Saturday, April 26, 2008

Raingutter Ragatta

Today was the Cub Scout Raingutter Ragatta (RR). The kids build a sail boat that they then race by blowing on the sail. There is a lot less construction than in the Pinewood Derby (PWD). Basically, you sand, paint, attach sail, keel and rudder.

I like the RR more than the PWD for a few reasons. As I mentioned, the construction effort is less for the RR. Additionally, the RR is more interactive for the scouts than the PWD. At the PWD do not race the cars themselves. The kids bring the cars, while the parent volunteers put them in on the track, run the race, record the times, etc. With the RR, the kids must actually provide the wind for their boats to sail. They are actually participating in the race rather than watching it as in the PWD.

They ran the RR as a double elimination challenge for each den. Jacob lost his first race, but managed to string together three or four wins in the row, and managed to finish in second place. Interstingly, Jacob finished second in both the PWD and the RR, and the first place winner in the RR also won the PWD.

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