http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:39:36 +0000 86400 Manage articles http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/news/2013-gkc-membership-renewal-notice-r16 GKC Membership Update:

• 82 members are paid up for 2013.
• 39 members from 2012 have yet to renew
• 13 members from 2011 have yet to renew
• 5 members from 2010 have yet to renew

2013 membership fees:

• Individual - $35
• Additional family member 13 yrs old+ - $10 extra per person
• Additional family member under 13 yrs - $5 extra per person

To sign up you can either pay online or mail a cheque:

A. Paying online

Note: You HAVE to have an account on the website in order to use the store functionality. If you DO NOT have an account, please go to Create New Account in the top right corner of the screen (beside 'Login') and create your account today.

• Go to http://www.guelphkayakclub.com
• Log in…you must do this to access the ‘Store’ tab
• Go to the Store and purchase your membership *
• Go to http://www.guelphkay...ship-forms-r11
• Fill in two required forms: Membership Application Form and Liability Waiver Form

* Paying with PayPal: You do NOT have to have a pre-existing PayPal account. You can pay with your credit card, interact or whatever else PayPal supports by following the onscreen instructions. If you do have a PayPal account, it should be very simple for this to work. Once you have finished paying, it will return you back to the GKC store. If you have any issues, please e-mail shop@guelphkayakclub.com.


B. Mailing cheque

• Go to http://www.guelphkay...rship-forms-r11
• Fill in two required forms: Membership Application Form and Liability Waiver Form
• Make cheque payable to “Guelph Kayak Club” and mail to the address sent in the e-mail

Membership Forms:

It is vital that we have your membership application form along with the liability form. The membership form allows us to send your information to Whitewater Ontario as well as for our own records. The liability form is important for you to read and understand our policies and assumption of risk by individuals and their families or guests!

Membership Application Form: http://www.guelphkay.../membership.php
Membership Liability Form: http://www.guelphkay...ship/waiver.php

Thanks for all of your support!

GKC]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:51:00 +0000 c45147dee729311ef5b5c3003946c48f http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/2013-virtual-agm-r15
Harris]]> Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:31:07 +0000 2b44928ae11fb9384c4cf38708677c48 http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/whitewater-ontario-river-advocacy-festival-j-r14 Whitewater Ontario: River Advocacy Festival - June 30th, 2012

Whitewater Ontario is hosting a River Advocacy Festival at River Run on the Ottawa River, June 30th, 2012. The Goal is to raise awareness and support river advocacy, river access and river awareness in Ontario.


Festival Program:

1:30 - 4:30 PM - Open forum discussion - "River Advocacy in Ontario: The Issues"

  Speaker Panel Includes:

   Linda Heron - Ontario Rivers Alliance
   John Walker - Trout Unlimited Canada
   Philip Compass - Save the Petawawa
   Ben Plumb - The Water Institute, University of Waterloo

5:00 PM - BBQ & Raffle

6:00 PM - Key Note Speaker - CHRIS KOLL
AW Advocate, Gaulyfest, Moosefest Organizer

   "River Advocacy: The American Whitewater Story"

8:00 PM -  Campire & Music by Doug Skeggs and Friends


Club members and public alike: Please make an effort to attend. Not only a great cause and an excellent forum to generate some movement in our own local river advocacy issues, but also a great chance to network and hear the stories of people who have been involved for many years!

- Harris

Official flyer:


]]> Thu, 31 May 2012 13:18:57 +0000 5fd0b37cd7dbbb00f97ba6ce92bf5add http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/history-of-the-guelph-kayak-club-r12 A Guelph Kayak Club history . . . by Kevin Maggs

The Guelph Kayak Club started in 1991 by 13 paddlers (fill their names in) who were mainly located in Guelph. Since that time our ranks have passed the 100 mark with paddlers all over Southern Ontario. It seems that everyone wants to be part of the best paddling club in Ontario. During its humble beginnings, the club paddled the Speed River, slalom raced and provided volunteer for the Minden cup Slalom race. They also ran beginner trips from Fergus to Elora on the harrowing class II section of the Grand River (don’t laugh, boats were longer back then and harder to control) The club ran weekly trips down the Elora Gorge and in the winter we enjoyed dry land training at the Woolwich arms in Guelph. Bending our Elbow at “The Wooly” kept at least one of our paddling arms limber. The club also ran winter roll clinics at the University of Guelph pool. All of this was organized with a quarterly newsletter, word of mouth and by phone.

Through the efforts of those original paddlers, the club continued to grow and new blood pushed the club into more challenging rivers. We never charged for teaching newcomers and always expected people to be self reliant and make responsible decisions regarding their ability. Saving new boaters was considered part of the challenge of running whitewater with a diverse group. We now enjoy regular BBQ’s, organize a river clean up and were one of the original two clubs that formed the idea of the King of Clubs. The King of clubs started as an informal competition between us and the Kawartha Whitewater paddlers.  So far, it has evolved into an event with 6 Ontario clubs competing in fun and challenging land and water events.  The Guelph Kayak Club has been the victorious club in 2 of the last 3 King of Clubs events.  We also organize a Thanksgiving weekend on the Ottawa and our infamous Christmas Party. The club has always been an informal group, more of a gathering of friends than an institution. As such, we don’t have a Board of Directors but have instead opted for a Steering Committee who organized all of the events and try to move the club forward. Paddle trips are no longer announced in newsletters but on the forum of our website that has been created and administered by Andrew Harris. This website is where members can read about upcoming trips, and check out videos and trip reports of past trips.

We have always been a Whitewater Ontario Member Club but more of a way of helping out WO than for the benefit of the club or membership. Recent changes to W/O board has helped to increase its focus toinclude recreational paddlers. Our own Wayne Donison is on the WO Board and he is working diligently with other recreational club representatives to improve WO. These changes have allowed our club to increase the benefit to our members and will eventually provide insurance and increase leadership roles for paddling trips and instruction.]]> Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:27:03 +0000 7f6ffaa6bb0b408017b62254211691b5 http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/membership-forms-r11

• Membership application
• Membership liability waiver

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Membership Application

The membership application gives us the necessary contacts details about yourself and any additional family members you have paid for. It puts you on our membership list, into a membership group on the website, is submitted to WO for your membership there and allows us to keep tabs on our membership retention.

Membership Application Form

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Membership Liability Waiver

The membership liability waiver is a form that details the release of any liability from the Guelph Kayak Club and members at large. By signing and submitting this form, you have agreed that whitewater carries with it an inherent risk that is individual in nature.

Membership Liability Waiver Form

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Questions Regarding Membership Forms

If you have any questions regarding how to fill out the forms or the content of the forms, please e-mail membership@guelphkayakclub.com.


Thanks for your cooperation.

- Guelph Kayak Club]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:44:39 +0000 698d51a19d8a121ce581499d7b701668 http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/shuttle-for-dummies-r10 By: Kevin Maggs

Our most recent trip to Mackfest has shown that despite the improvement of their on-water skills, the GKC is severely lacking in their off-water skills: Specifically, their ability to get to the river in a timely manner. I would hate to tarnish the entire club for the shortcomings of a few, so you should take this brief test before deciding whether you need this tutorial.

1. Do you often find yourself at the take out and suddenly realize your clothes are at the put in?2. Have you been at the put in with the shuttle completed and realized you are missing a minor piece of equipment like a boat, paddle, skirt, helmet or simple common sense?
3. Have you reached the take out and realized there is no form of transportation waiting for you?
4. Have you been at a festival only 20 minutes from the put in and kept people waiting who have driven 3 hours to get there?
5. Have you driven to the take out, the put in, the take out and the put in again when you were only running the river once?
6. Have you spent more time doing the shuttle than you spent on the river?
7. Have you spent large amounts of time standing at the put in smoking, talking, pulling lint out of your belly button and touching yourself in your bathing suit area while other boaters are waiting in the river wondering where the hell you are?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions then you are a dummy and should read on.

Since you are still reading then we can assume that you are a self professed dummy. Take heart because there are worse things to be. Some paddlers stopped reading. This may mean that they are dummies but blissfully unaware. Admitting you are a dummy is the first step in becoming less of a dummy. You have a chance because those other dummies will continue to annoy their fellow boaters until their boating days are over.

I will explain what is wrong with the above points by number.

1. Nobody likes a wet boater in their vehicle. Sometimes it is inevitable. A paddler shows up late for a paddle because three were almost killed in a car accident or because they or their partner was giving birth and they missed the shuttle. In those cases, exceptions can be made. Also in cases where two runs are being made wet people can be tied to the roof for a second shuttle.

2. This one is self explanatory for anyone with half a brain. So I will explain it to you. The gear listed above is essential for paddling whitewater. Without it you don’t get to boat.

3. Also fairly easy to figure out what is wrong. We are kayakers not hikers. We drive to the river, boat to the bottom, drive to the bar. To do this we need a vehicle at both ends.

4. People who wake up early and eat breakfast in their car while driving slightly below the speed range that would get the charged with racing a motor vehicle are doing so because they are busy. They don’t have the entire weekend to play. Keeping them waiting only makes them long for the hours of sleep the missed by getting up so early.

5.&6 It should be easy to see what is wrong with these scenarios. We are kayakers not rally drivers. If you want to drive to the same place four or five times a day become a taxi driver. You will meet lots of interesting people and make a little pocket money as well.

7. This is wrong in so many ways but I will make one point that should help everyone understand. There is no booze at the put in. If there is no booze, then why are we standing around talking at the put in? Besides, what is there to talk about? We haven’t done the river yet.

I am hopeful that I have successfully explained the reason for a properly executed shuttle, now I will explain how to accomplish it.

There are two basic methods.

Vehicles up and Vehicles down.

Vehicles down involves the majority of the cars at the bottom of the river. This method is used when you are driving past the take out on the way to the put in. You may have experienced this at Ross St. in Elora.

In this method:

All cars meet at the put in.
All boats, passengers and ALL paddling gear are left at the put in.
Drivers head to the bottom, leave as many vehicles as possible at the bottom and drive back to the put in with the fewest cars possible.
All dry clothes and shoes should be left in the vehicles that are at the takeout.
With this method, all boaters arrive at the take out, change into dry clothes and then the boats belonging to the shuttle drivers are loaded onto a vehicle or two and the shuttle driver and boats are taken back to the top to retrieve gear.
Very simple, Very efficient.

Vehicles Up:

Now before you stop reading and assume that Vehicles up is just the opposite of vehicles down. I would like to point out that you are only reading this because you are in fact a Dummy. If it was in fact the opposite you would find yourself at the take out with your boat and gear. Your dry clothes and vehicles would be at the top of the river. You would have a very exhausting day ahead of you as you tried to paddle upstream.

So please read on because there are also some finesse tips waiting at the end of the tutorial.

Vehicles Up is what we encountered at Mackfest and this is where the club showed their lack of exposure to this foreign shuttle.

In this method, on the way past the take out, leave the largest number of vehicles at the takeout you can without affecting your ability to transport all the boats, paddlers and gear to the put in.

The vehicles left at the take out must be emptied of all paddlers, boats and paddling gear that will be required for that day. That equipment is not only removed from the vehicle -- it must be placed in the vehicles that are going to the put in.

These vehicles left at the takeout are then filled with . . . Is the suspense killing you? Have you figured it out for yourself? Just for fun, write a few ideas on a piece of paper before you read on.

Ready?

Ok here are the answers: Dry clothes for all the paddlers, beverages, food, perhaps frisbees or paintball guns to entertain the people left behind. But number one is dry clothes for everyone.

Once at the top, boats are unloaded, people put on their gear quickly and paddle the river.

No one should be attempting to drive back to the take out unless they have chosen not to boat. (These people are shuttle bunnies or Shuttlecocks. How to acquire them or turn normal everyday paddlers into them will be covered in later tutorials.)

The river is then paddled. At the take out, people get dressed and drivers are returned to their vehicles. Meanwhile, passengers enjoy the sun and take the few minutes afforded to them by the absence of the drivers to talk behind their backs, steal their beer or plan various pranks on the kind hearted people who did all the driving while those lazy pricks just hung around in the sun and drank themselves silly.

Once again this method can be simple, efficient and quickly accomplished when the rules are followed.

I’m sure some of you are questioning why not leave the bare minimum of vehicles at the takeout or why dry clothes for all paddlers are important when you could get away with only dry clothes for the drivers. This is a good question considering the source so I will answer it;

Safety and Convenience:

Convenience: Everyone has paddled with boaters who seem to take 5 times longer than most people to get dressed. If these people are drivers then everyone ends up waiting for them to fold and press their airbags before they run the shuttle. This is annoying and does not need to be tolerated. If such person is taking too long then another person can be dispatched to pick up their vehicle. If only the clothes for the drivers were waiting then this would not be possible. If clothes are only available for drivers then people would be standing around in their paddling gear (or worse naked) while the shuttle was ran and would only be able to stow their gear and change after the shuttle. This severely cuts into drinking time. More importantly it cuts into the drivers’ drinking time.

I would like to make this perfectly clear: No one should ever cut into the drivers’ drinking time.

Safety: While not as important as convenience, it should be considered.

If someone is injured on a river and there are extra cars at the take out then the injured party can be immediately transported to the hospital so that their wimpering and whining does not disturb the revelry of the passengers drinking, eating and waiting for shuttles.

A few quick finesse items to consider:

Pick up trucks rule.
Next up are Vans.
The reasons are simple.
Trucks carry more boats,
Vans carry more people.

Whenever possible people with passenger cars should bow to the will of Pick up truck owners. If they are not around then bow to the Van owners. Everyone is free to hate motorcycle and cyclists.

In a perfect paddling world people would only show up to paddle with pick up trucks and vans.

Know your shuttle roads. Sometimes adjustments have to be made to suit the shuttle vehicle with the shuttle roads. There have been many times that we have had to wedge a small car under the wheels of a shuttle truck to get traction.

In advanced shuttle circles not every vehicle goes to the take out first. For Vehicle up Shuttles.

Also advanced shuttlers have even managed to organize to meet people who are coming from the opposite direction after dropping their gear at the top. This allows the people coming from the opposite direction to simultaneously drop their dry gear in the vehicle at the take out and shuttle that driver to the Put in. But I’m getting way too advanced.
These should be saved for later tutorials.

If you liked this tutorial please buy the writer a drink when you see him and more tutorials will be forthcoming.

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Original article published September 28th, 2010]]> Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:13:59 +0000 5f93f983524def3dca464469d2cf9f3e http://www.guelphkayakclub.com/content/_/required-reading/new-member-information-r9 QUESTIONS?

Email them to hawkeye@guelphkayakclub.com

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GUELPH KAYAK CLUB has a ‘General Boating Discussion’ Forum:

1. Check out the Forum; a place to keep up with what’s happening and chat with local paddlers!
2. Create an account by picking a username and password...then l og in and you can post and reply to posts…it’s that easy.
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GKC MEMBERSHIP :

Purchase a club membership on-line by logging in and then clicking on the "Store” tab top right...

2012 Membership runs from January 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013.
$35 - Single member or head of family fee
- Add $5 for each extra family member 12 years and under
- Add $10 for each family member 13 and older
$15 - Single member fee (Instead of $35)...if you are already a Whitewater Ontario member

** If you join GKC AFTER the 'King of Clubs' weekend on Labour Day, membership cost will be $20 for the remainder of the year to cover our $20/member submission to Whitewater Ontario. This guarantees that we have you covered under all of the WO benefits, including insurance for all sanctioned GKC events (if concerned, check which events are sanctioned BEFORE participating). Also, $5 of your membership for WO goes towards River Advocacy initiatives...a very worthy cause.
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WEEKLY PADDLES at Elora Gorge: beginning Sunday April 1/2012

Wednesday nights – meet at Ross St parking lot in Elor! a @ 5:45pm to be ready to shuttle @ 6:00pm

Sunday mornings – meet at Ross St parking lot in Elora @ 10:45am to be ready to shuttle @ 11:00am
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SHUTTLING

Everyone meets at the put-in to unload boats and gear; we drive all vehicles to the take-out and come back in as few cars as possible, making sure the drivers
who come back leave their dry clothes in a vehicle at the take-out. After the paddle a few drivers need to get a ride back to the top, which is quite easy because we tend to leave the trucks or bigger vehicles (that can take extra boats) at the takeout.
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DIRECTIONS to ELORA GORGE PADDLING: We meet at the Ross St parking lot in Elora

If you are heading north on County Road 7 int! o Elora, drive past the Tim Hortons, straight through the lights, down the hill and turn right just before the bridge onto Ross Street; 100 meters in on the left is the parking lot where we meet...

http://www.mapquest....address=Ross+St
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DIRECTIONS to UPPER IRVINE RIVER PADDLING: We meet at the bridge crossing the Irvine River on Irvine St north of Salem.
From the 'Unofficial' takeout on Middle Brook Road, drive east into Elora (the road changes name at County Rd 7 and becomes David St). Stay on this road until it ends at a T-junction at Irvine Street. Turn left and head north for approximately 2 km until you cross a bridge. This is the putin for the Upper.
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RIVER INFORMATION – GRCA website (Grand River Conservation Authority):

http://www.grandrive...2&Sub1=6&Sub2=2

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POOL SESSIONS (2011/2012):

Open to the public; no formal instruction; bring own kayak, paddle, skirt and nose plug. Cost: $10.00, cash only; pay as you go; pay lifeguard as office is closed
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Every Sunday night from 8:00-9:00 pm
Dec 3, 2011 – April 22, 2012
Cameron Heights Pool
301 Charles St. East
Kitchener
(519) 741-2482

Special Instructions:

1 - Bring kayaks directly to the pool deck from your car and give $10 cash fee to lifeguard (office is closed)

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KAYAKING INSTRUCTION:
GKC does not offer formal instruction, nor do we have club gear available to rent or borrow. If you have the opportunity for formal instruction ! it is the best way to get the basics and increase your confidence leve l quickly starting out. There are a number of places that do offer beginner courses over a weekend where you can 'get your feet wet' and see if kayaking is for you. Whitewater kayaking is not for everyone, but if you are comfortable in water and get proper instruction you will almost certainly fall in love with this sport. Many GKC members only started a few years ago and have quickly become paddling fanatics!

Check out the contact information from Whitewater Ontario's website for commercial companies offering instruction:

http://www.whitewate... ... mbers.html
http://www.whitewate...nity/clubs.html]]> Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:53:49 +0000 1f0e3dad99908345f7439f8ffabdffc4