By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
I mean: who wouldn’t want to jump into Lion’s Head Harbour in mid-September, fully dressed?
Three dozen BPDS students did precisely that — after school on Friday September 10, 2021. And they did it with pride and enthusiasm.
The Legendary Outers Swim Test is a rite of passage for Outers — you have to demonstrate an ability to swim well or you can’t take the program. The swim test is in two parts: first you swim 50 metres in shallow water, to prove that you are capable of taking the full test. Then you jump in at the deep end — literally.
Phase Two of the swim test is gruelling: you jump off the floating dock, fully dressed. You swim around the end of the dock and up the other side, approximately 75 metres, then tread water for one minute. Only then can you swim to shore and climb out, exhausted but victorious.
After the Outers Program was interrupted in 2019-20 and entirely cancelled in 2020-21, the uptake for this year has been very high. Approximately 36 of the school’s 100 secondary students will be participating. All who took the test completed it; most of them made it look easy; a few will need to re-do it next week.
The Grade 10 Outers Program is being run this year by Ashley Myles (BPDS Class of 2011), a super-Outer who also has qualifications in Wilderness Advanced First Aid and is a National lifeguard and water safety instructor. The program includes classroom studies in first aid, wilderness survival, navigation and orienteering, but it is the “field trips” that will be remembered for a lifetime.
Myles will handle the Grade 10 trips; Mike Laing will handle the Senior Outers Trips.
The first field trip is the three-day “Fall Hike” along the north shore of the peninsula with overnight camps at High Dump and Storm Haven. The second is the “Winter Camp”: several days living in a quinzee. This year’s winter camp will take place at the Outdoor Education Centre near Wiarton but organizers hope to return to the traditional site at Outers Island (a small island in an inland lake near Dyers Bay) in future years. The crowning achievement is the 8-day Algonquin trip, which Ashley Myles describes: “We paddle over 100km and complete many gruelling portages. This trip is amazing for the students. There are as many mental challenges as physical challenges for the students to overcome.“
The Outers Program has always been dependent on volunteers and this year is no exception. Scott Matheson (BPDS Class of 2006) acted as a lifeguard on the Swim Test; teacher Jennifer Cameron kept all the records; teacher Mike Laing has volunteered to take on the Senior Outers trips and assist on the Junior trips. Many more will lend a hand before the year is over — without all of them, the program would be impossible.
