DERBIES

Great info on derby stuff, Chris. Our pack does all three. We do the Pinewood derby every January and in the fall we alternate the Raingutter Regatta and Space Derby every other year.

Pinewood: Our kids love it and it is the most asked about topic of discussion from parents each year at orientation. We use an electronic scoring program run on the laptop. We are able to tie in to a large overhead screen in the room where we hold the derby, this allows everyone to see the times and know that we aren't fudging the numbers. We also do kids' choice awards every year for things like: 'Coolest Car', 'Most Realistic', 'I Made it Myself'. 'Wierdest Car', etc. The biggest thing we've learned is to debrief every year and discussed what worked and what didn't and take notes for next year. Also, we are able to allow for the day before to set up the track. We have found it to be very useful to have the time to do a couple of practive runs with a few of last years cars to ensure the track and software are all working properly.

Space Derby: Some helpful hints we've discovered are…Lubricate rubber bands before the derby. Lubrication prolongs the rubber bands life and power and will help reduce the possibility of their breaking during the competition They can be soaked overnight in castor oil. Have extra boxes of rubber bands on hand. Remember, it takes three rubber bands to fly each ship properly. Experienced rocket racers "warm up" their space ships by gradually winding the rubber band motor to it full capacity. A small hand drill is excellent for winding rubber bands. It also helps speed up the event. The lighter the ship the better, this is more important that shape.

Our event was a mess last year. We didn't allow ourselves enough time to set up the track and the one person that really knew how it worked was not there. The day of the derby flights were horrible. None of the rockets made it down the length of the track. We thought it was rubber band issues, then we were convinced it was propeller issues. We took so much time monking around with everything that we finally had to throw in the towel and scrap the derby. We were nervous because we had a large group of incoming Tigers that year and it was their first big Pack event and we didn't want them to think we were a bunch of failures. After everyone left and the leaders were cleaning up we discovered our mistake. The Space Derby rockets are attached to hangers to fly down the lines. The hangers are two pieces of plastic that clip together. They hang from two small wire hooks from the line. We had forgotten to use the small wire hooks and clipped the plastic hangers directly to the line causing way to much friction which did not let the rockets fly fast enough to make it to the finish line. WE WILL NEVER FORGET THIS AGAIN!

Raingutter: This is one of the boys favorites because the boats are the easiest to make and they boys get to participate more on the day of the event. They love blowing the boatsdown the track. A few things we do to help the event are: There are only two times when we tell our scouts they can wear their hats backwards: archery and blowing raingutter boats (the bill gets in the way). We also have a small six inch length of rope with two monkey fists at each end. This is for the boys to hold a knot in each hand behine their back to keep them from wanting to touch the boat. Each boat has an adult 'rider'. Some one to walk along the track and set the boat upright if it capsizes. As in the other two derbies we also have kids' choice awards for the entries.

We get really into the events. We like to have theme music for each event: Cars soundtrack & old Jan & Dean and Beach Boys songs about cars works great for Pinewood. Star Wars and the like are great for Space Derby. And there are a tone of sailing and boat songs as well as Pirates of the Caribean stuff for Raingutter. Leaders wear themed hats. Like space helmets from the Halloween shop (bought cheap in the beginning of November), sailor hats and racecar helmets all make for a fun event. And the winner of the Pinewood Derby allways has his photo taken while drinking the traditional glass of chocolate milk.