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 Durbanville
Scouts
Set
New Standards
for Western Cape Kontiki
The Durbanville Scouts have every reason to
be proud of their Kontiki 2001 win. They won four of the
six raft team categories and walked away the overall winners of the Neville
Coxon Trophy. Their land crew was also not too shabby, grabbing
third place for the Dolphin trophy for the Kontiki fringe
event. Durbanville ran like a well-oiled machine
throughout the weekend, from the moment construction started on Friday to
the closing ceremony on Sunday. Throughout the weekend
their boys proudly displayed their colours, wearing their distinctive blue
T-shirts proudly.
Competitors in Kontiki are going to need to
revisit their preparation and motivation if they want to get into the top
five at this event. The new standards have been set and I guess
we are in for a lot of fun and excitement in the years to come as other
participants strive to better the boys from the northern suburbs.
Kontiki
2001 - A Scouting Spectacle
Kontiki has clearly become the most popular
competition amongst Scouts and Guides in the Western Cape. 2001
was no different, with 29 rafts being launched on the Saturday afternoon, to
spend 24 hours on the water.
Almost 600 participants took part in the
event, both on the rafts and in the fringe activities. The
spectacle of the rafts on the water, with the South African flag flying high
is one that will never cease to amaze the more than 2000 visitors that come
down to the Sea Scout Base during the weekend.
50 staff members helped to make the event run
smoothly and they must be thanked for the tremendous effort that has gone
into the event, with planning starting as early as November
2000. The internet played an advantageous role this year
by enabling teams and interested people to download the competition booklets
as well as entry forms.
The theme for 2001 was "Survival",
based on the TV Series "Survivor". The rafts
looked spectacular as they left the safety of the jetties and made their way
to what is now known as Kontiki Bay on Sandvlei.
The raft teams had to each make an Immunity
Trophy, a pioneering model of a Lookout Tower, a Treasure Chest with a note
for help and a Tribal Bandana. On the Sunday they had a tribal
vote, where they had to vote for the rafts they thought were the best, on
the water. Their Saturday night meal that was judged was
Curried meatballs served with squash and rice as well as a dessert of fresh
fruit and ice cream and freshly ground coffee.
The rafts, all lit up in the night time
splendour provided the backdrop for the Tribal Council
campfire. This was successfully run by Brett Delport and
Charles Prince to an audience of more then 300
people.
 Neville and
Anna Coxon - the VIPS at Kontiki 2001
Neville and Anna Coxon were the two VIPs at
Kontiki 2001, adding a touch of class to the event.
Neville was one of the founder members of the Sea Scout Base and helped
build it from an alien bush filled nothing to the base the people visit
today. He has been a key figure in the success of Western Cape
Sea Scouting. He almost single handedly built the yacht
Rotary Scout which has sailed to Rio and St.Helena as well as many trips
around the Cape waters. Neville has been supported throughout his Scouting
career by Anna. It was a pleasure to have these two stalwarts at
Kontiki.
Eastern
Cape presence felt at Kontiki
The Eastern Cape made its presence felt at
Kontiki, in the form of Kathy Douglas and Jeff Ferreira who were both on the
judging team. Kathy is an ex Cape Western Scouter and has
never missed a Kontiki event. Jeff attended Kontiki for
the first time and was impressed by what he saw, hopefully to take new ideas
to the Eastern Cape. They were amongst the judges
scrambling to get rafts ready for the launching with last minute
judging. They arrived on Friday evening during the Team
Brief and unfortunately had to leave before the closing ceremony on Sunday,
to get back to Port Elizabeth. We look forward to having you
guys with us next year. It is hoped that we can get some
equipment together to enable a team of Scouts from PE to join us at the
event for 2002.
Centre of
Activity
The Kontiki Information Desk continues to be
a centre of activity throughout the event. Bridget Young
manned the desk on Friday night, giving the staff the chance to get items
sorted out for the evening's team briefing and the
judging.
"Sparks, what time is our next
thing?" (Whatever the thing is.)
"Go away - and have a nice
day." (Charles chirps)
 Dave Roux frantically prepares judging sheets
and enters results into the computer. T-Shirts and badges
fly as people ask for various items. Fringe activity score
sheets are strewn across the front desk as results come in every few
minutes. The PA system hums as teams are called for
events. The communications centre is going crazy as radios
call for various people and reports come in from various places around the
Base. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
First Aiders Kept on
the Hop
 Our
First Aiders, Peter Niddrie and Kelly Thomson were kept on the hop at
Kontiki. With so much lumber and drums around there are
bound to be a few cuts and scratches and torn fingernails (ouch!) and the
like. They operated a non-stop service for 52 hours during
the weekend, day and night.
Here an unfortunate
cross-country runner gets his scraped knees seen to by Kelly. He
is clearly not a happy chappy.
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Naval
Cadets take Kontiki Fringe by storm
The Kontiki 2001 Fringe was competed for by
34 team, including the boys and girls of the TS Woltemade Naval
Cadets. A controversial forfeit of the Tug-O-War saw them
walk away with a second place which could have been first had they
competed. They won the volleyball and the cross-country
team events to walk away with the Dolphin Trophy. A
lot of the younger teams were at a clear disadvantage from the very
beginning of the competition and the format will need to be revisited if
they are to have any chance at being in a final. The boys from
Muizenberg took the kneeboarding title for the second time, and so they
should, seeing that three of the four team members are qualified
lifesavers. From the outset it was clear that there wasn't
another team to beat them as they lapped one team after another to reach the
well-deserved first place. This could change dramatically next year
because two of their boys turn 18 - bye bye.
Kontiki
Kitchen Runs out of food - Twice
With more than 40 campsites being used during
the weekend, and a huge contingent of day visitors, the Kontiki Kitchen was
inundated with hungry mouths to feed. This caught the organisers
by surprise and the local supermarkets benefited by the hurried rush to buy
extra food. Sheila Barratt and her team of caterers worked non-stop to
keep the food queues moving.
Bergvliet Rovers do their
stuff at Kontiki 2001
The Rover from Bergvliet were amongst the
busiest staff members at Kontiki, assisting with traffic control on Friday
night and Saturday morning as well as running the volleyball for the
Fringe. They also assisted with the night watch and undertook various
tasks that needed doing throughout the weekend. At the end
of the weekend they were exhausted, not knowing what hit them, but what a
pleasure it was to have them around.
The Argus Highlights Kontiki
The Argus dated 23 April gave Kontiki a good
spread on page 4, giving Scouting much needed publicity.
Submit
your Pics
Now
here's another competition. Submit your photographs taken at
Kontiki, by e-mail and win.
The
winning entry will win R50 as well as one free entry into Kontiki 2002
Kontiki
Goes International
Kontiki T-shirts and badges are
currently on their way to the USA, Canada and the UK to persons who have
seen the website and are interested in the event.
We also had an international
flavour at Kontiki in the form of Cosima Boswell and Wiebke
Lücker. Wiebke worked in the kitchen while Cosima manned the
cold drink sales. Both girls are German exchange students living
with the Delport family. Both would like to return to
South Africa next year - specifically to help again at Kontiki - how's that?
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