Pine Wood Derby

The annual scramble to get the car done in time for the race off finally arrived early one Saturday morning. I certainly felt this year's race was much earlier than I remember at our previous den but with each pack there are differences. After the event, I suggested to Karl that maybe we could buy a kit earlier and work on it at a more leisurely pace next time. He had that look on his face of never thinking of this before but sounded like a good idea.

Anton's car design this year was a chicken bone. His creativity has increased each year and it seems no one in this pack has ever thought of doing something outside of the box so to speak. One child did construct his car to look like a wii remote but Anton's seemed a crowd favorite as they cheered it on down the track.

Another difference from this pack was the technological equipment. Having left a pack full of sons of Engineers, we were a little disappointed to find them lacking the timing and winner notification equipment. Karl stepped up to get the notification equipment but money was not allocated for the computerized timing system. This was a shame because it would have cleared up any questions on who's car was indeed fastest. We had to rely on the ranking of races method and some cars did not run against others in it's group. Another change was the control of the Boy Scouts over the event. Before we were lucky to have a resident Boy Scout Pack which ran the weighing in and racing of cars. Karl suggested asking some from a nearby pack to join us. We had about 5 Boy Scouts, mostly the older brothers of the Cub Scouts, who were very excited to be helping. Karl, again due to his experience and willingness to take charge, encouraged them to do their jobs. I think some of the adults were a little uneasy to the change, but it also gave the Cubbies a chance to interact with Boy Scouts.

After the Cub Scouts finished their races, they let the siblings have a go on the track. Isabella not wanting to go empty handed but also not having had the time to work on her own car, brought hers from last year.

In the end, Anton got third in his den. His car won two of three races and came in a very close second on the other. We were a little disappointed they did not give out the awards. This pack likes to wait till the Blue and Gold dinner to award the boys. Karl had some pretty strong feelings to their methods but I reminded him we were new and he could not change everything all at once. He is such a dedicated Den Leader and really wants to do the best for these boys, but as I told him later, we need to pace ourselves. We are both spread too thin already to take on more at this time. However, were their in a will, there is a way. I suspect Karl is already thinking of ways to give more to these boys.