from Claytor Lake

Here's a quick July 10 update from the Claytor Lake Aquatic Base Camp. Sunday was a six-hour snafu while our friends at Camp Powahatan tried to get themselves organized. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. but didn't get to our camp until 7 p.m. The program director, however, immediately filled us with confidence in the quality of the program.Dinner was a yummy spaghetti bake, and the subsequent food has been good (desserts) to tolerable (runny scrambled eggs). There are rumors of grilled hamburgers tonight, cube steak later on, and an impending shrimp and sausage boil on Thursday. Overnight, it got down into the low 60s/upper 50s...wonderful sleeping weather. It is warm and sunny today. Perfect. Parents, you can be proud of the way your scouts are carrying themselves. They are doing a fine job.The members of Crew 1 are doing small- and large-boat sailing in the mornings, as well as snorkeling. They are doing motorboating, waterskiing and rowing in the afternoons. The instruction seems to be of a high quality...although I'm somewhat unsure about the skiing instructor's requirement that the scouts learn how to use skiing to pick up young ladies: "You will learn to ski one-handed, dip your hand in the water and use it to slick your hair back. The ladies love that."They are going to be worn-out puppies by day's end. Rick White