This has been the most remarkable of experiences for all of us at the 63rd and one we will never forget. We have so many people to thank for their support and encouragement. None of this would have been possible without the generous donation of a Mirror kit from Lorne Bellamy and John McCullough of Mirror Sailing Development.

Don Alp who provided his home, his garage, his expertise and far too much of his own resources to build a boat that is nothing short of stunning.

To all the Scouts of 63rd Windsor who came out and shivered in a garage scraping, sanding, cutting, twisting, coating and sweeping to build their very own boat that will outlast their Scouting careers by decades.

To the incredible members of OMDA who came out to sail with us, shared their boats, their time and their love of sailing.

To my fellow Scout Leaders who supported the whole idea and threw themselves into the project.

This whole idea started while I was standing in a lineup waiting for something to happen, in the hot sun, on the shores of Sylvan Lake, Alberta during CJ13, the Canadian Scout Jamboree. As I watched Scouts wait for hours to get into a boat and sail out to a point and sail back. I turned to Scouter Bill Ames and said; "I've got an idea". Which is why we always encourage our Scouts to wear a hat in the sun.

"No Regrets" now belongs to Scouts Canada. She will eventually find a home and be available to any and all Scout groups in Windsor and beyond. So this is not the end of her story, it is not even the beginning of the end of her story; it is however, the end of the beginning

After too many weekends, cut fingers, a nasty appendix, a whole bottle of gorilla glue a box of blue gloves and lots and lots of sawdust, "No Regrets" was launched to much fanfare and a sigh of relief on Saturday June 7th, 2014 at Pittock Lake in Woodstock, Ontario. True to the original vision it's maiden voyage was completed by Scouts of the 63rd. That honour goes to David and Sam who took her out for a spin on a beautiful sunny day. The pictures speak for themselves.

If you have been faithfully following our progress you may rightly assume that we have forgotten you. 'Tis not so; however as Robert Burns tells us the best laid plans often go awry. Just when we thought we were going to make our deadline a number of events conspired against us. The most serious blow to our progress was when Mr Alp and his appendix had a bit of a falling out and decided to go their separate ways. We were of course most concerned with Mr Alp's health which I am pleased to say is good, under the circumstances and after a brief stay in hospital he was back at home but in no mood for climbing about building boats. The show of course must go on and so after a bit of panic....okay...a huge amount of panic there was nothing to do but rally around and get the job done.

Now that our rock climbing camp is behind us we needed to get back to business. Today we can finally say that the decks are all on, and sealed. We also managed to get the inner gunwales installed. As we get closer to the end I think we will find that we are having shorter work days but a lot of progress. Our boat is even starting to look a lot like its "sister ship" in Mr Alps boat building yard! Only 20 days until we launch!!!

What a weekend! Despite having tons of work left to do on our boat, we left thoughts of the water behind this weekend and took to the rocks of the Niagara Escarpment. (I'm sure Mr Alp missed us terribly) We travelled to Camp Nemo, a Scout Camp just outside of Hamilton where Scouter Steve went to Scout Camp some 35 years ago (it hasn't changed a bit) and bunked down in our Adirondack Shelters. On Saturday we headed out to Rattlesnake Point where we met up with Frederick, Ray and Steven from One Axe Pursuits and enjoyed a full day of rock climbing. Check out the One Axe link on our home page. The guys from One Axe were outstanding instructors. We learned a lot but most importantly we had tons of fun and enjoyed an experience we will not forget for a long time.

http://oneaxepursuits.com/2014/

“There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading in the same direction,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only one wasting time is the one
who runs around and around the mountain,
telling everyone else that their path is wrong.”

Along with an amazing rock climbing experience, this weekend was also Jamboree of the trail (JOTT). Jamboree On The Trail is an annual day for the World Scout Movement to hike together. All Scouts, whatever their age and wherever they may be in the world, are invited to participate in whatever way they can. Here is a link to check out JOTT.  

http://jott.org/

Some days are longer than others when it comes to boat building...today was a short (but important) day. Todays builders put a second, and final coat of epoxy on the underside of the decks, sanded out the interior and installed the aft deck. Once the aft deck is installed it's pretty important that we don't wiggle and jiggle the boat around too much, otherwise the glue will not set properly. Even though it wasn't a long day, everyone did a great job.....and Riley kept his fingers....so that's good news too!

Another busy day behind us and lots to show for it. Today we put a second, and final coat of epoxy in the inside tanks and cubby. We also put a coat of epoxy on the underside of the decks. In the pictures below you will be able to see the side tank supports and backing plates for fairleads and cleats. While we waited for the interior tanks to dry we flipped the boat over, planned the chines down and put fibreglass tape on the outside seams. We are doing our best to take advantage of the weather and make sure that all our Scouts get a chance to get involved with key points in the build. We also want to do a lot of our epoxy and sanding work outside....epoxy can be a bit stinky.

A Scout is wise in the use of their resources....and since we are building our boat out of wood we thought it would be a good idea to replace some trees. Every year Scouts all over Canada participate in planting trees. This is not only an important fundraiser for Scouts, it's also a great way to make our communities a little better.

A short day for everyone today but some good progress nevertheless. We started the day by scraping off lots of dried glue from around the floor battens....which look great by the way! Mr Alp's patented floor batten attaching device worked perfectly! We also scrapped and sanded the centre-board case as well the rudder pieces. We finished off the day by putting a second coat of epoxy on the inner tanks. It was a lot cooler than we would have liked so it takes a little longer for epoxy to dry. Good work everyone!

After a well earned break over the Easter weekend we were back at it today. The most notable change you will see is the change in venue. The boat has migrated from Mr Alp's workshop in the basement to his garage. You may see that 'our' boat has some company with a second boat that Mr Alp is building for his daughter. It's nice to see what a finished (or almost finished) boat looks like. We started the day with some terrific excitement when Riley cut his finger pretty deeply with a chisel. Scouter Larry whisked Riley off to the hospital for a few stitches while the rest of us mopped up blood....okay it wasn't that bad...but Riley you can now say that you've put blood and sweat into the boat! Fortunately the cut was not too deep and Riley will be back to build again soon. Today we cleaned up the deck rails, installed the shroud blocks as well as the floor battens.