KON TIKI NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2009
CHAIRMAN’S CHIRP
By now you should all have sharpened your cutlasses and let the parrot preen itself to be geared up and ready to sail on 7 March 2009. I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to the launch of the event and making sure that we all have a weekend of good clean fun.
To recognise my patrol (HQ Staff) look out for the buccaneers in uniform and those wearing bibs or who will be clutching quills, parchments to record important information and speaking devices. If you have any question please contact any of these people who will be happy to assist you or point you in the right direction to find your answers.
On looking at some “old notes” I wonder whether Scouts will rise to the occasion this year or whether we will again see a Ranger Company sail into first place. No doubt time will tell and I wish you all a fair wind and good sailing.
We have another new feature at Kon Tiki 2009. There are so many of you all taking photographs that we have launched a competition to see if we can find the picture of pictures. You are invited to visit the HQ tent and seek out the photo pirate who will help you download digital pictures and make sure the one you wish to enter is marked with an “X”. At the end of the day we will choose a winning picture and the author will be awarded a great prize.
All the other pictures will be put onto a disc and will be made available for sale to those who would like a major pictorial review of Kon Tki 2009.
Kon Tiki competitions are split over a wide sector of events. Teams NOT entering a raft can still participate in any other compo event as long as they show this on the entry form. A word of caution, the overall trophy can only be won by a team that competes in the raft and camping events.
From last Kon Tiki there is a number of missing provincial life jackets that were used by a number of people and apparently not handed back to HQ. If you have a few or know where we can trace them, please let us know.
At the end of Kon Tiki everyone looks forward to “The Presentations”. It has become quite a mission however with every winner collecting their certificates or trophies in a massive contingent. May I suggest and ask that one or two persons only come up to collect the prize and that flags stay with the Groups. In some instances I have no problem with two or even three people coming up to the front but let’s keep it to that and slicken up the presentations and time that it takes.
A suggestion that has come up is that we consider launching an hour earlier at 11:00 and come ashore an hour earlier at 11:00 on Sunday. Can we have your comments at Kon Tiki? We will raise the issue at the first team meeting so be prepared to offer your comments.
I often refer to “my patrol” or the Kon Tiki Patrol in talking to you from time to time. This is the patrol that “runs” Kon Tiki and makes sure everything is looked after and actually happens. So that you know who’s who, here they are: -
Allan Baudry (Vice Chairman), Dave Osmond (Camp Chief), Mark Pollock (Emergency Services), Darren Robinson (Chief Judge), Harry Neily (Water Safety), Lesley McGillivray (Girl Guide Liaison), Adrienne Pollock (Beaver Challenge) and Nicola Triegaardt (Information).
The sub-camp chiefs, every member of the medical staff, our radio team, gate controller and the police also play a big part in helping the Kon Tiki Patrol with the running of the event.
CAMP CHIEF
Remember teams may choose their sites BUT
team numbers
will be allocated later. The Camp Chief allocates all camp, team and raft numbers. It is the
TEAM NUMBER
that is your ID on rafts, gateways and to be put onto entry and any other form. You will be known by your team number so tattoo it onto your foreheads!!!
Dustbins will be put out at every ablution and we really make a strong request and plea that everyone makes use of this facility instead of putting gunk down the loos!!! There will be a phone number on every dirt bin, so if you see anyone stuffing a T-shirt down a loo instead of into a bin, give us a call and we will take the necessary action. Let’s work together on this one and avoiding the annual great blockage sagas.
Security is a priority and every sub-camp will this year be helping to make sure that safety is maintained to make this event even better and to allow fun to prevail.
CHIEF JUDGE
2009 will see a number of changes to the way competitions at Kon Tiki have been judged in the past. We are hoping that the changes, asked for by you the participants will be welcomed.
There is an old saying that “one can’t please everyone all the time, but try to please the majority most of the time” and hopefully these new changes will address some of the requests that we have received in the past. Some of these changes/additions are pointed out below, but as per previous years please remember to read the handbook as all the changes are in it.
Some of the changes/additions are:
-
Supporter’s meal to be prepared and judged in the “working campsite” come rain or shine. Once campsites have been allocated the judging matrix with times will be made available.
-
Rafts also have a competition meal that they can participate in, with judging happening on the water. Green flag or cell call = meal ready and a gig with judge aboard will call on you and come aboard to judge the raft meal.
-
There will be a raft crew dress up competition on the Sunday morning during the Naval review.
-
“Live-in working” supporters campsites will be judged. In the past some groups have produced model campsites to be judged and then had their supporters living in another campsite. You may still produce model campsites if you wish, however they will NOT be marked and will NOT get bonus points.
-
Scores to be published from time to time at the judges tent. Any queries can be made to the Chairman or his Depyty who will meet with the Camp Chief, Deputy Camp Chief and Chief Judge to sort out.
-
Q & A on some points :
- Raft Pioneering means gadgets on raft
- Raft Construction means the actual raft itself
Raft mobility will take place on Sunday morning before the line up for the Navel review begins.
Volunteer as a judge – contact Chief Judge who will consider u for this and/or future events?
EMERGENCY SERVICES
We urgently need rubber ducks to be used by the emergency services. If you know of a parent or even have a “duck” of your own that can be made available, please contact any one on the Kon Tiki Patrol. Your help will be really appreciated.
Liquor and illegal substances now solely a police matter. If you decide to use liquor or take drugs or used unacceptable substances and are caught, the law will take its course. Scouting cannot interfere with the police action that will be taken, so be warned.
USE THE CELL NUMBER 076 270 0723 FOR ANY EMERGENCY OR TO CONTACT THE KON TIKI PATROL WITH INFO SUCH AS PEOPLE BLOCKING DRAINS OR OTHER SECURITY MATTER.
FINAL WORD
Suggestions and feed-back is always important so there will be a suggestion box at the Info tent. One word of caution, let’s not have one person write the same suggestion on 10 pieces of paper !!! We can also see it when some notes are written by the same pirate using his or her left hand, so beware!! We are always prepared to look at practical suggestions and do read your comments so let’s be constructive and not write stuff just to fill the box.
INFO
Remember that there is the Kontiki Booklet that is up on the web page for you to download and which carries all the data and “rules” of the event. No Group should be without one!!.
In 2009 there will also be a contest to see who has actually read the booklet and not just carrying it about to feed the parrots.
Well that’s it so “see you at Kon Tiki”
Yours in Scouting (and Pirating)
Jan Schubart
Kontiki Chairman
CHAIRMAN’S CHIRP
A great welcome to everyone who is preparing to join Sailing with the Pirates of
the Caribbean over the weekend of 6, 7 & 8 March 2009.
As Patrol Leaders are all astute people, you will have no trouble in identifying
that our theme is that of Pirates, Cutthroats, Buccaneers and other miscellaneous
vagabonds, sounds rather like a normal Troop Night doesn’t it?
I can already see the swashbuckling gaits (that’s pirate for the way they walk)
around the camp and the shrieks of the maidens as the swashbucklers pass by.
Pirates were not exclusively “men” as history will tell you and so I suppose we
can also expect the broken voice cries of the men as some of the fairer pirates
pass by!!
Whatever may have happened in the past or how you viewed Kontiki, let me make it
crystal clear, the object is to have a weekend of good clean fun in the spirit of
Scouting where we all look out for each other, lend a hand to anyone who may need
it, behave like Scouts should and show the world that our Promise and Law still
carries value.
In the past years I have seen some rafts that were fit to carry kings and queens,
but what about the rest of the event? I would encourage everyone to think “back
to basics” and look to building a raft that is a pioneering wonder rather than an
over decorated gargoyle that stuns the imagination.
For those who have looked at the marking criteria (how the rafts are marked for
the doff pirate types amongst ye lot) you would have seen out of your good eye (that’s
the one without the patch) that a simple well constructed raft can earn mega points
and that the decoration is really a nice to have but does not carry mammoth points
at all.
After all Kontiki is a pioneering event or so it was designed so let’s keep that
in mind my hearties.
For all the right handed pirates (that’s the hand opposite the shoulder on which
the parrot sits in the northern hemisphere and obviously the opposite in the south)
look to your timepieces. There is not many high tides left till you set sail so
get your crew into gear and make sure you are ready to sail bright and breezy on
the 6th March 2009.
More news later after the keelhauling and screams are over just before you all go
ashore for the festive season.
REGISTRATION
You can register your teams and Groups on 24 January 2009 at Tshwane – starting
at 09:00 to 10:00 or at Bramley on 31 January 2009 from 09:00 to 10:30.
Groups are encouraged to register early and to make sure that you get your badges,
truck passes, caravan entry discs and all that stuff early thus beating the crush
at the gates to Kontiki on Friday afternoon.
CAMPING AT MURRAY PARK
I can hear some moans and groans from those who dislike this site BUT believe me
when I tell you that we have searched for an alternative site and come up empty
handed.
When looking for a campsite, there are a few criteria that we just cannot ignore.
The prime one is safety and then follows lots of other things. Murray Park is still
the most suitable. Donaldson Dam is closed for use as it is “contaminated” with
chemicals whilst the Vaal and Roodeplaat are so BIG that we will have a major safety
problem not to mention that when the storm we always arrange for Saturday evening
strikes, the lightning will merely be to assist us in finding rafts some sea miles
into the Free State or Polokwane!
Seriously chaps and chapesses, from a logistical point of view we cannot beat Murray
Park.
OK so what are we going to do about making it better to camp there?
Oooohhhh the toilets I hear a cry going up. Yes they are a problem but we have investigated
this (had our heads down the heads so to speak) and discovered some interesting
facts. When the toilets are un-bunged, out come T shirts, loaves of bread, plastic
cool drink bottles, food, rope, facecloths, tubes of toothpaste and other “uglies”
which we will not mention.
We also know that to put muck like this down a toilet will have only one result.
Why not try it at home? Have a patrol compo to see who can block a toilet the fastest
and have sewage floating down the passage!!!
Stupid yes but if you would not do this at home as your parents would smack your
backsides, gate you, stop your R1 000 a week pocket money, take away the car keys
and whatever else, so why do this at Kontiki?
We are Scout’s and proud of it so why do we act silly at Kontiki?
If we all kept the bogs for what they were designed for and used them with consideration
80% of the problems would go away.
In 2009 we will be organising “loo patrols” to monitor what goes on and how we can
really make a difference in keeping the sewage where it belongs. It is not “un-classy”
to use the number which will be at every ablution block to blow the whistle on those
in camp who are not Scouts and are better off at home than in camp.
Bins will be at every loo’s door where the goodies spoken of can be dumped safely
and hygienically. Use them, do not abuse them.
That enough of that.
We will be providing extra portaloo’s at Blocks B, C & D and will arrange for real
cold showers at the derelict Block A. We will not charge you to use the showers
which will operate from 06:00 to 08:00 and 18:00 to 20:00 every day as long as you
have your badges with you!!
Do you really believe that pirates had hot running water on their ships or ashore?
No – well we do not want to break the theme of Kontiki so will not have them at
camp either.
If we all play ball we will solve this problem.
COSTS
The costs of Kontiki which we assure you as not reasonable as we can make them can
only be recovered by the badges we sell and the camp fees we levy. The accounts
run on a break-even basis and as costs go up year by year – that called inflation
– costs t Kontiki 2009 will be: -
Badges R30 each
Campsites R100 for the first site
Additional sites R150 (additional sites will be limited this year)
Caravans R75
Day pass R15
SOME CHANGES
The Kontiki Patrol has decided to try a few different things and you are asked to
note the following points.
- The Dress-Up compo will be for RAFT TEAMS this year. The judges will be “sailing
past” your rafts during the “naval Review” on Sunday just before we come ashore
so be sure you are “in the line” and not gallivanting at some place far away. We
hope to see lots of smiley faces and great getup’s as we drift past your raft.
- There will be a raft meal again this year (remember when we used to do this in the
past?) The meal will be a two course affair – a main nosh course and a pud. The
judges are still planning how they will mark this but “watch this space” for news
in January 2009.
- There will still be a supporter’s meal BUT this will be cooked in your campsite
and judges will visit the camps to do the judging.
- Talking of campsites, 2009 will see another change. Campsites will be judged this
time as “working camps” that means that they will be looked at as campsites that
are used as such and not “model” sites that are put up and taken down just for the
competition and are taking up much needed space.
Again we want to see “back to basics” sites that have gadgets that are being used,
tables at which you actually squat to eat, a gateway to the camp that is one like
you would really build if you go to camp, tents that have real people in them and
so it goes.
FINIS
OK that it for now.
Look out for the late November 2008 and January 2009 Gazettes which will feature
all manner of things and notes from the Camp Chief, Chief Judge, Emergency Team
and more.
Remember that there is also the Kontiki Booklet that will up on the web page for
you to download very soon. In 2009 there will also be a contest to see who has actually
read the booklet and not just carrying it about to feed the parrots.
Yours in Scouting (and Pirating)
Jan Schubart
Kontiki Chairman