Scouts river raft trip a success

The First Vankleek Hill Scouts returned from their rafting trip down the Ottawa River this past Monday, July 11, and all involved agreed the journey was a complete success.

"The only thing was that the wind wasn't cooperating with them," noted Alain Lambert, adding it also played a factor in the group's arrival on the Quebec side of the river, near Greece's Point, as opposed to the original destination of Voyageur Park.

The Scouts constructed the raft completely out of wood, using 50 logs, 21 barrels, and six kilometres worth of twine to build the 18-by-24-foot raft. Including the 20-foot sail, the raft was lashed together for ultimate flexibility.

Lambert said in his experience, it is the first time he has seen a Scouts group "doing anything to this extent," in terms of the raft building.

"I don't even think they realize how much work they did," he said. "This is a trial-and-error process, and they definitely learned a lot. You have to give credit where credit is due, and the amount of research they did, for just a four-day project, is phenomenal."

The Scouts set sail from Lefaivre last Friday around noon and, aside from a brief refreshment break at the Dairy Queen in Hawkesbury on Sunday morning, the group spent the entire time living, eating and sleeping on the raft. Lambert said the trip exemplifies the qualities of the Scouts, namely, working together and always being prepared.

"It's putting into practice what is taught," he noted. "But the most important thing they will take from this is just having fun. Learning doesn't always have to be done in a 'boring' way; it can also be enjoyable. And to be honest, I think the leaders learned more from the kids than the other way around.

"There were lots of life lessons to be learned here. It's a simple project but it brings out so many things out of so many different kids."

The raft floated into the bay just off Lalonde Road in L'Orignal on Saturday evening around 7:45 p.m. According to resident Wendy Renaud, "The wind kept pushing them into shore and they wanted to get to L'Orignal Park for the evening. They lowered the sail and waited for the wind to die down, but this bay was too rough to spend the night so they needed to round the bend to a more sheltered bay."

Towing the raft was difficult and the sunlight was quickly disappearing, when Mr. Wilson, a local, cruised by in his boat, powered by an outboard motor, and offered a tow. Proof that the trip was a very community-powered effort.