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Good for you guys!!!

 

our troop has entered the lottery for that same timeframe, but i haven't heard anything about it yet.  Missed the meeting last night IF they announced it...

 

Sadly though, my son will just skate under the age/grade requirement to go, so he'll be left out cold.  He'll be 13 by that September, but not graduated from the 8th grade.  Many of his friends I think will be 14 by then so they'll be going without him.  That really is a shame....  it's things like this that will drive a kid away from scouts.

 

I hope you folks don't have any cases like that in your troop.

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Good for you guys!!!

 

our troop has entered the lottery for that same timeframe, but i haven't heard anything about it yet.  Missed the meeting last night IF they announced it...

 

Sadly though, my son will just skate under the age/grade requirement to go, so he'll be left out cold.  He'll be 13 by that September, but not graduated from the 8th grade.  Many of his friends I think will be 14 by then so they'll be going without him.  That really is a shame....  it's things like this that will drive a kid away from scouts.

 

I hope you folks don't have any cases like that in your troop.

Lottery results were announced today, so fingers crossed you got a slot.

 

My son made the cutoff by 5 days and is bummed his buddies can't go with him.  He has an August bday so he is the oldest in his grade.  I agree the age part sucks.

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We are totally bummed out here.  For the 9th straight year, we have NOT received a spot at Sea Base.  Thank God we are not betting the farm on this lottery.  We would all be homeless! I am beginning to wonder if the lottery is the best way to go.  I wonder if it could be adjusted so that troops who do not get a spot one year had an advantage in the lottery the following year.   I know units that have gotten a spot 4 years in a row.  Any ideas?  Just doesn't seem fair.  Now to disappoint my scouts again, but start planning a different adventure for 2018.

 

Dale

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We are totally bummed out here.  For the 9th straight year, we have NOT received a spot at Sea Base.  Thank God we are not betting the farm on this lottery.  We would all be homeless! I am beginning to wonder if the lottery is the best way to go.  I wonder if it could be adjusted so that troops who do not get a spot one year had an advantage in the lottery the following year.   I know units that have gotten a spot 4 years in a row.  Any ideas?  Just doesn't seem fair.  Now to disappoint my scouts again, but start planning a different adventure for 2018.

 

Dale

 

The Seabase lottery system is totally different than the Philmont lottery system. I spoke to a Seabase administrative manager a long way back and this is what they told me.

 

The Seabase lottery is done based off of a rolling set of dates against the list of adventures/treks. Let's say that the sessions start June 1st and run through August 15th. Also, let's say that each "Term" -- being the length of time a crew is at base arriving or departing" -- is every 7 days. This is important because this helps them manage their rolling capacity; defined as the maximum capacity of all their treks AND base camp in any single "term" or week. Got it so far? So, the Seabase lottery is based on total availability.

 

Now, you are a crew and you want to go on the Tall Ships Adventure. You've met with your crew and you can only go July 1st-8th, so you put in for THAT trek on ONLY that date. That's your only shot at getting your trek. If you don't get selected you're out.

 

NOW, let's say you had a bit more flexibility. Say your crew can go at ANY TIME during July. So when you fill out your lottery form you fill out Tall Ships Adventure BUT you fill out FOUR "terms" or weeks: July 1-8, July 8-15, July 15-22, July 22-29. So when they pick July 1-8 if you are not chosen you go back in to the bucket for the other weeks.

 

But Seabase allows even MORE flexibility on SOME treks. For example, they might have 2-3 Tall Ship Adventure slots PER WEEK! That means for each week in July there are 2-3 MORE chances of you getting your slot for the month than simply one. When they pick for July 1-8 you have three chances to get selected that week. If not, you are still in the bucket for the next week and the next week and the next week. Get it?

 

So the advice I received from this Seabase manager was this: If you want to increase your chances of getting a Seabase slot, be as open as possible. So what my unit does is:

  • We tell our Scouts and parents to leave the ENTIRE summer open for the year we are submitting.
  • We pick 2-3 treks we are interested in.
  • We pick ALL dates we can for the entire summer for ALL treks.
  • If we get more than one trek (and this has happened several times to us) we simply give back the ones we don't want.

Lastly, and most important, if you do get a trek make sure you:

  • Fully staff the crew. Make sure all slots are filled.
  • Pay on time!! This was emphasized to me many times as being the single reason many units don't get picked.
  • When at base follow ALL rules and be model Scouts. Again, all HA bases I have been to have said that they DO check to see what each unit's history has been at that base. If they have a bad rep they go under review.

I cannot promise if you follow this advice you will get selected. All I can tell you is that I received this advice once and we have never missed a slot at any HA base we've submitted for.

 

BTW, Philmont, NT and Summit have a totally different "lottery" system. ;)

Edited by Col. Flagg
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I have no idea why one would put all their eggs in just one basket.  Philmont or AT?  Or Ice Age Trail vs. Continental Divide?  Or SeaBase vs. Sea Kayaking the Apostles' Islands or a backpack/kayak trek/float to Isle Royale?  Maybe do a NT vs. do it yourself of half the cost, or maybe if one wants to put in that kind of money, maybe the Moose River float or take on a stretch of the Yukon in Alaska.  Seriously people !  The sign on the front door doesn't need a BSA emblem on it to make it high adventure!  I'm kinda partial to the notion that the door without the emblem might be offering a higher level of adventure anyway.

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I have no idea why one would put all their eggs in just one basket.  Philmont or AT?  Or Ice Age Trail vs. Continental Divide?  Or SeaBase vs. Sea Kayaking the Apostles' Islands or a backpack/kayak trek/float to Isle Royale?  Maybe do a NT vs. do it yourself of half the cost, or maybe if one wants to put in that kind of money, maybe the Moose River float or take on a stretch of the Yukon in Alaska.  Seriously people !  The sign on the front door doesn't need a BSA emblem on it to make it high adventure!  I'm kinda partial to the notion that the door without the emblem might be offering a higher level of adventure anyway.

 

Well, Seabase, Philmont and NT are the crown jewels so to speak. Frankly, I could care less about Seabase, but I am a Ginge that burns easily, so the mountains or lakes are more my speed any way.

 

I think the other lure for the BSA bases is that they are easier to coordinate for logistics. Council camps are okay but not as easy as the BSA camps. Non-Scout outfitters can be a mix of easy or hard to work with.

 

But you are right, looking beyond BSA does have it's own merit and some times better adventures.

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9 years is a long time to wait for SeaBase.  Webelos boys will not get a chance to go before they age out.  Kinda sad to say the least.  Older boys should be able to put together a 7-9 day trip at far less cost than SeaBase.  We did it with BWCA.  We went for 9 days at half the cost of what NT charges for 5. 

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9 years is a long time to wait for SeaBase.  Webelos boys will not get a chance to go before they age out.  Kinda sad to say the least.  Older boys should be able to put together a 7-9 day trip at far less cost than SeaBase.  We did it with BWCA.  We went for 9 days at half the cost of what NT charges for 5. 

 

Agree. I would not wait either.

 

When I joined Scouts the first thing I did was find out about how the "lottery" system worked at each base. I heard some troops always got slots and wondered how that worked. I asked around, found the right folks and then chatted with them about how the system worked. The official directions tell you how to apply but they don't tell you how the system works really. NT and Summit you can get in to no problem. Philmont is a matter of good reputation, good payment/credit history with them, filling your crew 100% and picking some less popular treks. That's the recipe for getting a better chance of being selected there. Oh, and picking dates that are less popular. We usually go the first week since our schools get out early.

 

And if you can't get in on a unit contingent, try your district to see if others got slots they can't fill. Same with council.

 

We are going to Seabase this summer and had two open slots. We filled them in 30 mins posting on our district forum.

Edited by Col. Flagg
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