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Canoeing, 'Canada Tiger Venturer', Canada, Ontario, Jul 2011, ID 1139

Pates Grammar School CCF

Outline:
This Expedition built upon the previous successful expeditions run for both Pate’s Grammar School CCF and the Army Cadet 150 Expedition last year. The aim of the Expedition was to complete an arduous and adventurous canoe journey in Algonquin Provincial Park. Delivering JSAT and BCU qualifications as part of the journey and to give adult instructors the experience they need to progress with their instructor training. The majority of the cadets taken on the expedition were just sixteen and many of them had never been food shopping at home before, let alone worked out a menu and provisions list for a group of nine for a week.

Eighteen cadets and five adults took part in an exciting wilderness canoeing experience in Ontario, Canada. Within the group of CFAVs we had two level 3 canoe coaches, two level 2 coaches and a Bushcraft specialist.

The Expedition:
Following a week-long course in the UK to develop the necessary skills to get us started, months of individual fundraising, team planning meeting and no end of drama over what shoes to wear, the group finally arrived in Canada full of enthusiasm to get out canoeing. The first day was spent at Indian Lines Camp Ground (Toronto) allowed us time to last-minute gear-shop in Mountain Equipment Co-op and gave us a buffer in case any baggage was delayed… well done BA it all arrived with us (this time!) The team then moved to Desert Lake, a camp ground and lake north from Kingston Ontario, where we conducted bushcraft / campskills training, water safety and paddle skills. This proved to be the best tweak on previous expeditions.

The initial start to the Algonquin phase was met with some inclement weather, but nothing as bad as previous years. Each group had to select their own lines across lakes of varying sizes, taking wind and wave conditions into account and despite the late arrival of spring in Ontario we had some stunning weather and after two days of rain at Desert Lake the waterproofs did not come out again until we got back to the UK. Ontario had some of the hottest July days in 100 years, this made portaging a sweaty bug infested experience (try swatting a mosquito with a boat on your head!).

The next canoeing phase was the Madawaska River from Palmer’s Rapid to Griffiths over three days. The river level was even lower than the previous year, exposing areas of the river which were normally under water but now fully exposed. This made sections of the river playful… and some lining was needed to navigate some very shallow areas. Whilst on the Madawaska River selecting the line down a rapid calls for good decision making and leadership skills which the cadets developed.

During the expedition cultural visits were made to Kingston, Peterborough (National Canoe Museum), Niagra and Toronto.

Summary and Conclusions:
Having run a similar expedition in 2007, 2009 & 2010 this one was our most successful. The young people were a pleasure to work with and there seemed to be few stresses (other than with the French Canadian Christian group who were singing loudly at 0600hrs in Algonquin Park, when we had got up at 0430 to get to the area where they were to see wildlife… I guess we did in a way!) . The instructional team worked well and the arrangements were nearly ideal. Most of the cadets are still with Pate’s Grammar School CCF and they will carry the benefits of their involvement into the future.

For those of us who were there the benefits of running this type of expedition were obvious but have become even more evident on return to the UK. Our youngsters were often in a position of physical and occasionally psychological stress but came up with good decisions time and time again. Working as a team they demonstrated physical courage in their own abilities and moral courage in following through with their plans, with flexibility to change when things go wrong. Whilst these are all common attributes in military life, we observed each Cadet develop in their own way to overcome aspects of each journey that at times adults may have struggled with.

All of the young people completed the British Canoe Union Foundation Safety & Rescue Test and 13 of the young people and one adult completed the BCU 3 Star award as part of the expedition. All of the participants exceeded the requirements for the JSAT OFC and OCP.

Congratulations to Major Ray Hamlett and now Lieutenant Samantha Hamlett (Dowdall) who were married in the Pavilion in Kingston overlooking Lake Ontario during our Expedition.

Lt. Col. N J Woodall, PGSCCF

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Canada Tiger Venturer/Briefing time in the staff camp site, Big Crow Lake, Algonquin Canada Tiger Venturer/Paddling at Dawn in Algonquin Park Canada Tiger Venturer/To swim or not to swim on Split Rock Rapids, River Madawaska