Friday, February 26, 2016

Calvin's Cadets do well at first Snow Derby


This entry is provided by Chad, who heads up our Cadet group. 

On Saturday, February 20th, the older Cadets from Calvin (Ottawa West #3074) spent the day in the woods testing their outdoors skills at the Golden Triangle Snow Derby. 

This is a competition where the cadet clubs from our region squared off in the areas of archery, fire building, axe-manship, marksmanship, knot tying and lashing and orienteering (compass work).  

It was a wet and windy day but a very successful one. Our cadets finished in 2nd place which was excellent given that this was their first Snow Derby! 


This is even more impressive given that we really only had the previous two cadet meetings to prepare. We didn't have time to train all the cadets in all the areas so we decided the best plan was to break the cadets into groups and have each group learn the basics for a couple of different skills.  

They even had homework that involved memorization and skill practice in their areas. The cadets essentially specialized in different areas so that with team work they would be able to help each other complete all the stations. And help each other they did! 

One cadet knew the Woodsman's code while another knew the Rifleman's code; one cadet knew the marksmanship stances and another cadet knew proper axe handling and fire building, etc. Teamwork! Great job!

The team representing Calvin (Ottawa West #3074):
  • Corbin (team captain)
  • Ryne 
  • Ethan
  • Corwin 
  • Yannick 

Some pictures below taken by Chad I presume?  complete with comments from him.  


Start of the day. 
All the cadets lining up and going through their landmarks
(in the rain).  

The sled used to carry all the necessary supplies for the day. 

Getting ready to shoot a few arrows.  


Ethan getting ready to arm his bow. 


Corbin ready to let loose an arrow. 

Arrow away!


Yannick getting a few tips on proper bow handling. 


Ryne and the team, getting ready to try to build a fire in the wind and rain.  

Fire starting station. 
Cadets need to be able to boil water in the can. 


Starting small....

This wasn't the cadet started fire, but they said it was big when they were done.  : ) 


Lunch. 
Hot dogs, soup and hot chocolate.  
The perfect menu. 

Yannick claiming his spot as King of the Hill while waiting for all the teams to finish up. 


Corwin heading off into the wilderness? 


End of day ceremonies. Waiting for the results.

The Calvin Boys, waiting patiently  


The Calvin boys, waiting patiently and holding up two fingers for their second place finish.  : )




No comments: