http://kontiki.scouting.org.za KonTiki 2010 RSS Channel Every year hundreds of Scouts gather at Murray Park, as they have done for the past twenty-seven KonTiki’s, to pit their pioneering skills against one another constructing a raft. But have you ever stopped to think about where all this began? In 1987, KonTiki followed “In the footsteps of Thor Heyerdahl”, a Norwegian explorer, who build a simple raft and crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1947 to prove his theory that people from South America could have colonised the Polynesian Islands before Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. His raft may bear little resemblance to the ones Scouts build nowadays, but nevertheless it succeeded and can still be seen on display at the KonTiki museum in Oslo. Measuring 45 feet in length and 18 feet in width, it was constructed with rudimentary materials such as balsa wood, bamboo and hemp rope. After 101 days at sea and 3770 nautical miles, the crew of six landed on the islet of Raroia, triumphantly completing a voyage from South America to Polynesia across the Pacific Ocean, using only materials available to those early travelers. This is the heritage that KonTiki draws on… would your raft carry you safely on this voyage? http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=3 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:40:14 GMT In years gone by, the scoring at KonTiki was a laborious and time-consuming affair; with many hours spend in front of an Excel spreadsheet, with a mad rush to be finished by Sunday afternoon. Over the last four years, hundreds of hours (not just during the event) have been put in to achieve the level of sophistication we currently enjoy. A semi-automated process, requiring little human input, has been developed to create a more efficient and objective judging and scoring system. Score-sheets are generated individually for each team per competition, with judges answering multiple-choice questions and rating teams on scales. The marked score-sheets are then scanned into a computer, and using optical mark recognition, are collated. This allows for rapid, continuous and more impartial scoring, with judges being unaware of what values are associated with the options on the score-sheets With 1000 score-sheets and over 12000 checkboxes to be marked and processed, manual scoring is impossible – it would take in excess of 100 hours to score at KonTiki, longer than the event itself. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=4 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:43:13 GMT For all of you avid Facebook users KonTiki 2010 has aFacebook Group. Join us at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170989402840 . http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=5 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:23:38 GMT To pre-register, and to obtain your team number, you you don't want to miss the Johannesburg registration day happening this Saturday the 23rd of January. Join us at the Bramley Scout Shop between 08h30 and 11h30 to reserve your spot in this years event!! So what do you need to bring along? Well here is a run down: You require a completed Kontiki 2010 Entry form. You Require a completed Competition Entry form. Payment or a copy of you direct deposit slip. KonTiki Badges will be available for purchase NB: Your Group will need to be up-to-date with your Annual Subscriptions and have complied with the 2010 Annual Registration requirements in order to participate in the KonTiki 2010 competition as a contestant. Scout Groups or Companies who are not up-to-date with their Annual Subscriptions but have complied with 2010 Annual Registration requirements would be permitted to camp at the KonTiki event; however this is subject to availability of space. For registration you will require a completed KonTiki 2010 entry form and your payment for the event. Should your team be sharing equipment with another team then the entry forms of both teams and payments must be handed in at the same time so that your team numbers are allocated in the same sub-camp as no spaces will be kept for teams that may enter later. Should groups wish to camp as a District then all entries of the District must be handed in at the same time and payments so that the team number allocations are all in same sub-camp. The costs: The camping fee is 100.00 per team for the 1st site and is based on a camping site accommodating 30 or fewer Guides / Scouts or the equivalent of 8 to 10 cottage tents or 6 caravans for the first two stands only. Should your team be larger or require more space, then an additional campsite (or more) will need to be booked. Additional campsites are at the following rates: R150.00 PER SITE. A third and forth site will only be allocated if the Groups/Companies can justify the number of people camping. In the past Groups/ Companies were booking 3 and 4 sites to park vehicles. Third and fourth stands are only available on approval of the Camp Chief. Entrance to the weekend event is R35.00 per person / supporter. Access to the event will be granted on payment of the entry fee or on presentation of an event badge. Cost of event badges is R35.00 and these can be purchased prior to the event from our Gauteng Province Scout Shops until 2nd March 2010, otherwise at the gate during the event while stocks last. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=6 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:38:13 GMT I am sure that all the Westrander's will be happy to hear that the KonTiki 2010 badges are now available at Kreature in the Northgate Shopping Center. The Full Address:Shop SH305,Northgate Shopping Centre, Northumberland Road, North Riding 2162, South Africa For more information click to http://www.kreature.co.za http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=7 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:26:37 GMT You can now subscribe to the KonTiki RSS feed to keep you up-to-date with all the latest postings. To hook yourself up navigate to the RSS Feed by Clicking Here or you can just add the URL ( http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/rss.aspx ) into your favourite RSS application. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=8 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:17:45 GMT As is custom at KonTiki, teams are required to perform a final registration on arrival. This registration enables the KonTiki organizers the opportunity to confirm all the information gathered during the initial registration. It also gives the team a last minute option to change their minds with regards to the competitions they wish to participate in, and ask any questions that they may have. Score sheets are generated for each team based on the competitions selected on the competition entry form, so it is very important that this form is filled out correctly to avoid disappointment later. This year registrations open from 12:30 at the judges tent and ideally the Raft and Campsite Patrol Leaders should be the ones coming to do the registration, but should they not be available you can send anyone that has access to the information required. You will be required to bring the following with you: The final copy of your Competition Entry form A completed Mixed Gender Permission form (Only Required if you have a mixed gender raft) A completed Cellphone Registration form. Your team Log Book A black pen. (There is some additional paperwork to be completed) On arrival the admin team will print out a couple of additional pages that you will need to complete, hence the pen. Once all the paper work is out of the way, you will be given any final instructions with the opportunity to ask any questions you need clarity on. You will be required to leave your log book for judging and your Patrol Leader will be notified with an SMS when it’s ready for collection. Note that your consent forms will not be collected at this registration. All consent forms will be collected by your Sub Camp Chief, who intern, will hand them in at the Sub Camp Chiefs meeting at 20:30. Once your team has completed the registration process, you can begin with the construction of your campsite. You will be able to start construction on your raft from 17h00. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=9 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:48:37 GMT This year sees an addition to the Spare Time Activity (STA) for the Supporter’s Competition, a Scouting in Action photographic competition. This aims to encourage teams to take photographs at KonTiki that show Scouts doing Scouting things. The competition is open to anyone (we will only mark the best photo from each team) and doesn’t require a professional camera. The photograph should be candid (rather than staged) and show Scouts doing Scouting things. Image quality will be assessed but a standard point-and-shoot camera will be perfect and even a cell phone camera may work if used correctly. Photographs should be submitted in the highest possible resolution and with no image processing (e.g. Photoshopping). Most image formats can be accommodated. Teams can submit their photographs at the judging tent at any point before Saturday afternoon when judging for the Supporter’s STA Competition begins. A maximum of 10 photographs per team can be submitted, and the highest scoring one will count towards the STA competition. We can accept submissions from the following cards/devices: SD, MMC, CF, MicroDrive, miniSD, xD, MS, MS Duo, M2, TF and USB. As one of the aims of this competition is to get photographs that can be used to show the public what Scouting is really about, and when submitting your photographs you should know that we may use them in future publicity and on the KonTiki website – so think carefully before you submit your photos. So, get your camera ready and brush up on your photography skills! http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=10 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:09:52 GMT As part of the rafting competition, team can submit a log book to be scored against the Team Spirit sub competition. This log book provides the judges with evidence of how much effort the team has put into the pre-event planning for KonTiki 2010. In scouting, log books are often used as a record of an event (usually a hike or a camp) containing a detailed account of all the preparation required before the event, and an account of how things went during the event. It also often contains the writer’s anecdotes and opinions of any highlights or shortfalls as a reminder for the planning of future events. In the KonTiki context the judges aren’t able to get the full log book as the adventure is only part way through, however hopefully teams will take that log book back to their groups, and finish it after the event is concluded, taking the time to document all the little stories and details that made KonTiki 2010 a fun event for their group. And just maybe, read through the log book before next year’s event, as a guide on how to make their KonTiki 2011 experience just a little bit better. So we know that the judges aren’t looking for a complete log book, so what are they looking for? Here is a list to help you: 1. Camp Program, not just the standard KonTiki one, but also one uniquely for your group. 2. Copies of all the different forms handed in. (Entry, Cellphone, Mixed Gender, Competition Entry etc) 3. Design drawings of the Raft. 4. Building Instructions for the Raft. 5. Lists of Equipment required. 6. List of people attending from the group. 7. Link to the theme for 2010. But this is just what the judges are looking for, and there is no reason not to include any other information or pictures that you feel adds value. Remember that even though KonTiki is an event for all group supporters, the efforts of the scouts and guides are the ones that will get the most reward, not just at the event, but also in their future. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=11 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:10:40 GMT The final results are now available for download from the resources section of this site. Well done to all the participants, and hope to see you all again next year. http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=12 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:11:08 GMT The 2011 Facebook group is open... leave us you comments orsuggestions – remember KonTiki is your event... Visit it here: KonTiki 2011 http://kontiki.scouting.org.za/ViewBlog.aspx?id=13 Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:40:55 GMT