Euronaut Newsletter for European Sea Scouts Issue 13 • April 2005 Splash! At Eurojam 05 Inside this Issue • Splash! At Eurojam 05 EuroJam will be • European Sea Scout solidarity project: “een the biggest vlet voor Kroatië” Scouting and • Scouts Marins Européens – Projet de Solidarité “een vlet voor Kroatië” Guiding Event in • Quelques nouvelles du Scoutisme Français Europe for 10 Marin years. EuroJam • News from French Sea Scouting will take place • News from Italian Sea Scouting – Settore over 12 action packed days and will be packed Nautico, AGESCI full of new challenges giving the opportunity for • Quelques nouvelles du Scoutisme Marin en people to meet new friends. EuroJam will take Italie, Settore Nautico Agesci place from 29th July to 10th August 2005 at • Scouting Nederland Project and “Sail Hylands Park, Chelmsford, near London in the UK. Amsterdam 2005" The anticipated numbers are 15,000, which • Project de Scouting Nederland et “Sail Amsterdam 2005" includes 3,000 staff and 12,000 participants. • William I Koch International Sea Scout Cup 2006 EuroJam will offer a day of water activities for • Sea Scout Armada to the World Jamboree in every single one of those 12,000 participants. England 2007 Held at Alton Water in Suffolk (just south of • Flotte de Scouts Marins au Jamboree en Ipswich) we are building a massive temporary Angleterre water sports center called Splash! Each day for 8 • Italian Sea Scouts at Jamboree 2007 days Splash! will be the host for around 1500 • Centenaire du Scoutisme / Centenary of participant from EuroJam. These participants will Scouting be involved with Paddlesport (inc. kayaking, • Scouts set up funds to help tsunami victims • Sweden: Vässarö Scout Center pulling, dragon boating, coracling, rafting, • La Suéde: Centre Scout de Vässarö canoeing and bellboating), sailsport (Inc dinghy • Une Base Marine pour Scoutisme Français sailing and windsurfing) and general activities (inc. • The London Dockland Scout Project orienteering, mountain biking, water themed • A Water Activity Base for Scoutisme Français games and water projects.) • Polish Scout Association – Schooner “Zawisza Czarny” Can you help? We are looking for support and • Association Scout Polonaise – Goélette volunteers for Splash! Skilled or unskilled we have “Zawisza Czarny” the job for you. I have attached a form to help us • Swedish Scout Association – Sailing Vessel contact any instructors or helpers interested in “Biscaya” • Association Scout Suédoise – Voilier “Biscaya” supporting Splash! and for any clubs, • Danube 2005 - Polish Sea Scout project organisations, centres, individuals and Scout • Danube 2005 - Project des Scouts Marins Groups / Teams who could help by supplying Polonais equipment and Instructors. • In Memoriam – Edo Biasoli (1930-2003) • AQUA 2005 We will be setting up Splash! from 26th July 2005 • Future events and taking down Splash! from 11th August 2005. • Événements á l’avenir The participants will be offered Splash! activities • Next issue from 31st July –– 8th August. As a staff member of •On the web Splash! you will be given a day visitors pass for the main Euro Jam Site and gain access to the entertainment available. We will be offering days Euronaut / Issue 13 / April 2005 / page 1 of 17 off to go and be part of this amazing Jamboree and the evenings to socialise and meet new people. If you require any further information regarding this event feel free to contact J. J. Johnson <[email protected]> or Richard Adams (Splash! Manager)<[email protected]>. More information about EuroJam can be found at <http://www.eurojam.org.uk> and <http://www.eurojamlive.org/> To achieve this mission, five major obstacles had European Sea Scout Solidarity Project “een vlet to be overcome: voor Kroatië” • find a boat, not necessarily a new one, but in excellent condition Luc Van Nevel, Assistant Commissioner, Sea • overhaul and complete it so it is ready for Scouts, Federatie voor Open Scoutisme (FOS), sailing Belgium • gather the money to buy and transport the Vlet • arrange transfer and bring it over to Istria Since the early 90s we were regularly in contact • promote the project and complete other with a Sea Scout Group in Pula (Croatia) and for paperwork from the European Community for ten years I had many Sea Scout contacts in Istria, a export and Import in Croatia. part of former Yugoslavia, and supported them as much as possible in various ways. The lack of Part of the plan was also to hand over the appropriate sailing aids and tools is striking. construction plans and templates (thanks to Scouting Nederland for supplying them), to make In September 2003, for the first time, we it possible to build these boats locally for an welcomed a delegation of our Croatian scout affordable price, without the transportation costs. It brothers to Eurosea. We saw that Croatian was also hoped to get another “Vlet” for the group Scouting was interested in additional sea scouting in Koper, Slovenia in 2005. techniques to give an extra dimension to the classical scouting adventure. From that moment The first obstacle was the idea came that possibly we could do overcome. A Flemish something to help our less fortunate comrades. group, “De Wilde Eend” (“The Wild Back home, after a discussion with our Duck”) sold their 11th commissioner, and approval of the fleet-council, vlet which they had we presented the project to the board of FOS in in surplus, and took October, and it was accepted in November. In care of rigging and December we sent out Newsletter nr 1 to finishing it, playing introduce, and to seek aid for an ambitious the role of godfather. So the second problem was project, to provide a “Vlet” ( the standard Dutch solved. The third point was the most difficult one. and Flemish Sea Scout boat) for the Sea Scout To finance this project, 3000 was needed and Group “ULJICA” in Pula, and to deliver it into fund raising was now my most important Croatia. This would mean that the group would occupation (found already 1000). obtain its first sailing boat for the Sea Scout Centre “Otok Veruda”, located on the beautiful island of Point four was to find a suitable trailer which we Veruda. could leave over there. The offer I had was expensive, and renting was a better option. Then the paper work : besides the promotion, the rest still had to be started, dealing with the export and the import. So, the project was running but further help from anyone willing was still welcome. Euronaut / Issue 13 / April 2005 / page 2 of 17 A few weeks after New Year 2004 a first During the evaluation was made. New problems were whole adventure encountered. Some items had to be revised and and the mainly the planning partially reviewed. We sent out FOS work, much Newsletter nr 2 in March. This explained that the local effort in fundraising via the fiscal deductible donations was Pula was also not a great success - only 785 was collected. We needed. Much needed 2500 to 3000 to cover all costs, so the paperwork for project was menaced with a stranding. We looked homologation for other financing possibilities and sponsors. The and donation fleet council in February made a gift of 1000 for had to be completed and finally the boat had to the project. This confirmed the acquisition of the be inspected by the local navigational authorities. Vlet. Mr. Roland Van Wemmel from “GHENT This was done at 8 am Saturday morning, 8 may. MARINE CENTER” offered to lend a trailer for free. The official ceremony to hand over the boat to the This left 750 (transport costs, fuel, toll…) to group of Uljanik, started at 10 am, in presence of gather. the mayor. After speeches from the local authorities, from FOS (me) and from the group The paperwork kept us very busy and caused many leader, and after a scout-style reception, the boat problems. Making a gift ‘gratis-and-for nothing’ to was rigged for its Croatian maiden trip that our Croatian scouting brothers was not so easy! unluckily ended too soon because of rainy and Transport within the European community was no stormy weather. In the afternoon, a Sea Scout fish- problem, but passing the community border legally barbecue concluded this mission, the beginning of with a second-hand steel Vlet is almost impossible. a closer cooperation. After a long search and with a lot of creativity, we had two possibilities. The first was to launch the On Sunday morning the return started very early, boat in Koper (Slovenia) and sail to Pula (Croatia) because we had to be back in Belgium in two days where it could stay during the whole sailing and considering the German speed limits these season. But then it must go back to Koper until the promised to become long driving days. next season, costing time and traffic, and uncertainties would still remain. Solution two was The story continued in September 2004 and is still to buy the vlet myself and sell it officially in going on. We intend to write this second part of Croatia. This seems very simple but a lot of official the adventure in May 2005. You will read more paperwork was still needed and it cost extra about that in your next issue of Euronaut. money. We finally preferred the second solution because it gave us more certainty. Scouts Marins Européens – Projet de Solidarité We asked our German and Austrian scouting “een vlet voor Kroatië” contacts to help us to find reasonably priced bed and breakfast places for the 7 day transport and Au debut des années 90 nous étions en contact return trip. At 8 am on Wednesday 5 may 2004, avec les Scouts Marin en Pula, Croatie, et nous les Jeanine (assistant group leader of the WE) and I, assistions à bien des égards.