News 2019
Please send us your latest scouting news and we will publish it here!
Gig Adventure 2019 - The Amazing Race
Gig Adventure 2019 was run by Eastleigh Sea Scouts. They changed things up and made the race in the format of "The Amazing Race". This way nobody knew the route until the start where crews were given clues and once the cules were deciphered, were given coordinates to go to the next point. The Junior Route was 42km and the senior route was 92km. 1st Benoni had three teams entered; a junior crew (1st Benoni Centenary), a senior crew (Benoni Boertjies), and an Open Crew (Gig Reprobates).
This is an event that definately tests your muscles as well as your mind, and having to row into the wind is a thankless soul destroying job! Navigating in the day is difficult enough, and navigating at night is even more challenging - even with navigation aids.
The Gig Reprobates rigged a spinnaker onto Endeavour and were able to sail the gig for a few km, which was very exciting and rewarding, allowing our arms to rest a while and enjoying the sights and adrenaline of running at over 10km/h with the wind. The rest of the time was made up of gruelling rowing and more rowing into the wind, with the waves breaking into the bow of the gig at times...
We're especially proud of Michael and his team of very junior scouts.
We all slept loke logs on Sunday evening!!!
Special thanks to Eastleigh for organizing the event, the Rovers, Scouters and Parents who supported and assisted with loading the gigs and giving morale support.
2019 Crews:
Junior Crew: Michael van Hattum (Coxwain), Christopher van Hattum, Megan Adams, Alison Adams, Declan Kritzinger, Paige Clulee, Sharisma Duffey
Senior Crew: Tomas Schreuder (Coxwain), Beauvan Mayer, Willow Schulte, Gabriel Rowe, Duncan McLachlan, Ronan Somebody, David Clulee
Open Crew: Alison McLachlan (Coxwain), Bradley Barnard, Trevor McLachlan, Charles Ross, Megan Fletcher, Grant Hewett, Emma Clulee, Leon CLulee
Seamanship Regatta 2019
A Successful Seamanship Regatta was held and 1st Benoni won the Senior Section! Congrats Seniors!
1st Benoni 110 Year Birthday Campfire Celebration 31 May 2019
Kontiki May
Mothersday Breakfast May
April River Canoe Trip
April Hyacinth Cleanup Day
Michael has a Hike...
DC Mike Weeks in the News...
Fixing some Canoes
Eco-Anglers Find some Monsters...
River Trip March 2019
Cubs and Their Parents Mixed Meeting
Cub Outdoorsman Camp
Adventure Meeting
BP Camp
BP Sunday Parade
a Quick Trip down the Klip River in Flood...
Coolest Vehicle Ever! and some humour...
Ubuntu Camp at Arrow Park
Tuckshop Container Needs a new Floor!
Christmas Carols by Candlelight 2018
Teacup is Launched
Cubs visit Pug Rescue Centre
Canoe Polo 2019 - 1st Benoni Thrashed the lot
The annual Canoe Polo Tournament was held at Victoria Lake - hosted by 3rd Kensington and organized by Eastleigh.
It was fantastic to see so many 1st Benonians there, from cubs, scouts, rovers, scouters and parents! The day was a great success with everybody getting lots of game time, and even more sun. There were lots of red faces and arms by the afternoon! Many of our Scouts are actually Provincial Canoe Polo Players, and had a chance to show off their skills.
Some of the cubs who attended were able to complete their boating badge, with some help from the Rovers and some willing Scouts
The event format was changed so that every scout team played every scout team - even juniors vs seniors, thereby giving each team many more opportunities to get a game and have fun.
The overall winner was of course First Benoni!!!!!! One of the highlights was of course the old boys games, where the 1st Benoni Rovers - some of them who have represented South Africa playing Canoe Polo,. gave a fantastic show of expertise and finess!!!
First BenoniCubs were part of a mixed team with 3rd Kensington and they won the cub trophy! Well Done.
1st Benoni Rovers won the old boys game!
1st Benoni Seniors Won Overall!
Well done First Benoni. We are First!!!
Next year - more sunscreen please!
Something that happened last year:
An example of what scouting did for me and my child.
Last year my 22 year old daughter was driving in rural KZN and at 18:30 she got a flat tyre. At the time she was about 40km from the nearest town and it was starting to get dark. When she phoned us, my immediate, internal response was to want to get into a car and drive for 5 hours to help her. She, on the other hand, didn’t phone for help: she just wanted to know how to release the spare tyre – in her car the spare is under the car (and the maintenance manual was lying at home – much good that did!). After we explained to her where she could find the spare release bolt, she hung up and got to work.
Needless to say as parents we were getting quite nervous (panicky?) with the prolonged silence. About 30 minutes later she phoned back to say that the tyre was changed (she had a bit of trouble releasing the tyre off the car so she gave it a kick, which did the job).
As a parent I had never taken the time to show her how to change a tyre on a car, but she had done that as part of a scout program 6 years earlier. Changing tyres has 1) nothing to do with any scout advancement program and 2) does not earn a scout any badges, BUT it does give the person the confidence to help themselves late in the afternoon when they are stranded in the middle of no-where.
Moral of the story? Give our scouters the freedom to push our children in the safe environment of scouting so that they can grow in confidence to help themselves in life.
YiS,
Carl Nitzsche “Parent of an ex-scout”
Read this note about what we wish our parents understood... (Click the button and download the document)
Water Awareness Feb 2019
Thw latest Water Awareness Course was held at our Hall and 1st Benoni had two successful participants, Duncan and Gabriel. Rover Mike was also there as a Tutor to give back his wealth of water experience to the participants.Remember, Water Awareness is a pre-requisite to doing your charge courses. If you are 14 1/2 years old, you can attend.
Water Day 9 Feb 2019
We had a Water day on 9th Feb. Our Scouts had lots of time canoeing and sailing, and we were able to mend loads of Canoes and also got our 4 Mirrors back up and running! Thanks to all those who helped out!We now have a few Advanced Canoes that we want to sell. Contact the SGL if you are in the market for a new k1.
Some work has been done...
We have cleaned up our launching gully from hyacynth and debris. and St Dunstans Rowers has cleared a bunch of reeds and also fixed up our staircase of our tower! Thanks St Dunstans for your assistrance here.
Scout Gala 2019
Info to follow...
White Water Charge Course
Some of our Scouts, scouters and Scout Parents attended the White Water Charge Course in January.We are happy to say that we now have 5 new White Water Charge holders and will be planning a few River Trips this year for our Scouts.We also managed to whipe out the canoe trailer tyre, so we had to replace the entire axle... as the tyres and wheels were so old we could no longer get spares...
63rd Gilten PLTU 2019
Another good team of 1st Benoni Sea Scouts went through PLTU in December. Jamie, Tomas and Willow attended the course and what a fantastic time they had!