Friday, 12 April
Today marked the commencement of Kontiki 2024. As a troop, we haven’t participated in this competition very often, so our raft design was… interesting, to say the least. Nonetheless, on this Friday, it was the day for us to pack the trailers and send them off to the sea scout base.
As usual, it seemed we were running a bit late, but since it’s a trend among scouts, we weren’t really surprised or bothered by it. As soon as enough people from 1st Claremont arrived, we began constructing the raft. It started off rather slowly due to the limited number of people available to help, but it wasn’t too bad. We began by measuring and lashing the basic frame of the raft together. Although some of the measurements were a bit off, requiring a few adjustments, thankfully nothing too time consuming. By the time the frame of the raft needed to be marked, we still had a few lashings to complete, causing a bit of stress on my part as I was the one tasked with calling the judges to mark the raft. Fortunately, we encountered friendly judges, and we even passed the inspection on the first attempt, much to Daniel’s delight. Following this inspection, we began attaching the barrels, which proved to be a challenge. We had to first teach everyone on how to tie a barrel lashing, and then we had to complete about 36 of these lashings within the given time frame, which wasn’t much.
Additionally it was getting darker and people were becoming progressively more tired and hungry so supper was served to provide some much-needed energy. On top of these challenges, one of the lashings kept being called out by the judges for being loose, although after the third inspection, we finally managed to tighten it, and the judges accepted it. Once all the barrels were attached, we could proceed with the floorboards. Although they were only due in the morning, we began installing them on this Friday night, as some people needed them for shelter to sleep under the raft, a tradition for some of us before Kontiki. After semi-attaching the floorboards, we decided it was time to retire for the night and get some much-needed rest.
Saturday, 13 April
Today, our main focus was to ensure that all the floorboards were securely attached and that the cabin was firmly in place. Surprisingly, the cabin assembly went relatively smoothly, but the floorboards took a bit longer. Nevertheless, we persevered and managed to attach all the floorboards before launching the raft onto the vlei, following an inspection by the judges.
Occasionally, launching the rafts required a few of us to enter the vlei and assist in lowering the raft into the water, though we managed to avoid this, except for a couple of us who got in for the final push. Once the raft was afloat, we began attaching the cabin. The only significant issue we encountered with the cabin was the wind. By late morning, the wind at the vlei starts to pick up significantly, making it challenging to carry the boards onto the raft, which was floating on the water. Fortunately, nobody was blown away, although it would have been quite amusing. Attaching the cabin marked the final major task, so it was a relief when we completed it. After getting the cabin inspected, we participated in the opening parade, after which all the rafts were taken out, and the actual competition began.
Sunday, 14 April
Today marked the conclusion of Kontiki. It had been a hectic weekend, but in a way, it was rather enjoyable. Our activities for the day involved us, the raft crew, being taken off the water and beginning the deconstruction process. Fortunately, deconstruction didn’t take as long as construction, so we finished relatively quickly. We started by removing the cabin and floorboards while the raft was still in the water, then we hoisted the raft onto dry land and began dismantling the frame. Although some of the barrel lashings were tight and took a while to undo, once the barrels were detached, everything proceeded swiftly. After some planning, we loaded the trailers and sent everything back to the hall. While other scouts were busy unpacking the trailer at the hall, the raft crew and some members from the fringe team stayed behind for the closing parade, which seemed to drag on forever. After the closing parade finally ended, I’m sure all the raft crew were delighted to be able to go home, have a nice warm shower, and get into bed after an exhausting weekend.
Joel Foord
