2010 Spring Camporee Information

The Hysterical Historical Adventures of Baden-Powell and Friends

The Centennial Year George Rogers Clark District Camporee, The Hysterical Historical Adventures of Baden-Powell and Friends, (HHA, for short) is a mixture of the traditional Boy Scout Camporee events and history, with a little bit of whimsical humor or hysteria mixed in.  We have spared every expense to bring to life people who have been dead for a long time and to transport an entire island, specifically Brownsea Island, from the North Atlantic to Tunnel Mill  so you can have fun and learn something.

Events are based upon the basic Scout skills learned on the First Class Trail, as found in the current edition of the Boy Scout Handbook (a book that you will have with you if you are really Prepared), but somehow, the dimensions of time and space have warped, and you will have to help Baden-Powell and his friends, the founding fathers of American Scouting and other notable Scouts, solve some problems vexing them.  After all, the Third Point of the Scout Law is A Scout is Helpful.

Everything you need to know is contained in the Boy Scout Handbook.  However, if you are a normal Scout, you have lost yours at least once, and the replacement is buried away in a drawer somewhere.  We’ll summarize what you need to know here, but you had better study and practice before you arrive at Brownsea Island.  And dig your Handbook out.  You’re going to need it to compete!  You might also want to bring a few Merit Badge pamphlets (Communications, First Aid, Emergency Preparedness, Pioneering, etc) to use as resources. 

What Are The Events?
There are nine competitive events in HHA.  Each requires one or more basic Scout skills as required on the First Class Trail, but basic skills won't be enough to complete the events.  You will have to apply varying amounts of wits, creative thought, common sense, and keep in mind the Slogan (Do a Good Turn Daily) and Motto (Be Prepared) in order to complete the event.  Curious?  You'll see how it works.  But first, the Rules of Competition.
What Are The Rules of Competition?
The rules of HHA are simple and straightforward and there are only three rules:

1. Each activity or event must be conducted in a safe and Scout-like manner, and in accordance with the event judge's instructions.  The decision of the judge regarding safety and Scout-like behavior is final.

2. You must have fun.  Scouts and leaders who are not having fun will be assigned clean-up duty in the outhouses.

3. There are no other rules.

The Sky's the Limit is the ubiquitous flag raising project.  You must raise your patrol flag to the highest possible height using whatever means you wish, keeping in mind Rules 1, 2, and 3.  You may want to have two patrol flags, the real one to carry around to show your Patrol Spirit, and one just for this event.  For The Sky’s the Limit, a proper patrol flag, which can be made from practically any material, must have at least 93.5 square inches of surface (the same area as a standard piece of typing paper).  Oh, by the way, you must recover your flag in order to earn your score.  For those of you who are lazy or have very little imagination, we will have some Scout staves and lashing cord for you to use to raise your flag, but you still need to bring a flag.  You will be judged on how high your flag goes, assuming you ever find it again.

Embarkation for Brownsea Island is sort of a pioneering project.  Baden-Powell invited Ernest Thompson Seton to join him and his British Scouts for a fun-filled weekend, but Seton arrived too late to take the ship with them.  Fortunately, the tide has gone out and he planned on wading across the mud flats and shallow water.  However, an unexpected invasion of Welsh-Man-Of-War jellyfish (a distant relative of the deadly Portuguese variety) has made wading extremely perilous.  Seton called upon your patrol to construct a device from Scout staves and ropes to transport him (portrayed by a member of your patrol) across the murderous mud flats.  If Seton falls off the device, he’ll be paralyzed by jellyfish toxin and will have to be revived and replaced by another member of your patrol. 

     
A Foggy Day in London Town is an exercise in map reading and compass use.  W.D. Boyce, an American from Peoria, Illinois, is in London on business.  He is attempting to find 16 Lombard Street for an important meeting at Lloyds of London, but in the dense fog, he has lost his way.  By luck, he has stumbled on to your patrol.  You volunteer to help him find his way by using a Michelin guide (map) and compass.  Upon completing your task, he offers you a gratuity, which you, of course, will refuse, citing your desire to Do a Good Turn Daily.  Be Prepared for what you find along the foggy route, though.

Leaves of Five, Let It Thrive, Leaves of Three, Let It Be is an excursion into the wild and wonderful world of nature.  Daniel “Uncle Dan” Beard, a famous artist and outdoorsman, founded The Sons of Daniel Boone, a Scout-like organization that preceded the BSA by a few years.  During his wandering around forests and meadows, he found a number of items that he wants you to identify.  Now Uncle Dan is a little peculiar – he’s not satisfied with partial answers.  For example, if you say “deer”, that answer won’t satisfy him.  “What kind of deer”, he’ll respond.  “Mule deer, black deer, white-tailed deer, Florida Keys deer?” he’ll want to know.  If you say “spider”, he’ll want know if it’s a wolf, trapdoor, Black Widow, red-legged tarantula, etc.  If you know the taxonomic name (the funny Latin name used by scientists to specifically identify trees, plants, animals, etc), he’ll be even more impressed and give you even more points.  After all, some folks confuse poison oak and box elder (both have three leaves), but the really knowledgeable outdoorsman will know the difference between toxicodendron radicans and acer neguna.  You can use any resource you want to identify and name the items in as much detail as you want, so Be Prepared. 

First Aid or Worst Aid? is a simulated accident scenario that will test the ability of your patrol to identify and respond appropriately to an accident involving injury to James West, the first Chief Scout Executive (1911 to 1943).  Mr. West was a Washington DC lawyer who specialized in juvenile cases.  He was recruited to join the new BSA just for a year or so while the organization was getting up and running, but ended up staying for 32 years.  Here’s your chance to show him he made a good decision, because it’s all up to you to save his life.  Don’t be shocked!  Save his life!    

Adverturer, xxx Lost in Mountains.  Yes, we are going to suspend reality just for today.  According to Air Traffic Control, Steven Fossett’s aircraft disappeared over Brownsea Island.  At this time, we do not know if Mr. Fossett survived the accident, but if he is only injured, you’ll have a chance to rescue him, but you’ve got to hurry.  Just Be Prepared to Do Your Best.  And obviously, this is a simulation. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away is an exercise in building a fire during the rainy season, just like Baden-Powell and his soldiers had to do during the Boer War in Africa.  When it rains in Africa, it pours, and all of the water has poured into the drum that held the soldiers’ firewood.  Your challenge is to build a fire using wet firewood (you can bring your own tinder if you wish), but you can only use our kindling and fuel.  Using the fire, you have to cook an egg for Baden-Powell, as he has not eaten a decent meal during this entire campaign.  The only problem is that the mess kitchen, with its metal pots, pans, spoons, spatulas, and the like, was taken by Chief Dinizulu’s forces in a raid.  That’s right – you have to cook the egg without using any metal and have Baden-Powell, portrayed by your very own patrol leader, eat ALL of the egg (he can’t use metal utensils, either).  You can use matches, flint-steel, Hot Spark, batteries, etc to start the fire, but ABSOLUTELY NO volatile materials or accelerants can be used.

Knot Eggciting Enough For You? is an event which defies description.  Steven Spielberg, famous movie producer and director, is on Brownsea Island looking for some technical experts to help him in his next movie.  The scene requires that the experts (your patrol) securely tie several short lengths of rope together quickly, using square knots or sheet bends, and fasten them to two objects using double half hitches, clove hitches, or timber hitches.  That’s all.  It’s sort of like the scene from Indiana Jones where the big rock is rolling down the narrow tunnel, right at the heels of Indie.  However, if you can’t perform this simple task, your patrol leader will end up with egg on his face.  And we aren't kidding! 

This Event Is So Secret It Doesn’t Even Have a Name
Baden-Powell served as a general in England’s army during the Boer War in Africa.  As in any military campaign, communication with one’s forces can be easily intercepted by the enemy forces.  To counter this, codes are used.  The problem is that codes can be broken, if given enough time and resources.  The message below is a code used by Chief Dinizulu’s forces.  Baden-Powell found it in his dwelling along with a long strand of wooden beads that were later used to recognize Scouters who completed advanced training (we call it “Wood Badge” and you can identify your leaders who really know what they’re doing by the two wooden beads on a leather lanyard they were around their necks).  Baden-Powell didn’t have the key to the code, but he is sure you can figure it out. 
You do not have to wait until HHA to solve this mystery.  You can do it at a Patrol meeting (or two) and turn in your scores at registration any time during the competition.  Yes, we know this is a tough challenge, but, hey, you're Scouts.  Boy Scouts Always Handle Any New Development By Overt, Obvious Knowledge.

            Here's the message:
204 ¯02 ®10 543 ¯09 ®01 017 ­05 ¬05 202 ­03 «07 361 ­07 ®01
523 ­08 ¬01 255 ¯14 ®05 587 ¯09 ®05 539 ­08 ¬12 582 ­06 ¬14
076 ¯01 ¬06 526 ¯02 ¬05 394 ­01 «06 555 ­02 ®10 502 ­07 ®02
319 ­04 ¬02 282 ¯11 ®07 523 ­16 «04 126 ô03 «10 234 ¯01 ®03
428 ¯11 ¬01 570 ¯03 ¬01 087 ¯01 ®01 389 ­03 ¬03 433 ­02 ®02

What If We Want to Have Even More Fun?

If you complete all of the nine events and you STILL want to have fun, we have some additional challenges for you.  These won’t affect your competition scores, but there will be a separate reward for successfully completing these challenges.  These events don’t require any special Scout skills other than following directions and cooperating with one another.  Oh, they do require you to be clever and innovative, but hey, you’re Boy Scouts, not leaders.  You can do that.  Also, you can do a little research and really Be Prepared!  It’s all up to you.

Three, Four, Five is a simple event.  Your patrol will be given start lots and lots of water and three containers.  One container holds the lots and lots of water.  Another container holds three gallons of water, and the third holds five gallons.  You cannot use any other containers, but you must give the very thirsty judge exactly four gallons of water.  How you do it is up to you.  We'll judge how you do by measuring the variance, plus or minus, from the target of exactly four gallons.

The EggstraTERRORestial is an alien life form, or ALF, (a senior patrol leader is an example) that has been encapsulated in a cleverly-designed alien pod transport, or APT for short, which is a little bit bigger that a golf ball and somewhat smaller than a baseball, slightly oval in shape, and covered with a hard but frangible substance made of calcium.  The APT is as fragile as a chicken egg, and will break if it is subjected to too much pressure.  Therefore, Be Prepared, and design, construct, and bring to HHA an alien transport module or ATM in which you can safely carry the APT all during the day.  We will give you your own personal ALF in its APT at the beginning of the day, and you will turn it in to us at the end of the day for hatching in a controlled environment.  Should the APT open and allow the ALF to hatch outside the controlled environment, the yolk will be on you.  Guess what?  We won't tell you how you have to give the ALF-bearing, APT-toting ATM to the judge.  We'll drop that little gem on you at the event.  Or vice versa. 

Save the Whales – Win Valuable Prizes is a totally politically incorrect game in which you will attempt to “harpoon” a great white whale. We will give you the necessary materials and instructions (hint – it will help if you know how to lash a bipod).  The faster you can build the harpoon gun and hit the target, the better your score.  Don’t worry – the harpoon has a safety tip and no actual whales will be harmed in this event.  If fact, there are no whales on Brownsea Island.

Sanity Is a State of Being Balanced requires you to balance six logs on one log, using only the materials provided by the judge.  The less time it takes to balance the six logs, the better your score, and each log which falls will cost you additional penalty points.  Guess what?  The 1/4" sisal ropes the judge will give you will be slightly shorter than the circumference of the six logs, so it won't be long enough to tie the six logs together.  That would make it too, too easy, wouldn't it?

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