66 th Edition GROUP WATER ACTIVITIES DAY 24 th Feb 2018 1st/14th Brighton - Sea Scouts SCRUFFIES NEWS GROUP WATER ACTIVITIES DAY Mates help Mates to have a great time and learn something new whilst doing it Famous Mate helps mates into useful roles & jobs to find meaning in mastering Skills and doing something useful. Awesome FAMILY DAY! - CHECK! Scruffie the Adventure dog, FIRST MATE, Mate to other mates, Chief Well Being Officer, Friend Reuniter, Head Job giver, Chief MATE of MATES Mates Scruffie is one of the most successful Adventure dogs in the world & certainly the best in Australia. (Ed. and the most modest) People often email his assistant to ask him the secret of his success (ED. It's the number one question at askscruffie.com) This is a complex question. But Scruffie specialises in Segmenting complex ideas and distilling them to core ideas and setting priorities. Whilst it would be great to be as Likeable as Scruffie and rely on Charm alone, most of us need something more than Charm alone. (Ed. Some of us a lot more than that) FIRST is finding a sense of Meaning or Purpose that you can share with others. Achieving a common goal or Shared objective will provide meaning and a Valuable existential return. (Objective and Goal) NEXT is helping people feel that they are valued and making a contribution to that Objective and that contribution is useful to the overall goal (Utility and Roles) FINALLY People need to have the skills and confidence to perform the roles and provide the Utility.(Skills and Opportunity to Practice and improve, to make mistakes and learn from them) So the answer to Why Scruffie is so Successful is "UTILITY + ROLE + CHALLENGE = ACHIEVEMENT + HAPPY" "SKILL + PRACTICE = CONFIDENCE + HAPPY" OF COURSE Scruffie has Loads of mates and Great ANNUAL events where all these factors can come into Play at the Group Water Activities Day - With his Friend Seemore and THE KIDS FOUNDATION This event has been running for a few years is better every time as everyone get more skilled and experienced so when Seemore asked if he could bring Some NEW friends to this years event, Scruffie was even more ready to help. He also had a great NEW opportunity to develop some new YOUTH HELPER initiatives, he could run his MATES mates program where more experienced youth could help those who are NEW or Less experienced. SCRUFFIES NEW YOUTH HELPER SCHEME "MATES" - Young or inexperienced youth wear RED arm band, if they want to do an activity they need a mate to help them. "MATES Mates" : Youth HELPERS from the Scout and Venturer Sections who are experienced and accomplished at key water activities who can help a Younger MATE. They wear a coloured High Visibility Jacket and Are available at Scruffie's CENTRAL OPERATIONS CENTRE and can be called on at a Moment's Notice to assist a Young person in Preparation for and participating in an activity. This enables the mates to learn a new Skill, Try something new and make a mistake without serious consequences. Scruffie's leadership principles in PRACTICE. 250 MATES, (friends, family, Volunteers and Sponsors) 29 "MATES Mates" (Youth Volunteers who help others through mentoring) 1 Scruffie and 1 Seemore (Adventure friends) 20 plus Leaders and Numerous Parent helpers 4 Organisations + Scruffies News International. 21 C with a cool southerly breeze 13 Sailboats 2 Rowing boats 30 canoes 24 individual SUPS, 2 large SUPs
THANKS * Tony and Janet- So much Operational and Organisational work goes into preparation and delivery. The Leaders, Committee, Rotary and everyone else who attended, took part and supported "MATES Mates" - Thanks to our youth Helpers who came to support the Young or Nervous MATES, Kids foundation RAC, and Sponsors who helped out, Did the AWESOME prize RAFFLE and all the valuable contributions. SEEMORE's FACE PAINTING and Sitting practice centre, Jenga Tower and other fun activities The briefing: Scruffie has so many Mates and all so well behaved The Preparations: Scruffie and his friends arrive early to set up the area and Make sure everything is well planned and laid out. STEP 1 - SCRUFFIES's CENTRAL OPERATIONS CENTRE Scruffie gets help from his mates, Scruffie has made signs so that everyone can know what is going on and take part safely. Scruffie completes all his jobs and then sets out to check all his other helpers
STEP 2 - the OPERATIONS - First AID, FOOD, Leaders Coffee, Wind and Weather, Signage and Queues 1 st Aid Tent. Scruffie knows we need one but he is so organised that it is seldom needed. Its great that the 1st Aiders can be present and help out, Thanks Guys Next Scruffie Checks the weather update and corrleates with local conditions and reviews the windsock. Wind will be great for Sailing today. Southerly Even and steady LUNCH! - Scruffie good friends at Rotary start to set up - All the Sailors and visitors will need to eat and Rotary will supply delicious SNAGS when Lunch time arrives. (ED. Scruffie pointed out that they have a combined expereince of 180 years of SNAG cooking and delivery) Sailing! - So Many Volunteers for the Rigging of boats, Soon everything is ready. Scruffie has checked everything along the way. (Ed. he even checked the bungs on the Corsairs, At least I hope he did) Meanwhile on the hill, Leader Nick is setting up the Slide and checking the Pump, Don't Slip Nick, or if you do, use it as a TEST run... Scruffies friends from the Kids foundation arrive, and soon they are set up - They have some great ideas and games planned as Well. Seemore has FACE painting Planned, and JENGA
Scruffie Supervisers the Important Jobs, We need a row Speaking of Managment - Leaders Briefing is Next - of buoys dividing the Sailing and Paddling areas...then Scruffie helps Janet to do the H&S briefing - He Explains all each group can be managed by the leaders in charge. the "Systems" and the "Signs" and "The colour Codes" - Orange Jackets for leaders, Yellow for Supervisors, Other colours for Kids (RED, Purple, Green, - Pale Blue for Sailing) STEP 3: THE ACTIVITIES : SAILING, Canoeing, SUP and Rowing, JENGA SITTING PRACTICE and FACE PAINTING Sailors start taking customers. An orderly system is created, PFD Check. Helmet Check. Closed toe Shoes Check. Scruffie Checks and Confirms - everyonne is doing aa good job Whilst some are still having coffee and a chat...nice day for it..gday mate! - Yeah! Gday.. Alright. yeah... Yeah Naa yeah. Strewth! its hotter than a Queensland Billabong. Blah Blah blah Talkative lot. "MATES Mates" get ready - These are Older kids who will help the "Mates" Younger kids or those that are nervous and would like a mate to help out... Ruby and her first mate Nelly - Well Done Ruby - you set a great example. Scruffie says Ruby is almost always setting a good example.
Whilst other Mates help out by TESTING some comfortable chairs and seeing if they work as expected Yup - they seem to work. "The Seemore Sitting Centre" is working well. Meanwhile... on the water - The Safety Boat patrols the Boundaries... you have to be Patient to be a Rescue boat operator lots of waiting and watching.. Thanks Guys, lots of Sitting on the edge of your seat, just in case... Other MATES join together and form a LARGE SUP PADDLE TEAM......And just a few metres away, another MATE is sailing and taking a smaller mate on a PICO... Scruffie Approves Anna helping her mate Naomi - Check that everyone has aproperley fitted PFD BEFORE They hit the water. Anna is one of Scruffies best mates. Jarrod and Joe helping their mate Chas, get ready for some Action. Scruffie is Impressed
On the water, there are a few Adult leaders already ready for Action, and soon there are loadsa of Youth following into the water And in the Sailing area... Boats out, Wind is Good. -its going to be a great day. THE CORSAIRS - The Heavy lifting workhorse of the day, lots of Space and Soon everyone is getting a go... THE LARGE SUPS, How Many Scouts can you get on a Large SUP?- Nine apparently (ED. Now how many will paddle?) Scruffie loves Facepainting - He has his own set, He Also has his own Symbols - Famously. Seemores team Step in and do a great job. Soon its the Most popular of all the Face painting Symbols - His fans form a Gang...Scruffies gang
STEP 3: THE PRESENTATION and THE LUNCH Lunchtime Arrives and there is going to be a briefing... (Ed. Keep it Brief Scruffie...) And some thank you's and a Prizegiving,,,, Phew! A small break for the sail boats that are having a VERY busy day! - 13 Boats - All day Lunch queue gets busy. Those SNAGS just fly of the table, - Thanks Rotary (Ed. Scruffie Snagged his early and avoided the queue) The Roberts Family are taken out by our Newest Scout Leader - Nick takes out his mum, dad and sister and brings them back dry! (Ed. Just as well, wouldnt want them marooned as SWISS FAMILY ROBERTsen) Even Venturers have to wear helmets when sailing because safety applies to everyone (Ed. I would suggest especially Venturers as the have developing brains and Skills that need pretecting)
Good organisation means more sausgages... Scruffie Loves Organised and Systematic People (Ed. You wouldnt believe it of you saw his bedroom) STEP 5 : THE PACKUP More Sausages also Means...less incidents. (Ed. Weirdly A bored First Aider is a Happy First Aider) But before long its time to pack up, its been a great day but at the end of the day the boats start coming in... De rigging the Boats and getting them back on Shore Everyone jumps in to help... Some go High... Securing the LOAD
And scruffie makes sure Everyone has a job And that each trailer load is checked by at least one other person - Safety is not a hassle, Just needs a good system and its easy and becomes a habit... And then its back to the hall...and Unloading Very soon, all the work is completed Whats the saying watching pfd s dry??? Finally... Home and time to relax and eat a late Snack...Whew!... Tired but happy Well Done Scruffie! (Ed. And well done Everyne who helped out - So Successful)
SEE YOU IN OCTOBER FOR OUR NEXT GROUP FAMILY DAY!!!!