It 's great to hear about kids learning some of the good ole ways to do things. Some of my fondest memories of my youth were scout related.
Learning to navigate with a compass, the stars, and even starting a fire in the rain. All those skills and many more came in handy in my adulthood.
It's real easy to get around with a talking GPS and all the other gadets available. But like I have always said, unplug em or have the batteries die, and your sc#$#d, without some basic skills.
About 10 years ago, I found myself about 50 miles offshore in a 55 ft Sport fish yacht we were delivering to a new owner. Suddenly we realized we should have been in port by now. After some serious checking it was discovered the main compass had not been set[new] for magnetic varience and was at least 15dergrees off .
The electronic compass and navigation aid auto-pilot was run by a gyro of some sort and had jumped of the gimbals. It was dark but clear and I had a small hand held compass I always carried. By using it and the stars, I determined we were 38miles off course and 3hrs away from the nearest port; On top of that we were low on fuel and a major storm was brewing. The captain never let me forget how glad he was I had been a scout. I got us within 1000yards of a sea bouy 15mi off shore.
By reading the number on it and using good old charts we made it in safe and sound, by the nick off time. It happened to be the Stuart Florida entrance, which is one of the worst on the Eastern seaboard, but better than nothing. The entrance is so shallow, when there are 12ft waves, we bottomed out several times on the way in. The storm turned into a full blown gale and we were on fumes as we found out the next morning when we fueled up.
So one never knows when that simple hike in the woods by compass, can come back and really mean something.
I'd be proud of him too, if he was my son!
Had I not done a similar hike in my youth, I doubt if I would be here to relate this story!
