Voyageur Council Venturer Advisors’ Forum

Meeting Minutes for February 3rd, 2009

Scout Headquarters - National Boardroom

 

Wally Gale

14th Gloucester

Jocelyn Remus

7th Kanata

Allan Yates

1st Merrickville

Mike Jowett

AC Nepean

Malcolm Volmer

27th Nepean

Dean Smith

2nd Orleans

Bruce Morton

14th Gloucester

Tim Harbinson

137th Ottawa

Brien Taylor

1st Greenwood

John Stalker

Valley Highlands AC

Brian McAuley

7th Prescott

Tim Redpath

1st Stittsville

Doug Zahody

3rd Orleans

Alan Griffin

112th Nepean

Doug MacKinnon

112th Nepean

Doug Proud

1st Greenwood

Dan Karwowski

1st Glen Cairn

Chris Tyler

1st Manotick

David Laramee

2nd Russell

Greg McGinnis

2nd Russell

Bill Bowman

1st Nepean

Al McPhee

1st Greely

Dengfeng Zheng

1st Kanata

Nigel Ward

1st Kanata

John Dougherty

DAC Odawa

Alan Clapp

8th Orleans

Joel Martin

8th Orleans

Ray Renten

1st Dunrobin

Stewart Ross

DAC recog’nNepean

Jan Stodola

7th Kanata

Christiaan Burchell

1st Nepean

Stephen Smye

1st Wakefield

Opening Remarks:

Wally opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.  He noted that the agenda would be reasonably ambitious since it includes a special presentation by Allan Yates concerning his Venturer Company’s white water trip down the Noire River.

Past Events:

Wilderness First Responder (Jan. 9-11) – Report given by Doug Proud

WFR ran Thursday night to Sunday with16 participants registered, 50% of them youth.  Everyone obtained their certification. Compared to the pre-requisites, this course included more scenarios, bigger injuries, scene management and evacuation procedures, and basic Search and Rescue. This is a fabulous turnout. And it can be offered again - a minimum of 8 participants are needed.

Adirondack adventure (Jan. 30 weekend) - Report given By Allan Yates

The first of four weekends went off without a hitch, with 20 participants. It was a beautiful day for the hikes. All 4 weekends were booked solid at the opening of registration last month with 123 participants. 

 

Upcoming Activities: 

Adirondack Adventure (Feb. 6/13/20 weekends) - Report given By Allan Yates

There are 3 more weekends coming up and if there are any questions feel free to contact Christiaan. Those who cannot attend may be able to get refunds, though more information on that will be forthcoming.

A really good place to stop for food is the Cascade Motor Inn -  has a 16oz steak for $16.00 US. From the comments made the youth loved the food, and polished off the steak, sides, and soup/salad. Reservations are encouraged.

Gatineau Loppet (Feb. 13-15) – Report given by Wally Gale

There is still some room available for those interested, particularly to help at the day station (Penguin Station), for Saturday. This is a great activity for youth who would be interested in a few volunteer hours  if not taking part in JC Camp or other activities.  Please contact Wally for more information.

Boat Pro Course ( Feb 28)-Report given by Mike Jowett 

The course has 16 people currently registered, with 14 spaces still available. If you are interested Please contact Pam at Council. The cost of the course is $25.00.  The cost of the manual is $10 for paper or $4 for CD version - the manual is optional. 
Course Description "Boat Pro is a Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard approved course leading to the procurement of a Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCO) upon successful completion of the exam. The course offers a full day of instruction followed by a one hour exam. This card is recognized by Coast Guard Canada as well as the US Coast Guard. It will be mandatory for all operators of pleasure craft by September 2009."
 Michael Jowett  can be contacted via phone and email at (613) 225-2770 or majowett@rogers.com

 

Camp Opemikon Work Weekend (April 24-26) - Report on behalf of Tim Taylor

 

Please get your registrations in ASAP with the number of youth so that planning can take place. As of right now we have 140 people enrolled. The cost is going to be $10.00 per person. All meals from Friday mug-up to Sunday lunch are included.  This is a great linking event for Scouts-Rovers.  More information can be found at http://web.ncf.ca/ad554/Work%20Weekend%202009.htm or by contacting Tim Taylor by email (quappelle264@gmail.com) or by phone (819-561-1613)

 

Camp Traill –Troop Summer Camp- (June 12-14)- Report given by Mike Jowett

The Council is running a summer Troop camp at Camp Traill wilderness camp. The registration package will be available on the Council website soon. The camp will feature canoeing, rock-climbing, hiking, archery and many others. The camp is situated on 300+ acres of wooded wilderness near Charleston Lake in Athens, Ontario. There is a need for Offers Of Service (OOS) from the youth and leaders to help with areas such as archery, rock climbing, canoeing, and most of all Lifeguards.  OOS will pay $15 for everything and get a t-shirt and crest. Please watch the Council site for more information and upcoming meeting minutes.

White Water Weekends (May 22-24, May 29-31)                                                              - Report given by Michael Wall & Bill Bowman, & Stephen Smye (WW3)

White Water 1 & 3 are scheduled for May 22-24. White Water 1 requires the pre-training scheduled for the Sunday of OPE work weekend (free of charge).  The cost is $66.63 per person plus $3 camping fee and limited to 80 participants. Also if you need to rent canoes the rental fee is $51.25 per person which includes transportation and damage insurance.  White Water 3 is limited to 30 participants mainly due to the solo boat requirement and the cost should be slightly more than last year.  More details on White Water 3 will be available at the next meeting.

White Water 2, Kayaking 1 & 2 and a small White Water 1 (to facilitate camping for groups with members taking the other courses the same weekend) are scheduled for May 29-31.            

Course registrations will open on March 3rd with the final deadline being May 5th.

Course

Maximum

Prerequisite

Cost

Canoeing WW1 – wkend 1

10

Pre-Training Course

$66.63 + $3 camping

Canoeing WW1 – wkend 2

10

Pre-Training Course

$71.75

Canoeing WW2

60

Canoeing WW1

$76.88

Kayaking WW1

20

Canoeing WW1

$97.38

Kayaking WW2

10

Kayaking WW1

$97.38

The canoe or kayak rental fee is $51.25 per person.  This includes transportation to the site and damage insurance. There are some canoes available from OPE but need to be transported to the site and you are responsible for damage.

See  the VAF web site for additional details and more information will follow at next meeting.

 

Reports:

VRSC, Lost Children Report Given by Wally Gale for Perry Schippers:

The Lost Children’s Services of Service Corps will once again will be volunteering at Winterlude on the 2nd  and 3rd weekends. There is a website - http://sites.google.com/site/lcswinterlude2009/.  Please pass to your groups and scouts. This is an excellent linking event.  There will be warm liquids to warm you but please dress appropriately. There is no need to be able to skate, you can walk or skate. This is a very good event for good publicity and good will with the community. 

 

Joint Council Activities Report given by Scott Skentelbery and Ruth Watson:

The youth went to the Museum of Civilization in January, 20 youth attended. There was good fun for all. Prizes were handed out.

Next month (February) the youth decided to have an additional event other than JC Winter Camp. There will be a bring-your-family skate on the canal. Meet at 6 pm on Feb 20th at the picnic tables at 5th Ave.

Winter camp (Feb. 13-15) registration was held during tonight’s meeting and the bus transportation is organized.  

JC Venturer Advisor Bob Dore then gave the following report to the VAF as follow-up to his frank and constructive talk with JC attendees about some issues:

1)      Bob received a call stating that some of the youth from JC were involved in unacceptable behaviour at Harvey’s. Those who stood by silently are open to  criticism as well.

2)      Youth are encouraged to bring ONE friend to a camp ONCE to learn about Scouting but after that the guest must join the group to participate.

3)      Couples need to park their physical displays of affection during all JC gatherings.

Bob was able to talk to all the youth in a very humorous way.  In other news, twice as many JC youth (68%) showed up in uniform this month, up from 38% last meeting, apparently due to Bob’s rant about this topic last month.  Way to go!

Bob also indicated that he is still looking for a JC Venturer Advisor to take his place for next season.  There are a couple of possibilities and anyone interested should contact him.

Approximately 65 attended the JC meeting.

 

Training and Development: 

Woodbadge II Senior Section, Report given by Stewart Ross

16 people were awarded their Senior Section WB2 recognition. For those who have not done so the Advanced Outdoor Skills will be offered May 8-10 at Whispering Pines.

The 2nd weekend for the course was completed at Scout HQ  Jan30- Feb 1. Candidates felt the course went well - they had the chance to network and to talk about issues based on scenarios, and were impressed by presentations proved by the fellow candidates. The members of the course would like to send a special thanks for the efforts and diligence of the Opemikon Rover Crew who catered and looked after some of the behind-the-scenes which make this level of course a benefit to all.

So congratulations to the following Scouters: Cyndy Courtland, Therese Desjardins, Todd Eaman, Tim Harbinson, Mike Jowett, Ray Lafamboise, Chris Little, Doug MacKinnon, Pat Megan, Mark Milan, Bruce Morton, Tim Redpath, Perry Schippers, Jan Stodola, Debbie Warden, & Doug Zahody.

Woodbadge I Senior Section  April 24-26.

Information is available on the council website, Cost is $6.00 and will be held at National HQ. For more information please contact Michelle Niefer at either (613) 257-1333 or mniefer@sympatico.ca

 

Other Business:  

RoVent Planning – Report by Doug MacKinnon

Youth and/or Advisors interested in getting involved in planning next fall’s RoVent weekend are invited to a planning meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 10 at 7:30 pm in the Buffam Room at Scout HQ.  This will be the kick-off meeting and the committee will meet monthly afterwards.

Subsidies for High Adventure activities – Report by Mike Jowett

After having collected information from all groups that run high adventure activities in Voyageur Council, Mike will present a proposal for a stable budget of approx $3000 to $3500 to Council. This money would be used to subsidize the cost of running high adventure activities. It would be up to the VAF to decide where to allocate the money. Wally encouraged members who routinely run and organize high adventures to become part of a subcommittee that would propose where the money is spent and how and then provide their proposal to VAF. More information on this will be reported once it becomes available.  It was noted that senior sections’ registration has climbed from 3.7% to 4.93% from 2001 to 2008 in our council. Senior sections are the only sections that are subsidized and it appears that this is due in large part to the expensive high adventure components.

Scoutfest 2009 - Reported by Wally

Scoutfest is a day-long conference to be held in Smith Falls. It works on a 6-period rotating course schedule in which you can take choices of seminars each hour ranging from Colony games to Ceremonies. Many topics could be of interest to senior section advisors.  The cost of the day is $22.00 and includes hot lunch, guest speaker, crest, and door prizes.

Enrolment forms are available at HQ or on Council website.

Couch Rally

In response to a question, Tim Harbinson will look into where we stand with the Couch Rally - whether the Rideau Area Rover Crew is going to plan it and when and if it will happen this year.  Maybe this opportunity could also be forwarded to the Council Youth Commissioner.  A few comments suggested that this event might best take place in the fall.

 

Special Presentation:

White Water Canoe Trip (Noire River, QC)                                                          Presentation given by Allan Yates of 1st Merrickville Venturers

 Allan gave a great presentation on their white water canoe trip. He also provided impressive paper and DVD copies of related documentation including a DVD video of the trip. The trip will be posted soon on the web at http://www.1stmerrickville.ca/venturers/index.htm and since his notes are 30+ pages long I will try and give a brief over view. Please feel free to contact him and have him tell you all the funny stories about the dolphin and whale surfing.

 

Overview:

A seven-day white water trip down Quebec’s Noire River, from Sunday July 12th to Friday July 18th. The length of the river was 93km with a total of 3 portages with a grand total of 410m.  There were 2 Advisors and 4 youth. Total cost was $756 or $189 per person but with fundraising all that was paid was $50 per person. There were 26 class 1 rapids for a total length of 1,852m, 20 class II at 2,375m and 4 class 3 rapids for a total of 345m. It was noted that the river has a very nice wilderness feel and is far less travelled than the Dumoine, only three other parties met on the river. The advisors and youth brought whale, dolphin and dinghy inflatables, and during off times surfed down the rapids. (Note: this did look really funny going down the river towing and portaging them, but the fun paid off.)

 

Lessons Learned:

 The river travels much faster than flat water, especially at high water levels.

Don’t use garbage bags to water proof they generate to much waste to burn.

Tie in EVERYTHING!

More snacks from scratch.

Inexpensive tents keep out neither water nor flies.

Make sure all participants are adequately trained - WW2 minimum.

If it does not fit into the pack or barrel, then it does not come. (Portages with loose items are a pain.)

 

For more great tips and the full details and very funny photos and video contact Allan Yates or Bill Ricketts.

Note that this was a wilderness white water trip requiring proficiency in white water and related rescue, along with preparedness for wilderness emergencies.

 

Next Meeting: Tuesday March 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm 

 

 

The Chair for the Venturer Advisor Forum is Wally Gale at vafchair@rogers.com

Please contact Wally for any notices to distribute or ideas on future topics.

 

If you find any omissions or errors, please contact ……                                        

Scouter Jocelyn Remus-Robinson at cascahawk@gmail.com or 613-592-4738