A Short Series of Scouting Lessons From The 80's
Episode 1 - 'In the days before ADC(Water Activities)...'
The new boat had just come back from Portumna 85 and because it had been raining all the second week of September the R Braid was in spate. Colin reckoned that it would only take 10-15 minutes to run the river from Broughshane to Eaton Park. As the Troop only had one other fibreglass kayak up to the standard of the sleek Skellig, Peter and Mark decided to let Colin and Nicky go on the first run and meet them at the Rugby Club.
After 40 minutes Peter's white-water experience in Scotland told him it was time to get worried and head back to the Knockan Bridge. They met the two 'drowned rats' tramping down the Raceview Road. VSL Nicky explained what had happened. He had not liked the look of the first weir and stopped to hold on to the branch of a tree - next second he was swinging free minus paddle and kayak. Colin was horrified because the river had swollen so much that it had flooded all the fields on either side making it 100 yards or more in any direction to 'dry' land. He tried skulling at the base of 'Nicky's tree' but the force of the water just sucked his boat away like an umbrella in a gale. He too was soon climbing into the tree. Nicky passed some comment to the effect that he had planned to get married in six months time and was now going off canoeing rather fast!
Colin reckoned that their best chance was to climb along the longest branch and launch themselves upstream and try and make it to the eddy-line before being swept over the weir. Mark interrupted the story at this point to ask after the kayaks and paddles; Nicky's reply would not have been appreciated by the QM!
Peter that 'wise old canoeist' said that we should never have been out here in the first place and he never had any intention of paddling the river in such a state. It was no time for arguments anyway, with the light fading fast it was going to be impossible to retrieve any equipment and we had to decide how we were going to tell the SL about our impromptu trip.
Lesson - Beware of rivers in spate.
Episode 2 - 'In the days before ADC(Mountain Activities)...'
It had become a bit of a tradition with the ASLs in the Troop to use the period between Christmas and the New Year as a time to plan an 'incident hike' for the Scouts to undertake in the following summer. As it was the Christmas holidays ex-Scouts who were back home were often invited along. Coffee and Christmas cake was the staple diet for such midnight strolls.
The usual venue was hills up Quarrytown Road above Broughshane. Firstly the route would be surveyed in daylight to get the mileage about right. Then it was a matter of knocking on a few doors of the appropriate landowners to gain permission to cross their land. Hopefully we would also remember to speak to the police, although the reassurance of having done this was occasionally misplaced as the 'Shotgun Hike' proved.
The Shotgun Hike started on a reasonably mild December night with some cloud cover. The party of 10 ex-Scouts and Leaders moved up over Knockboy Hill and down the other side towards the Ballycloughan Road. Christmas cake was indeed enjoyed in some old out-houses. But trouble was brewing as the hikers crossed a stone wall at about midnight to follow a lane down to the road and on towards Elginny Hill. Suddenly there was a roar of engines, a screech of brakes and several sets of head-lights blocking the way. A shout came 'As near as nine is to ten we were going to shoot first and ask questions later. What are you doing up here at this time of night on my land flashing torch signals from out-buildings?' A man stepped forward into the headlamp beam brandishing a shotgun and opening his trench-coat to display a further arsenal. One of the ex-Scouts wanted to discuss whether the closeness of ninety-nine to a hundred was a more accurate analogy of the narrowness of our escape. He was quickly bundled to the back of the group while others tried to defuse the situation.
The night hike was completed but the route was changed somewhat before the Scouts were let loose on it the following June. And it was undertaken in daylight!
Lesson - Speak to all land owners prior to night hikes.
Episode 3 - 'In the days before ADC(Activities)...'
Crossing the river during the Wide Game by the bridge seemed too easy and boring. Why not make the bridge the 'border post' and heavily guarded! It was much better if escape to Switzerland had to take place by rafting across the river. All we had to do as ASL's was to pick a suitable rafting spot and build the raft.
We had the sense to realise that to transport the whole Troop across during a 2 hr wide game the raft would have to be fairly robust. The decision to make it out of old kayaks was probably not as sensible. Anyway one freezing Saturday afternoon Mark, Peter and Ken carried all the necessary gear down to river bank. Peter jogged into Broughshane , over the bridge and down the other bank. We quickly managed to do the easy bit and get a rope set up across the river which we noticed was flowing quite briskly, swollen by the November rains. It was hard work trying the kayaks together with freezing fingers. And Mark humour was not improved by losing his favourite sheath knife after he tried to throw it across to Peter. It stuck into the far bank agonisingly above the water-line only to slip away before Peter could grab it.
When everything was ready for the first test run, Ken, despite moaning about the weather, this crazy project and how long it was going to take to get all the gear back home, probably had the best idea of the day in tying an extra rope to the back of Mark's buoyancy aid. It quickly became obvious as Mark balanced on top of the raft that we had underestimated the strength of the current because within seconds of reaching mid-stream the whole raft flipped with such force that Mark was catapulted 15m upstream and then instantly swept down and trapped under the raft. The upturned kayaks started to fill with water. At this point Ken thought that Mark was a goner, then he remember the safety rope and as he pulled hard Mark was able to crawl out around the corner of the raft.
Needless to say the project was abandoned. After his underwater experience Mark suggested challenging the Patrols to forge 'identity papers' for the Wide Game and escape by the bridge!
Lesson - Build rafts on Class C water. And don't throw knives across rivers.
