The Saga of Checkpoint Nine
Bright and early one Sunday morning, (6 a.m. to be precise!) a motley group of Scouts and Leaders straggled together outside the Scout Hut in Longridge Avenue, Saltdean.
Their purpose: to run a checkpoint for the Overland Competition Hike 1997 - the first checkpoint of the day and including an "incident" for the hikers to deal with.
The team comprised (so far) three Scout Leaders, fresh and enthusiastic, two Ventures, a little bleary eyed, one Venture Scout Leader, a little apprehensive about this, his first foray into local hikes, one Skills Instructor plus girl-friend and one Scout, not yet fully awake!
They set out for the Devil's Dyke in the South Downs in Sussex, secure in the knowledge that plenty of rain was forecast, that the Dyke is known for its breezy disposition and that the temperature appeared to be only a few degrees above that required to rot brass.
Arriving at the Dyke, and being joined by the Group Scout Leader, two more (somnolent) Scouts and our supply of canvas, the checkpoint was set up.
First and most important, the caterers (the Scouts) assembled the venerable gas burners and bottles, filled the rather small kettle and brewed up!
This essential ingredient for the day under way, canvas was applied to poles, mallets to pegs, pegs to guys and two dining shelters arose, protection from the rain, still threatening but not yet in evidence. The "Check-In" tent was erected, the table and chairs inserted, two staff placed therein and Checkpoint Nine was open and ready for business. A quick call on the CB to Overland Control announced our readiness and resulted in the advice that hike teams were even then on their way to our location.
The "Incident" that the hikers had to deal with was to assemble a working compass from a kit of spare parts - this included a steel pin, a magnet, a plastic coffee jar lid, a rubber band, a piece of cork, a boiled sweet, a fibre-tipped pen and a paper tissue.
The easiest method was, of course, to stroke the pin with the magnet, fill the plastic lid with water (available on site) and float the pin on the water (using the tissue, if necessary, to facilitate the placing of the pin on the surface of the water).
Top marks were for a working compass in under 8 minutes. Lesser scores were for " a Good Try" or "They Tried" but no marks for "Clueless!"
Of the 48 teams that streamed through the checkpoint over the next three and a half hours, most managed to produce some kind of result. Some , however, had little memory of schoolroom physics. Attempts to make the needle point North by placing the magnet under neath the plastic lid (or even, in one case, in the water) met with scant respect and less marks.
A very high scoring version used the rubber band to attach the magnetised pin to the cork, floated the same in the plastic lid and placed the lid onto the tissue on which the cardinal points of the compass had been marked with the pen. The sweet was eaten by the Hike Team leader for energy!
The teams were, almost without exception, good humoured, well-mannered and enthusiastic. One team leader was heard to mutter a fairly mild 6 lettered expletive when he dropped the pin in the grass. He looked suitably embarrassed when he realised that a Scout Leader was closely observing his every action! His team were a trifle caustic about his leadership qualities until one of them found the pin (by the simple expedient of running his hand across the grass until a sharp stabbing pain signalled success).
As is usual with this event, the first checkpoint of the day sees most teams in the shortest time. The hikers have not had time to get really tired or too lost! A consistent procession of hike teams entered, incidented and manfully and trudged out of the area for the next few hours, including a couple of mixed teams and at least one all-girl team. At last, word came that all teams had passed through the checkpoint, including, of course, the Glorious 42nd Brighton (Saltdean) Team (Finish This Year or Join The Brownies!).
Having consumed various cups of tea and coffee, some delicious bacon sandwiches (Scout catering at its very best!) and the "incident" boiled sweets, the Checkpoint team packed its tents and silently stole away - around eleven-thirty-ish on receipt of a call on the CB that all the 48 teams had been cleared through the next checkpoint, Checkpoint Ten.
A blessed miracle - the rain, forecast in buckets, did not appear. The wind retained an icy feel but remained around Force 4 and even the sun peeked out occasionally when it thought we weren't looking...
Word was later circulated that the Glorious 42nd Brighton (Saltdean) Team (FTYOJTB) had, in fact, finished the course in twenty-third place. From an entry of 60-odd teams with 48 finishers, we felt that couldn't be bad!
Tony Thornton, SL.
42 Brighton (Saltdean) Scout Troop.
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