Do
you have the perfect canoe trip to the Boundary Waters planned
for your unit next summer? How about two weeks sailing
or scuba diving at Sea Base? Maybe an Okefenokee Canoe
Trek? Maybe just a quiet day tubing down the Chattahoochee?
What all of these have in common is the Local and National
Tour Permit Applications requirement to list two adults (21
or older) participating in the trip that are certified in Safe
Swim Defense and Safety Afloat (SSD and SA). Without these
certifications, you can’t get a trip permit and your unit
cannot go on the activity.
Proper aquatic safety training shouldn’t be a point
of pain for your unit. The training and subsequent aquatics
activities are lots of fun.
Taking both courses at Camp Allatoona costs only $10 and takes
just one Saturday, from 8:30am to 4:00pm.
A good plan is to bring your Scouts up for any of the skills
courses the base offers for them and then have several of your
parents and Scouters spend the day learning about SSD and SA.
Remember that you shouldn’t get just the minimum two
adults trained – you need enough adults trained that you
have the depth to plan and deliver aquatic programs for your
unit without burning out your SSD/SA trained volunteers.
If your unit trains 6-8 adults a year in SSD/SA, then you’ll
be able to draw from a pool of 12-16 trained adults for any
aquatics activity.
Certification is valid for two years. Now wouldn’t
that make your life easy!
During the course you’ll make a Safe Swim Defense kit
you can use for your next unit swim. The group will practice
reaching, throwing rescues and other non-swimming rescues.
And the instructor will show you how to make a Buddy Board using
readily available materials.
The first part of the day is classroom learning about Safe
Swim Defense with lots of discussion and several participatory
activities. After lunch we generally change into swim
suits and go down to the waterfront for swim checks. Participants
will get the opportunity to take a BSA swim test and to supervise
a swim test for another participant. You do not have to
participate in the swim test but it’s highly recommended
(all adults and Scouts must take one before participating in
an aquatic activity) and we have lots of fun with it.
After that, it’s back to the classroom to finish up
the Safety Afloat material. We also usually do some hands-on
work with the canoes and/or rowboats at the end of the session.
Class size: Minimum 4, maximum
15
What to Bring:
