Aquanaut gathering
We organized an summer den meeting to work on the Aquanaut activity pin (summer meetings also count towards summertime activity awards). We did this in our pool, which necessitated finding adequate supervision to follow the Safe Swim defense rules as well as the Guide to Safe Scouting rules. We couldn’t find a lifeguard to hire so we split up the duties among qualified parents. One mom who is a nurse was in charge of CPR (if needed, plus she talked to the boys about it). A den leader who was a lifeguard (formerly) was on main lifeguard duty and the remaining parents were watchers. It worked well! The boys LOVE any meeting in the pool and all boys who came earned their Aquanaut activity pins. The plan we used is below.
Objectives
By the end of the meeting, the cubs should:
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Complete Aquanaut requirements
Gathering Exercise
- Start: 5 minutes before meeting start time
- What: Swimmer’s test
- Who: Den leaders
- Equipment needed: Swimmer’s test requirements (printouts). Boys who had passed the swimmers test this summer at a BSA summer camp did not have to retake the test.
Opening
Scout sign during the opening
Duration: 2-5 minutes (note: this ended up taking 10 min to fully discuss)
What: Safe Swim defense guidelines
Who: denners
Equipment needed: Safe swim worksheet
Activities
Indicate who is responsible for each: (Achievements person tracks requirement completion)
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Aquanaut #2: Stay in the water after the swim and float on your back and your front, and demonstrate survival floating.
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Aquanaut #3: Put on a personal floatation device (PFD) that is the right size for you. Make sure it is properly fastened. Wearing the PFD, jump into water over your head. Show how the PFD keeps your head above water by swimming 25 feet. Get out of the water, remove the PFD, and hang it where it will dry.
Scouts using PFDs
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Aquanaut #4 : Do a front surface dive and swim under water for four strokes before returning to the surface.
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Aquanaut #5 : Explain the four basic water rescue methods. Demonstrate reaching and throwing rescues.
Water rescue
Equipment needed: PFD, rescue rope, rescue float
Closing
Duration: 5 minutes
What: Boy Scout Law.
Who: denner
Equipment needed: written list of points
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