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 The
Brazilian theme was hatched in March 2003 when the first enquiry went to our
special guest, Estêvão Salles, about the
possibility of a contingent of Scouts from Brazil attending
Kon-Tiki. An official invitation was sent from SAHQ and it
was accepted. All too soon, the cost and timing were proved to
be problematic. The Kon-Tiki Adventure coincides with the heart
of the Brazilian school term and it is difficult for school goers to get
time off. In spite of this there
were still a number of Scouts keen to come to South Africa. The only
air carrier from Brazil to South Africa was SAA and their costs were
prohibitive for Scouts who's socio-economic background is not too different
from Scouts in this country. That did not deter Estêvão from
continuing to try until the last minute. Brazil's national air
carrier, Varig, restarted their direct flights between South Africa and
Brazil on 1st April 2004.  We
appreciate that he took the time to attend Kon-Tiki, arriving the Wednesday
before and leaving early on the Monday morning following the event. He also
gave us a lot of help and advice during the research for the Raft Meal and
the STA's.
Estêvão
did spend some time giving lessons to our Scouts about saying hello and
goodbye. Thanks
to Gavin Withers and his family for hosting Estêvão during the first two
nights of his stay and showing him the sights of Cape Town. The
photographs that were taken by Estêvão will soon be available for viewing
on his website http://www.f64.com.br.
For those of you who are interested in what Scouts in Brazil get up to, then
visit his website. To Estêvão we say Thank You and Hasta la Vista,
Baby.
 It
was a special privilege for everyone present at the closing parade to have
Major Kinuthia Murugu, Regional Director for Africa Region, present to say a
few words. His message was clear. A Scout is expected to
"Do their Best" and if the Scouts and Guides knew that in their
hearts, that is what they had done, then they had every reason to be proud
of their achievements. It was not a matter of whether judges thought
their raft was the best but whether they knew the work that they had put
into it was their best. He said that events like the Kon-Tiki weekend
would remain forever in the hearts of the competitors as wonderful memories
shared with old and new friends alike, and new skills learnt.
The Kon-Tiki team thank you, for
having taken the time out of your private visit to Cape Town to be with us
and do the official presentation.
The Scouts and Scouters of 1st Bergvliet have every reason
to be proud of their win. They had a mission and prepared for Kon-Tiki
2004 and for them it was mission accomplished. They demonstrated
that there is no supplement for hard work and good planning. Well done
to all of you. Your win is going to be a hard act to follow and the
rest of the teams are itching to take the Neville Coxon Trophy away from
you.
Durbanville Has What It
Takes
1st Durbanville continue to be a force to be reckoned with at Kon-Tiki
and they walked away with the Dolphin Trophy for the third successive year
by winning the Kon-Tiki Fringe. Not only did their A team take the trophy,
but their C team of girls beat their A team in the Tug-O-War.
 The
Team Behind the Gate
One of the critical tasks at
Kon-Tiki is to ensure the smooth flow of traffic when the teams arrive, and
the allocation of construction sites, along with directions to camp
sites. Jonathan and Andrea Starke and the adults of the 1st Muizenberg
Scout Troop carried out this thankless task for the full weekend, being at
the gate from 06:30 every morning until after 11pm each night.
Without their dedication and hard work, chaos would reign. The team
worked diligently and quietly while the rest of the team were able to
continue with the various other tasks required, without the worry of the
traffic at Sandvlei. Thanks for doing a stirling job, appreciated by
all.
From
Port Elizabeth to the banks of Sandvlei
Report
by Christine Postma, 1st Sunridge, Port Elizabeth
On
Thursday night, approximately 21h55 we boarded the Greyhound bus, which was
making its way to Cape Town. The trip took a long twelve hours. When you sit
next to Darzee and Aqua and just happen to have a loud voice it seems even
longer. Inevitably you will have to lift yourself off of the chair (which
has only just become comfortable) walk out into the cold rain and (looking
like an idiot) run five to ten laps around the bus.
When we got to Cape Town we had KFC for breakfast (they fed us very
well throughout the whole weekend, this was after all no ordinary Sea Scout
camp) and then walked to the gardens. We saw a tremendous amount of
squirrels (I wasted about eight photos on them) and the Houses of
Parliament. We then went to the Holocaust Museum, Anglican Cathedral and
some of the other sites in the city. At the Anglican Cathedral, I saw the
most beautiful stained glass windows ever. We then went to the train station only to find that our train
had been cancelled. We nervously boarded another train, slightly scared off
by the words at the bottom of the tickets ‘DO YOU NEED A FUNERAL PLAN?’.
We arrived at the Sandvlei Sea Scout Base where the boys got a boathouse to
sleep in and the girls shared the boathouse next door, with the Girl Guides.
We had to help 6th
Rondebosch and four of the guys from Cape Eastern went on the raft with
them, the Stein twins, Kevin and Jason. We had three fringe teams, the
original volleyball team was called ‘Oui’, it’s hello in Portuguese. Estêvão,
the guy from Brazil, told us. In
the end it turned out that it did not matter in which team you were, you
would still do volleyball, knee boarding and tug of war. We were humble
losers. I think that the the original tug of war team got to the finals of
volleyball and the semi-finals of knee boarding (I think), they did not do
all that well in the tug of war. Ironic! We also had to run, ‘juniors’
(under 14) 5kms, ‘seniors’ (over 14) and ‘Old People’ (over 18)
8kms. I was sad to leave, but after we had maneuvered around a screaming
lady, we were on our way home. On the bus trip we got another minimal dose
of sleep and spent a great deal of time talking. Maybe it was because I had
school the next day that I did not want to get off the bus, I don’t know,
but I would have been quite happy to stay on the bus and keep riding all the
way to Durban. Unfortunately I had to leave and go to school and as they say
in Brazil all I could say was (excuse the spelling, I don’t think spell
check will correct this) ‘Asta Lavista Baby’.
Report by David McGillivray,1st
Walmer, Port Elizabeth
I
was part of the Cape Eastern team that went down to Cape Town for Kon-Tiki.
Our team was composed of 17 Scouts and 4 Scouters and we travelled down by
bus. We were made to feel welcome and important when our arrival
was announced over the loudspeakers. The way every thing was organised was
excellent (although if they could have organised better weather that would
have been great!) Our team was not supposed to be building a raft, but just
helping where needed and taking part in the fringe events.
Our
help was not needed much on Friday night, but on Saturday morning 6th Rondebosch
needed 4 Scouts to be part of their raft crew. We all helped to build the
raft and hoped that the raft would prove to be better than Titanic. I was
interested in the metal T-bar that was used to tighten the lashings, but
undoing the knots on Sunday proved very challenging! Building the rafts was
tiring but also great fun. It required concentration, hard work and tight
lashings but most of all perseverance. It taught us how necessary it is to
work together as a team. (Together Everyone Achieves More)
There
was a festive atmosphere when all the raft crews paraded around in
fancy-dress costumes before going onto the water.
It was a magnificent sight to see all the rafts being towed out onto
the lake. Then the fringe events started. Volleyball and tug-of-war all went
very smoothly and, although our team lost, we enjoyed ourselves. I was one
of the kneeboarding leaders but it was very tricky for my team and I to
compete because the Malibu boards were senior boards and too wide for us to
paddle properly. (Maybe next time someone could organise a few under 12
malibu boards). However we did our best and still had fun. The cross-country
event was a bit chaotic with everyone starting together, and many of the
seniors did not know where to run. Either the juniors did not run 5km or the
seniors ran 15km because they ran 3 times our distance. The junior race did
not feel like 5km but I was pleased I came third.
I
felt sorry for the Scouts spending the night out on the water, as I climbed
onto my bunk bed and into my sleeping bag. It was nice meeting new people
and also seeing people that I had met just two weeks ago for the Nipper
Nationals in Strand. We were looked after well and the food was the tastiest
food I have tasted in ages. I really enjoyed myself and am looking forward
to next year’s KONTIKI!!!!
CPR
Instruction Proves Popular
On
the Saturday evening at 6pm, Peter Niddrie, event First Aid officer, and
Cheryl Delport, conducted CPR classes for any Scouts, Guides, Scouters or
Guiders who were interested and not busy with anything else at the
time. This proved so popular that they had to run two seperate
classes of 20 people each and had they had enough resusci-aids they would
have had enough participants to run at least a further two. This
item, all going well, will be repeated at next year's Kon-Tiki.
Both Peter and Cheryl are qualified instructors.
Beaver
Weather
For the second successive year, Beaver
Rose has resolved the weather problem at Kon-Tiki. Friday was a
soaking day and little respite during the evening and on Saturday with more
rain threatening to dampen the event, the skies cleared within a half hour
of Beaver's arrival and the rain remained away for the remainder of the
weekend. Thanks Beaver, and congratulations on your 80th
birthday from the thousands of Scouts that you have influenced during your
more than 70 years involvement in the movement.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO:
Dave Croeser, John Salway and Neil Coxon who received Certificates of Merit for their
continued hard work and support at Kon-Tiki.
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