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"Europe for You" - Jacqueline Collier presented the new, expanded programme for promoting mobility of young people in Europe. The first part of this programme, "Eurosteps", had been presented at the last Seminar in London. It has been expanded and now contains information on 51 activity sites in Europe. Now two other elements have joined Eurosteps - "Passport for Europe" and "Where to stay in Europe".
The "Passport" is a form of logbook, containing information in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish. The passport has spaces to collect "visas" for each completed project in each of six key areas. "Where to Stay in Europe" provides young people with information about Scout and Guide centres throughout Europe.
Sven Harald Johansen, assistant secretary-general, Norwegian Scout / Guide Association, spoke on Modern Leadership in Scouting. He felt that a good leader should make clear and distinct aims for the Group, show confidence and assist when necessary. He felt that there should be a way between being too protective and too free. In the Sea Scout context he gave the example that scouts should be allowed to sail on their own, without an adult leader, once the scouts had obtained certificates of competence. The responsible leader makes the framework for a safe activity and makes sure that the scouts have adequate training to to undertake that activity.
Costas Tsantilis (Greece and World Scout Committee) presented the EU Safety Regulations proposed by the European Commission and also the international regulations in the SOLAS convention. Costas reiterated the message given to us at the last Seminar by the representative from the Royal Yachting Association, that we should have close ties with, or be represented on our National Boating Authority. It was interesting to note that only Netherlands, Greece, Poland and Finland felt that they had any influence with their National Authorities.
Erik Knockenhauer (Sweden) presented the Odysseus Group. He explained that this was a small informal group established by the Regional Office to support Sea Scouting and to explore ideas and projects of a maritime nature which could be part of the Regional activity programme. He stated that as part of this activity a survey would be conducted to find out how many Sea Scouts there were in Europe. The other members of the Group are Costas Tsantilis (Greece), Maarten Velthoen (Netherlands) and Eoghan Lavelle (Ireland).
Olexander Kryskiv and Ludmilla Darmohraj (Ukraine) presented an ambitious project "Chaika" to build a traditional sailing boat and sail it from the Black Sea, through the Mediterranean and around Europe to the Baltic.
The programme included the traditional International Evening and the Scouting Market as well as an afternoon sailing expedition to an island in the Oslo Fjord.
On the last day of the seminar we were able to visit the Maritime Museums. We saw the old Viking ships, including the Gokstadt ship, the polar exploration ship "Fram", associated with Nansen in the Arctic and with Amundsen in the Antarctic, and Thor Heyerdahl's balsa raft "Kon-Tiki" and his papyrus raft "Ra".
  To the European  Sea Scouting home port |
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