out with a campfire microwave oven ? 

I have a spare nalgene that I use for my eggs on campouts.  no need to worry about the eggs breaking in the ice chest.  It's sole purpose is this on the campout.

no it isn't humor, it works great.

pretty much can't go wrong, throw it all in the nalgene and shake it up, cook it and put it in the tortilla 🙂 

33 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

A couple of young ASM's are trying to convince me to replace my Nalgene 1L (6.25 ounces, $10-11, made USA) with either the following:

Hydrapak Stash 1L (3.3 ounces?, $20-25)

Platypus water bags .-  IMHO seem flimsy and spill easy.

Works for them but I  still like the all-season , hot water,  utility, and indestructibility of the Nalgene .

 

I'm with you, Nalgenes just plain work!  Bummer knockoff brands seem to break easily.

7 minutes ago, HashTagScouts said:

I intend no offense at all Mash.  Yes, these awards are often what the John/Jane Q Public think of when they think of a "Scout".  There's been other threads here that have discussed it, and I take the side that the BSA hasn't done itself any favors by placing too much emphasis on the Eagle award. 

I fully, truly agree with you that clear delineation and consistent process is helpful, as it is really the best way to measure how the kid handled themselves.  We like to say the "adversity" is helpful in teaching that things can go wrong in life, and how you plow through it is good teaching, but I say that isn't what the project is intended to teach.  The process here has devolved to just an email with the Eagle project proposal, and then approval or questions back by email.  to me that is BS.  The kid should be meeting with someone, talking about why they chose their project, what do they hope to accomplish personally from it, etc.  And, ideally, that person they are meeting with (DE, District Advancement Coordinator, whatever) is taking notes, and those notes make their way to the kids Eagle BOR. Can you accomplish that by email? Sure, I think you can, but in a society that is ever increasingly communicating in a virtual digital world, we need to find the few avenues where personal, look-me-in-the-eye communication can occur as the teaching moment, and this is the perfect place for that.  When my son was preparing to get his proposal together and start meeting with troop leaders and district leaders, I gave him the encouragement to think back to what he learned in Communication MB, and why that was important for him at that point.

I would think the same should be true for Girl Scouts as much as it is for BSA.

 

Sadly, Girl Scouts at least in our council don't follow a good process of communication.  I wish there was such thing as a Life to Eagle coach position for Girl scouts.  I have gone back and forth myself with the local Girl Scout council when this was happening and they didn't seem to get it.  The only times they actually got on the phone was after I pointed out the inflammatory remarks they made in email to my daughter demeaning her and her project.  I expected my daughter to be able to handle the communication and project management of her project but when they basically acted like bullies and crossed the line, I stepped in and called them out on it.  I made some contacts within our council behind the scenes and they were shocked and the remarks the "adults" were making.    

Here in Texas we call those things Breakfast tacos....  🙂  

We do similar breakfasts with a few differences:

• Pre-cooked bacon, crumbled in a bag
• no potatos
• Small tortillas, usually flour or corn

We pre-crack the eggs and put them into a nalgene, that way you just shake the nalgene up to scramble the eggs and pour it into the pan to cook.  

2 hours ago, HashTagScouts said:

 

THIS, 110%! Eagle is not a pinnacle of life.  it is the last rank they can possibly earn as a youth, but it is not the measure of whether any kid who has been in Scouting is greater than another.  I've seen kids who never made it past First Class that I would choose over plenty of Eagles when it comes to knowledge of life skills and leadership skills learned while a scout.  Eagle is not a "graduation"- read the words of the Eagle Charge.  Is obtaining the rank of Eagle a great accomplishment? For most, yes it is.  For others, their mommy and daddy (and in some cases, their troop leaders) gave them far more help than they should of, at the detriment of that kid truly feeling they accomplished greatness. 

Y'all think I only think of Eagle or Gold award being the point.  I am not saying that at all.  What I am saying is that I would like to see consistent rubric for these projects rather than complete randomness even in the same council.  That was the point of this thread, not the complain about me thread.   

I agree that attaining Eagle or even the Gold award is not the end goal of scouting, but it is the most quantifiable goal in scouting.  Advancement is only one of the methods of scouting, but it shouldn't be discounted as unimportant either.  My son is a Star scout and probably won't get to Eagle because he doesn't like  scouting.  I am not going to push him to get Eagle, but I will push him to work on leadership skills and other life skills outside of scouting in school, swimming, working....   I think skills he has learned while scouting have really helped get to be a leader and those have nothing to do with what rank he is.  I know plenty of scouts with higher ranks that haven't learned how to be a leader and care about anything other than himself.

I am very aware that attaining the rank of Eagle isn't the end, and the Eagle charge implies a life long aspect to it.  I talk about this with potential Eagle candidate during their BOR all the time.  I am not a newbie scout parent that only thinks of Eagle (You must be confusing me with someone else).   As Mike Rowe would say, he has way more respect for his brother that isn't an Eagle but saved someones life than himself being an Eagle.

1 hour ago, HashTagScouts said:

 

An Eagle project doesn't have to be hard, it just has to demonstrate planning and leadership.  There is not any part of the requirements of a project that it must involve fundraising, or that there must be a minimum number of hours involved- despite how many people try to claim that there is, or there should be.  There is also nothing explicit in the Gold Award project requirements that would suggest it has to be "a hard project".  In my experience, as told to me by a couple Gold Award recipients, the hardest part was getting their local Council to review the project plan so they could actually get started on it.

I wish that was the case in my daughters girl scout district.  They had a board of women review the project that had to be submitted to their meeting 2 weeks prior to their monthly meeting.  They reviewed it and send an email back a week later saying how it was rejected with vague comments like "We want to see more".  Her responses to them had to be in writing and they would review it behind closed doors a month later.  After 6 months of this, my daughter had other school obligations and was just done with their politics.  And her girl scout troop leader pocketed all the money she had raised......  that is another story.

1 hour ago, qwazse said:

Why should they be hard?

They should require actual planning and thought IMHO.  Spreading mulch or building yet another gagaball pit are just cookie cutter projects that don't need much leadership and planning to complete.  If this award is the pinnacle, it should be something that requires the scout to get outside of their comfort zone and lead.

2 hours ago, 69RoadRunner said:

I'll have to ask if he still has the recipe.  This was from a few years ago.  We do this in November, so ideally you'd let it set in the cold for a while, but no time for that.

 

I would appreciate it, my scouts too 🙂