Week Two: Welcome back to Ockanickon!

Hey look, this post was delivered to you on time, thanks to the good people of Ockanickon Scout Reservation, Pennsylvania.

I have to start this post proper by announcing:

THE CORPULENT PORPOISE SAILS AGAIN!!!

After procrastinating for several days, on Wednesday, we finally launched our glorious Catalina 22 sailing boat, named ‘The Corpulent Porpoise’. Our beautiful brown 1970’s boat is now afloat again on Lake Nokamixon, ready to enthral Scouts in the art of sailing. Of course, the path to a floating sailing boat was not easy…

Monday was a day of cleaning and repairing. All of the little bits of wear and tear that had occurred over the Winter needed to be repaired. We also started off the season with the largest department this year, with more than 1000 staff members. Unfortunately, my competent assistant director Joe killed them all. Well, the ants and their nest were a bit of a nuisance. So, despite starting off with the largest department on camp, I now manage the smallest.

We were then hoping to launch on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we had to put some fancy stickers on the boat. Kind of like road tax rather than go faster stripes (not that they would help – nothing will make our boat go faster). So come Wednesday, we finally towed the boat to the lake. I had hoped that it would be a fairly simple affair. Regrettably, I had failed to take the Tom Leitz factor into account.

I freely admit that I didn’t know how to raise the mast of the boat, as I usually play with smaller boats. So, I relied on one of our Asst. Camp Directors who seemed confident that he knew what he was doing. WRONG!!! Mind you, it only took two attempts to raise the mast. After Joe and I had unwrapped the vital cables and lines that were needed.

Having said that though, we launched successfully, and the boat seemed to sail fine. One could almost sail beautifully. Almost. But we did dock with all the grace of an elephant on drugs. Yippee.

Alas, all did not make for a relaxed set-up week. Despite my multiple responsibilities at camp, someone has deemed me, rather bizarrely, as competent. And competency never goes unpunished. On top of being Sailing Director (now offered as part of our Adventure Sports Department) and one of our Commissioners (customer relations), I now also share ‘big brother’ responsibilities for the young staff members, supervise one building for medical check-in, and all round nice guy. Yet in spite if this, I’m still not allowed my own walkie-talkie! Well, I wouldn’t trust a British guy either.

This week, I have done lots of driving. I love driving, but all of these automatic US cars, just aren’t as good as Ernie. Who by the way is due his MOT soon, as well as other repair works. I hope he’s okay. Don’t get me wrong. As under-powered as these cars are, they do give me some freedom, and allow me to get about. Big thanks to Terry who often lends me his car.

Lastly, today has been the first day of camp. Scouts have finally arrived, and the fun really begins. The camp politics are out the window for a while, and I can get down to the business of teaching Americans how to sail. Woo hoo. I also feel the need to say that of the two (hi from Dave Senior ok I love all you UK people ttyl) And thanks for that Dave… anyways… Of the two Medical Recheck buildings, the building I ran didn’t get loads of complaints. I’m counting that as a win!

If you have a message for Dave Senior, a fellow director in Adventure Sports, why not leave a comment.

If you don’t have a message for Dave Senior, but may in fact like to leave a comment anyway, why not leave a comment.