Posted by Ross on September 17, 2015 at 17:11:12 user rlcossar.
The Ontario TARS 2015 event was held at the Canadian Forces Base Trenton Yacht Club on August 15th. We had about 50 club members attend plus a few extra members of my family who know the books. We held this day as an effort to educate new people into the world of Swallows & Amazons and to help bring the books that we are now reading to a fourth generation of our family to life.
Our day started at 10am with getting-to-know-you type games and a canoe paddle (modeled on a poker run) where the canoeists picked up Ransome related cards to create a best hand from what they were dealt. The teams paddled to different points around the yacht club to collect the cards. I paddled with two of my grandchildren who are 6 and 8 years of age.
We had shore based semaphore practices, word games, a gold hunt, and a land based scavenger hunt that were full of book related items. After a BBQ lunch and a cake complete with Wildcat Island, we headed out for a on water activity in power and sail boats. WE had to interpret a semaphore message sent from the committee boat that sent us to a race mark where we fished a balloon from the water with instructions in it. This gave us a course to follow and different boats were heading opposite directions around the course. This gave opportunity for water fights between those identified as Amazons and those, like us, who were Swallows. My 32 foot Bayfield sailboat was being tossed around on the wake of a rather pirate like Margoletta. This ended with each boat fishing a bottle from the bay that had a message in it that required members to look at the collection of 12 books in the club house on their return. We rounded out the day with a camp fire and prizes. We made sure three youth won a copy of Swallows & Amazons!
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