Survival Island teams return to the school
With a stormy weather forecast for Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, we decided to move survival island forward by a night. During the day the teams rock climbed and abseiled at the crag above the Adventure School and learned how to construct improvised shelters and use bivvy bags and had their survival island briefings with their instructors.
There was a good breeze at the crag and we had pleasantly cooler temperatures than the previous few days. The teams tackled a number of different climbs, operating the ropes for each other under the watchful eyes of their instructors. There are stunning views from the climbing crag across to Admore and the island. A good vantage point to formulate plans amongst the team for how they might go about the tasks of setting a camp and making fires later in the day.
We sat down together for the usual pre-survival tea and cake at 4.30pm before final packing and departing in boats for the island. The three teams all had separate kit drops to find and independent landing spots where they would set their fires at the high water mark.
It is great watching the children land together and wave the boats off, knowing that they now have all the skills needed to make the evening work, and have the independence to make their own decisions and judgments. The first two hours is often critical to the teams’ success and to see shelters going up early was a positive sign.
We picked the teams up at 7 am this morning in drizzly rain for the short boat ride back to the Adventure School and a hearty cooked breakfast of sausage, beans and eggy bread. Sleepy heads at breakfast but lots of stories from their night.
