Rayner Trophy 1976 Report

The following is the report for the Western Cape's Rayner Trophy competition of 1976:

Report

Route: Swartklip, bases were out and back to a central campsite.

The competition for the Rayner Trophy was held over the weekend 31st January and 1st February 1976. The competition area extended from the False Bay coast near Swartklip to Cape Corps Training Centre on Settlers Way. The entire area is owned and controlled by the South African Defence Force and the permission of the Officer Commanding, Western Province Command, was obtained to the use of the property for the competition.

Several weeks before the competition I met the Commandant of the Cape Corps and his senior officers as the property falls under the immediate control of the Cape Corps. They were very helpful and interested in what we were doing. They indicated that their sick bay would be available in case of need and also that an ambulance is on duty at all times at their sick bay. After the competition it was indicated to me that should we wish to use this property again we could apply direct to the Cape Corps and permission will almost certainly be granted unless, of course, the timing conflicts with one of their own activities.

The competition area provided a contrast to areas selected during the course of the last few years in order to provide the boys with something different. The terrain comprised sand dunes, vlakte and to a lesser extent certain marshy vlei-land. The terrain is, however, rather interesting in the variety of vegetation and in the abundance of bird life. The area is also inhabited by several species of buck.

There was a good team of judges who worked well together. I am particularly indebted to Kevin Wall who assisted greatly in the preparatory work. The other judges were F. Flowers, J. Muller, R. Sharland, W. Marcus, N. Coxon, G. Fisher, A. Brock, K. Bennington, D. Lawson, R. Abrahams, G. de la Hunt, B. Fugaji, F. Harris, L. Cohen, J. MacEwan, B. Bryant and, of course, yourself. (Colin Ingles).

In preparing for the competition, I gave attention to the format of the competition rather than the projects at the various bases as I had various ideas that I wished to experiment with in view of the complexity that has arisen in recent years through the large number of teams participating in the competition. The object of the experiment was to ensure a smooth flow of teams from base to base without delays being occasioned and without bottlenecks arising. The main method employed to achieve this was to conduct the competition in a circular fashion with five bases equidistant from a centre point and equidistant from each other. One fifth of the teams hiked towards each base from the centre point and rotated around the bases in an anti-clockwise direction. In this manner the teams split up and the maximum number of teams heading for any base at a particular time was one fifth of the teams in the competition. The second method employed was to ensure that the projects at each base were of such a nature that all teams arriving at a base could tackle the projects simultaneously, i.e. I avoided projects that only one team could do at a time.

In the result delays and bottlenecks were avoided and the experiment proved successful. I am not suggesting that all future competitions should be conducted in the same manner, i.e. on a circular basis. However, I do recommend that the format of future competitions should be such as to ensure that no more than that number of teams which the judges at a base can reasonably handle should be scheduled to arrive at the particular base at any one time and furthermore that tests and projects should be of such a nature that all teams arriving at a base at any one time should be able to tackle the projects at the base simultaneously.

Thirty teams entered the competition and five withdraw with apologies.

These teams were 7th Green and Sea Point, 1st Camps Bay, 4th Claremont, 4th Wynberg and 1st Monte Vista.

Two teams from the Coloured Association were invited to enter and they entered under the names of Eagle Patrol and Cobra Patrol. In addition, two Coloured Commissioners were invited to participate as judges.

The weather for the duration of the competition was good but the temperature was high. The heat was accentuated by the almost total lack of shade. Fortunately, some relief from the heat was obtained on the Sunday when a mild wind arose.

The total marks for the tests and projects were 250, and the result of the competition was as follows:

First	2nd Rondebosch	194
Second	1st Pinelands	191
Third	1st Kenilworth	184
Fourth	1st Constantia	182
Fifth	2nd Somerset West	180
Sixth	1st Somerset West	176
Seventh	12th Green & Sea Point	164
Eighth	1st Parow	162
Tie	2nd Pinelands	162
Tenth	1st Strand	160
Eleventh	1st Meadowridge	159
Tie	3rd Pinelands	159
Thirteenth	1st Durbanville	156
Fourteenth	1st Green & Sea Point	154
Tie	1st Wynberg	154
Sixteenth	1st Milnerton	146
Seventeenth	1st Claremont	145
Tie	1st Goodwood & Vasco	145
Nineteenth	1st Rosebank	143
Twenty	Eagle Patrol (Coloured Division)	142
Twenty-one	2nd Bergvliet	137
Twenty-two	Cobra Patrol (Coloured Division)	132
Twenty-three	2nd P1umstead	126
Twenty-four	1st Kenridge	111
Twenty-five	2nd Brooklyn	102

Chief Judge: Norman Osburn