Every year Ngati Toa host the Zone Raft race. Troops from all over the zone are invited and encouraged to show off their skills. Below are the rules and course options used:
The course:
Depending on the wind direction the course will be set up as a northerly or southerly course.
The rules:
- The event has 2 age categories;
- Scouts – up to 14 and a half years of age
- Venturers – Over 14 and a half but under 18 years of age
- Teams must consist of a minimum of 4 participants. Each team has their own raft. There is no maximum number of people per team, i.e. participants per raft.
- Each team builds and sails their own raft.
- Rafts are to be built using ropes and lashings. No duct tape, zip ties or the like (it is a Scouting event).
- Scout/Venturer groups can enter as many teams as they wish, or combine to form a team. Scouts and Venturers together in a team will race in the Venturer category.
- All materials required for the raft including poles, ropes and flotation aids, ie tractor inner tubes, barrels, etc. are to be provided by the participating Scout/Venturer group.
- Each team may use a number of “standard flotation aids” up to the number of people in that team plus 2, no more (i.e. a team of 4 may use up to 6 flotation aids but no more, a team of 7 can use up to 9). A “standard flotation aid” = 1 tractor tyre inner tube or large barrel or equivalent assemblage of smaller items. The race adjudicator has the final say on what a flotation aid is.
- Each raft must have a ‘mast’ that stands at least 1 metre above the ‘deck’.
- Any ‘sail’ used cannot be an actual sail.
- Paddles can be pretty much anything but not double-bladed kayak paddles.
- All rafts must be built on the day from scratch, no preassembling of parts please.
- All raft construction is to be carried out by Scouts in a Scout team and Venturers in a Venturer team. No leader or other adult may touch any part of the raft or its components during the construction or sailing part of the race. Any infraction of this rule may result in the offender being keel-hauled from said raft. Exceptions are to assist carrying a completed raft to or from the water, to recover parts or all of a raft from the water as necessary or to assist/rescue a Scout/Venturer.
- Leaders and adults may verbally advise Scouts/Venturers to assist them in tying knots if absolutely necessary but Scouts/Venturers should be encouraged to assist each other in the first instance.
- Leaders and adults must not advise Scouts/Venturers on the design or construction of their rafts (having them fall apart is the best way to learn and all part of the fun of it) except to ensure that the design/construction is safe.
- All participants must wear adequate, warm clothing to allow them to be in the water for an extended period of time. Wetsuits are preferable but layers of appropriate alternative clothing may be sufficient.
- All participants must wear a lifejacket and closed toe shoes. Any participant not wearing either a lifejacket or closed toe shoes must not go on the water.
