General Nash Cub-O-Ree

12-14 October 2012

Upper Gwynedd Township Park, North Wales, PA

Ship 461 debuted with the General Nash District with an appearance and sailboat display at the 2012 General Nash District Cub-O-Ree.  The District Cub-O-Ree is an annual event put on by the Boy Scout Troops, Venture Crews, and now Sea Scout Ships, in the General Nash District for the Cub Scouts of the District.  The General Nash District serves the youth of the Souderton and North Penn School Districts.  The purpose of the Cub-O-Ree is to introduce the Cub Scouts into what it is like in the Boy Scout program and to show the Cub Scouts some representative skills that they will learn as use once they cross-over into the next phase of Scouting.  The District Cub-O-Ree is an annual event and has been held on a regular basis by General Nash District for more than thirty (30) years.

The Ship camped with its sister unit, Boy Scout Troop 461, and while the Boy Scouts showed the Cubs various campfire treats and fed them with smores, the Sea Scouts explained to the parents, leaders, and Cubs the existence of the Sea Scout program, the events available, the age range of the youth served, and the fact that Sea Scouts who earned First Class as a Boy Scout before becoming a Sea Scout could continue to work on and earn their Eagle Scout rank.  Ship crew members handed out a brochure describing the Sea Scout program and the Ship's contact information to interested adults while Scouts provided a similar brochure highlighting the Scout Troop and its contact information. 

The Ship had set up one of its 22-foot Catalina sailboats as a display with one of the Ship's crew members in his dress whites and one of our adult leaders in his khakis onboard.  The Catalina garnered quite a bit of attention, as did our Sea Scouts, and it was surprising how many adult leaders and parents were unaware of the existence of Sea Scouting, much less that there was an active Sea Scout Ship in the area.  It was rewarding to the number of positive responses we received from other Scout leaders and Cub parents regarding the program and quite a few parents mentioned that they enjoyed sailing and wanted to get their children into boating.  The Cub Scouts were disappointed that they could not climb aboard our sailboat but safety concerns with the boat on a trailer eliminated that possibility.  Our Sea Scouts and leaders gave the Cubs and their parents a quick lesson on nautical terminology, such as the pointy end is the "bow" and the flat end is the "stern," which worked well until some Cub asked about canoes and kayaks, where both ends were pointy. 

Unfortunately, the Unami Lodge of the Order of the Arrow held its fall service weekend the same weekend as the Camp-O-Ree/Cub-O-Ree was scheduled and two of the Ship's members, who are also senior youth leaders with the Troop, were taking their Order of the Arrow ordeal at Resica Falls and could not attend the weekend.  Still, the efforts of the combined Troop/Ship 461 team were up to the task of showing the District's Cub Scouts about both the Boy Scout and the Sea Scout programs that are available in the area.  There were more than a few Cubs Scouts who were disappointed that they had to be 14 years of age before becoming a Sea Scout and that the Sea Scouts allowed girls to join.

This year, 18 of the District's 21 Boy Scout Troops were in attendance at the annual Camp-O-Ree/Cub-O-Ree and Saturday saw approximately 530 Cub Scouts plus parents and siblings visit the Cub-O-Ree and get a taste of the older programs in Scouting.  This is the first year in the history of General Nash District's Cub-O-Ree that a Sea Scout Ship was in attendance and provided the Cubs and their parents with an introduction to yet another facet of the Scouting program.

This page last updated on Wednesday, 24 October 2012