More white water and canoe notes:
1- If ever in doubt about what is ahead on the river; put ashore and walk to scout out what lies ahead. Be safe, not sorry.
1B- Please do not scrape the canoe keel or any part of the canoe while beaching the canoe. Hop out and get your ankles wet and carry the canoe to shore to treat the hull properly.
1C- Always tie up the canoe to something sturdy on land. Remember that the water can rise for any number of reasons and float your ride away.
2- Low water dams can have raceways for either power generation, flood control, irrigation, or fish ladders. Be careful and do not get sucked into one of these. These are usually where the water current is the fastest.
2A- There may be a low water dam around / next to ship locks.
2B- Here in North Carolina I know of 2 low water dams: Cape Fear River has one down close to Elizabethtown, South Fork of the Catawba River has one at High Shoals (you can see it downstream from the old highway 321 bridge that goes through town). There are probably more that I do not know of.
3- Want to see an Overflow jet and watch the water break into 2 different currents (both cheap & easy)? Go to an empty sink that has an adjustable (sideways) spigot. Adjust the spigot to not go directly down the drain.
- Turn on the water – the water stream out of the spigot is the crest of the dam.
- The water that hits the sink and pushes the standing water back is the overflow jet.
Here is where it gets interesting:
- Watch the overflow jet interact with the “standing” wave of water.
- See the foam?
- Look for the boil point.
See the 2 different flows of water from the overflow jet?
OK- It is small in your kitchen sink – but learn the lesson from this model! The real thing is dangerous!
M- Would you laugh at a fallen cow?
N- No use crying over spilled milk.
4- Sometimes I wonder if we talk about the Eagle Award too much. The Eagle Award is the recognition of years of Scout work, learning, teaching, leading, fellowship, following, and fun.
I have never seen an athlete practice going to the Superbowl or practice going to the World Series. I have seen athletes practice individual skills to grow toward perfection in each of those individual skills.
Some days they work on strength training. Some days agility training. Some days scouting the other teams and practicing defense. Some days team coordination and communication training. Some days skill training.
It will take you 12-13 years to graduate from High School. Each class, each homework assignment, each test, each project, and each year will get you closer to that goal.
4B- Scouting is like both. Take, learn, practice each and every individual Scout skill till you have mastered it and passed the requirements. One step at a time. One class at a time. One rank advancement at a time. BUT – Take a step every day toward the Superbowl, the World Series, most importantly your Eagle.
O- Did you hear the joke about the Scout who fell on a pack of crackers?
P- It was crummy.
5- There are many lessons to be learned about water travel. Do you know the 3 silent paddle signals? Stop. Danger. All Clear. Why silent signals?
6- Hurricanes are intense Low-pressure weather systems. The flow of air (wind) is CCW in the Northern Hemisphere. That flow of air is called Cyclonic Flow.
Around a High-pressure system is the wind going clockwise (CW). This is called Anticyclonic flow (in the Northern Hemisphere). Hurricanes can affect the weather for over 1 million square miles.
” Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.” – Jim Rohn
Our future is in front of us,
Gaither