Ancient Mariner 2012

By Skipper Jim West

The competition was especially tough at the 2012 AMR. This was the 60th annual AMR, held during the Sea Scout Centennial year. Special, memorial, First Place flags were the prize for any crew that could win one of the 25 events. Mariner X, Challenger, Odyssey and the 27 other teams were not giving the Tiki Too any breaks.

With 10 new crew members and a lot of little mistakes on the first day, plus our lead-stroke in the pull-boat pulling her wrist, things were not looking great. But!, the crew held it together and with an all-hands effort, spear-headed by the older girls, the Tiki fought through the challenges and finished with a very respectable 6 First Place awards and a number of other place awards.

The final tally was:

Schooner Class Award - the crew missed Clipper Class by .12% in Ship Events

First Place in: Pullboat Flotilla Drill, Crew Drill, Bosun's Chair (with a time of 1:01), Piloting (with a score of 990 out of 1000), Rules of the Road (with a score of 96%) and Compass and Relative Bearings (tied 4 ways with the Odyssey , Challenger and I think Mariner X).

Second Place in: Uniform Inspection, Scuttlebutt with a time of 1:06 seconds (good job Challenger!, I think their time was in the mid.-50s); Breeches Buoy with a time of 2 minutes 06 seconds (Challenger beat us by 9 seconds); Semaphore (with a score of 99%) and International Code Flags.

Third Place in: Ship Knots, Team Knots and Marlinspike.      Fourth Place in: First Aid.      Fifth Place in: Radio.

The crew qualified for and had a pleasant routine in the Drill-Off.

Over the two-day competition, in 26 events, they looked more like a competitive crew than one experiencing the set-backs of a "rebuilding year". Resilience and belief in themselves brought them back from a tough start to a successful body of work. Good job all!