Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition.

[DanTribe]

Grand daughter has mooted the possibility of doing her DofE expedition in my yacht. I have no objections per se, but tried to look up the requirements. These are a bit contradictory.
1/ Must be by your own physical effort and no mechanical assistance [seems to rule out sailing]
2] Must be unaccompanied.
3] Must be supervised by an adult.
4] The expedition must have an aim [this also seems to rule out sailing ]
7] to 9] general sensible stuff.
10] There must be 7 to 10 members in your group[ ? see item 2]
Has anyone had experience of this sort of thing? The organiser at her school knows nothing of sailing so can't really help.

 

[SiteSurfer]

I've looked at this for the Scouts, basically its been done where the youths sail on their own, with usually a support boat which shadows them.
From memory the crew were mainly comp crew and the skipper was a DS. The aim aspect can be as simple as completing a passage planned in advance (similar to the hikes done as alternatives). Its more about team work and effective planning than being super complicated.

 

[Blue Sunray]

A very similar idea (using another child's parents's boat) came up when my son was doing his DoE Gold and was acceptable to the authorities in principle. However in the end the children filed it under too difficult in favour of the more normal land based exped.

 

[NickRobinson]

What level? At Gold all need to be strangers As an assessor/instructor I tended to divert from other than walking, Horses/canoes/etc. all complicate. On the yacht, how would I assess for example?
I can't locate my handbook but group size is 4/7. Can anyone comment whether the student's yacht would need to be coded?
Here's a link to the current general advice for expeditions including boats (no enclosed cabins!) http://www.dofe.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/programme_ideas_-_expedition.pdf

 

[yoda]

While my son did exactly this about 6 years ago I couldn't tell you if guidance has changed since then. He and 2 others undertook a sailing expedition using a friends 43ft yacht with the owner in attendance for safety oversight. They all had to qualify as day skippers before they could do it and they kept a video diary in order to have the expedition assessed. I guess it comes down to discussing with the authorities and agreeing the plan well in advance.

Yoda

 

[prv]

1/ Must be by your own physical effort and no mechanical assistance [seems to rule out sailing]

I think in practice this just means no cars, buses, or motorbikes. Horses, for instance, were suggested as a possibility by the powers that be when I did it, and that's not really your own physical effort.

4] The expedition must have an aim [this also seems to rule out sailing ]

The "aim" can be pretty arbitrary and tenuous. We made a record of ancient burial mounds as marked on the OS map, most of which were just unremarkable lumps of grass.

Pete

 

[NickRobinson]

The "aim" can be pretty arbitrary and tenuous. We made a record of ancient burial mounds as marked on the OS map, most of which were just unremarkable lumps of grass.

Pete

Stiles, Pete stiles..... and more stiles..... What do you think of the Expedition mentioned above, just three in the group, with the parent/boat owner supervising? How would you have assessed that one

 

[JumbleDuck]

There was a discussion about doing DofE expeditions by dinghy here a year or two back. If it's done by yacht, is engine use allowed?

 

[Blue Sunray]

What level? At Gold all need to be strangers

Odd - my son did it through school with people he'd known for between four and 11 years. I was rather impressed that 38 out of a year of circa 120 got Gold Awards in his year.

 

[Scomber]

Odd - my son did it through school with people he'd known for between four and 11 years. I was rather impressed that 38 out of a year of circa 120 got Gold Awards in his year.

same here! my daughter got her gold (only 2 girls ! a lad or two! ) all from same school

 

[ShinyShoe]

Some useful links:
http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms...ities-sections/expedition/expedition-require/
Yachts only mentioned for Gold. I'd expect a dinghy provided far more Frank Dye Esk Adventure...

Expidition boat
http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/expedition/by-boat/

Current conditions:
http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/expedition/20-conditions/

So the supervising adult can not be on the yacht AFAIK. They could be on a supervising mothership or even ashore and keeping in contact via radio +/- check point check ins. Basically the adult needs to be in a position to intervene if things are going wrong. On the traditional hike the adult may meet the group at their planned lunch stop (but does NOT do anything to help) and then at camp site again no assistance and doesn't stay over AFAIK.

Note overnight accomodation is listed as camping - how does that work on the yacht - do you camp ashore?

Aims;
http://www.dofe.info/go/expeditionaims/

 

[ShinyShoe]

There was a discussion about doing DofE expeditions by dinghy here a year or two back. If it's done by yacht, is engine use allowed?

Well you'd discuss that with your assessor. BUT it wouldn't be accepted for the passage. If you've done the hours required and needed a tad of motor to do a docking manouvre that *MAY* be permissible. But I suspect even for putting someone ashore in the tender should be rowed not outboarded...

What level? At Gold all need to be strangers As an assessor/instructor I tended to divert from other than walking, Horses/canoes/etc. all complicate. On the yacht, how would I assess for example?

As a former DoE participant who was "forced" to do a walk when a dinghy cruise would have been a far better accomplishment I can say I think thats the wrong approach. And actually I think goes against the ethos of DoE - surely its about challenge so not taking the path of least resistance?

Where is the problem assessing the yacht? You just need a means to get to them at the points you want to?

Can anyone comment whether the student's yacht would need to be coded?

Only if they were paying to use it.

Here's a link to the current general advice for expeditions including boats (no enclosed cabins!) http://www.dofe.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/programme_ideas_-_expedition.pdf[/QUOTE]

 

[Topcat47]

Way back in the 80's, one of my neighbour's daughters got her gold when she was on a RYA Young Skippers exercise. Four of then on a Hunter duette, Southampton to Falmouth, no engine, everything by sail, no supervising adults on board. I doubt if it would be possible today due to HSAW.

 

[Richard10002]

If you want to get the Duke of Edinburgh Award, I wouldn't rock the boat, ( ), and do a hike with camping overnight.

If you then want to go sailing, you can do so at your leisure, without wondering whether you are meeting the rules, or not.

I tried to do a few things differently when I was a young man in the Scouts, and it wasn't worth it!

Its admirable that someone wants to gain the award in a different, perhaps more challenging, way......

I'm pretty sure I got the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, but it might only have been Bronze or Silver. I can't remember whether my big adventure was a 50 mile cycle ride with one or two overnight camps, or a walk along a chunk of the Pennine Way.

ETA Probably only Bronze I definitely didn't go to an award ceremony in London, but I do recall a leather bound award or record keeping booklet?

I wonder if it's possible to find out what I got, about 40 years ago

 

[JumbleDuck]

What level? At Gold all need to be strangers

There is nothing in the rules (http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/expedition/20-conditions/) to say that gold expedition members have to be strangers, though for the residential section

"You must join it individually and not with an existing group of friends or as part of a school or youth group trip."

http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms...ies-sections/residential/residential-require/​

Sailing is definitely allowed, by the way. In fact, they mention it twice in one paragraph:

From sailing along the Norfolk Broads to walking in Canada or horse riding in the Brecon Beacons, it can be as far-flung or as close to home as you want it to be. You can also choose how you want to travel – it doesn’t just have to be on foot! You could choose to do your expedition by bike, by canoe, by kayak, by wheelchair, by sailing boat or even on a horse or llama!

http://www.dofe.info/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/activities-sections/expedition/​

 

[prv]

Odd - my son did it through school with people he'd known for between four and 11 years.

Nick's confusing the Expedition and the Residential (the latter of which only exists at Gold level).

Pete

 

[prv]

How would you have assessed that one

Why would I have assessed any of them? My sole contact with DoE was as a 14 year old doing the Bronze award at school. I just have a good memory hence still able to dredge up the rules now

Pete

 

[[70521]]

Why not contact

http://www.trinitysailing.org/youth-adventure-sailing/

They do DoE expeditions and may be able to talk over their experience.

I assessed a few Gold Expeditions on mountains, but really, really wish I could have done this type of thing for my Gold. We had done FAR more mountaineering by the time we got to the Gold Expedition we did not do it as too easy.

 

[NickRobinson]

Why would I have assessed any of them? My sole contact with DoE was as a 14 year old doing the Bronze award at school. I just have a good memory hence still able to dredge up the rules now

Pete

Glad someone has a good memory!

 

[NickRobinson]

As a former DoE participant who was "forced" to do a walk when a dinghy cruise would have been a far better accomplishment I can say I think thats the wrong approach. And actually I think goes against the ethos of DoE - surely its about challenge so not taking the path of least resistance?

[/QUOTE]

Agreed- but tended to divert, not refuse. As part of a LEA-wide DofE scheme there could be several hundred participants at any one time, finding suitable specialist supervisors/assessors was a factor.