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Confirming this paddle for those who want to join me. I understand if people don’t want to come with the heat advisory. Would appreciate if you post whether or not you are coming so I will know who is attending.
Lynn, To get to the Sand Ford access you at Stanton on HWY 44 take the HWY W exit. You will go a few miles and the highway will take a sharp turn to the right and the access entrance will be on your left just after the turn before you get to Meramec Caverns. There was a sign there for it.
Yes Carolyn and Eileen anything proposed here would have to go to the board and be voted on by the membership. I see two problems that I want to come up with a solution to. One is members are not using our ticketing process, I think because it is to complicated. I do not want to get rid of our current ticketing, because I think it is great for certain functions of the club. The other is people are paddling without the protection of our liability insurance which the club is already paying for. When the club adopted the Common Adventure concept we did not have the capabilities of the website that we have now and just because that is how someone else does it is not the only answer. I know I will not make everybody happy with what comes out of this but I do want to try to come to a solution and I do not think that the solution is to come up with a waiver so people can paddle without our liability insurance coverage.
Eileen, I would like for you to work with me on this. I hope you can look past the idea that we have to have a Common Adventure trips process and instead that we need to make our trip process simpler for our trip leaders. I realize our ticketing process is bulky and has more steps than we need for an experienced trip leader, so what I am proposing is that we streamline the process to replace the current Common Adventure forum.
1. The trip leader would post their trip in the forum as they do currently not submit it to us for posting. It is theirs to do. They would monitor who signs up.
2. Current members with ACA membership could reply and sign up. That is all they have to do.
3. Current members without ACA membership could post and would have to click on a link in the forum header to fill out a blank ACA trip waiver and pay the ACA insurance fee to the treasurer with-in a time period. If they do not fill a waiver and pay their fee it would effect their membership in the club. It will not be the trip leaders responsibility.
3. We create a guest sign-up link where a member’s guest would be able to fill out an ACA waiver and pay a $20.00 fee to join the paddle. It would be up to the trip leaders to approve their participation.
4. The trip leader at the end would post who actually attended and if there were any incidents so we could submit a report to the ACA.I think this would simplify the process and give the membership some of the things they have been asking for in that everyone could follow the whole process. This way all trips remain under the protection of our liability insurance which we are already paying for so why not use it. Why try to paddle without it. I think this pretty much follows how we did it in the past.
Okay, the old man has cooled down. I want to start with I think that it is irresponsible for any club member to state that anyone who expresses concerns about the liability of a practice of the club should just quit the board. When you consider most of our board elections boil down to trying to get someone to accept a nomination it is not a very good attitude to adapt. This club cannot function without a board.
I asked for discussion about the Common Adventure format, because myself and others have expressed the liability implications of this practice.
My interpretation of a Common Adventure trip is what Kathy does every year when her and some members do a trip to the Apostille Islands. This is done off our website between the individual’s participating. This is individuals getting together for common goal.
My opinion is that this concept gets blurred when it is on our Paddle America Club website. We require no documentation or waiver confirming that the participants have read or understand the concept that these trips are taking place under. All anyone has to say is I didn’t know I was supposed to read and agree to that, I assumed since it is on the club website it was covered. This places these trips totally outside of our agreement with the American Canoe Association who provide our liability insurance.
This club is only viable as a Paddle America Club under the umbrella of the American Canoe Association. We cannot afford to operate otherwise. Every year we sign an agreement with them stating that we will follow their guidelines in order to provide liability insurance for the club. I think we should not risk this affiliation because some people don’t want to play by the rules.
I have probably posted more Common Adventure Trips than any other member because I felt was the only option I had, but I have always been concerned with the risk for the club in this practice.
I would suggest we replace Common Adventure with an ACA Pop-Up format. Under this all participants would have to be ACA members with a signed annual waiver. This would bring us in compliance with the ACA and allow ACA members to post trips without going through the ticketing process.
For members who are not ACA members we would still conduct trips through our current ticketing and trip process. I have used this for my last two trips to test where we are in this process and Carolyn has greatly improved the experience.
I sent her an email that I wanted to do a trip.
She sent me an information form that I filled out so that she would know what to post.
She arranged a smart waiver with the ACA for non ACA members and posted the trip.
We put a post in the trip forum so people could let me know they were coming.
On the morning of the trip she sent me a list of attendees with emergency contact numbers and any medical issues.
After the trip she confirmed with me who attended for the ACA required report.
I only hope more members take advantage of this. This eliminates most of the complaints I have heard over the years about dealing with paperwork and money for club trips.Dennis Current President
I plan on going down to Log Yard Friday. I hope to get there by midafternoon to secure a first come sight if possible. I will text someone what I find so people can decide what they want to do. I currently have the following people registered for this trip:
Gary Bill
Mark Johnson
Don Crawford
Tracy Kahl
Dorine Johnson
Roger Boyd
Scott Thierheimer
Weather looks great and no significant rain forecasted. Being a weekend I do expect the Jack’s Fork portion of the paddle to be very busy.John, Other backcountry campgrounds close would be Powder Mill and Shawnee Creek. Both are the same as Log Yard, about 6 sites first come first serve. When I checked a few minutes ago there was one reservable site left at Two Rivers. These are all between our shuttle points.
Roger, sorry to hear about your A/C problems. To others I still plan on trying to get this paddle in, but understand if people decide not to come with the weather forecast.
Looks like I have enough for a shuttle, so let’s meet at Meramec State Park boat ramp at 9:30 as planned. Be sure to have plenty of fluids to drink and plan on getting wet to stay cool. Is a chance of a pop up thunderstorm as usual.
If I get enough for a shuttle the plan would be to meet at Meramec State Park boat ramp at 9:30 to work out the shuttle up to the put-in. I will confirm this trip Saturday afternoon based on water and weather conditions.
I plan on going ahead with this paddle. Looks like some chance of afternoon thunderstorms or rain both days, but not solid rain in the forecast. Still planning on meeting at the Two Rivers upper parking lot by the boat ramp around 10:00 am Wednesday to work out the shuttle up to Round Spring.
Weather report looks to be about unreliable as it was last weekend. I plan on going ahead with the paddle since water levels look fine. Let me know if you are still planning on coming and where you want to meet up with us at. Times annd location are as previously posted.
Going to go ahead and try to get this paddle in tomorrow. Rain chances are kind of all over the place, but that is kind of normal for lately. Will meet as planned at the Eureka Walmart at 8:00 am. The south east corner for new people. As I said before a rain jacket might be a good idea and some dry clothes for after if we get soaked. On another note they are working on the overpass at the Bourbon exit, so when you get off at the exit you will have to turn right and then right again onto the north service to back track to the HWY J overpass over I-44. Turn right On HWY J to get to HWY N to get to Blue Springs Creek river access.
The weather forecast for Sunday has changed some, but looks to be light to moderate rain not storms. So a rain jacket might be a good idea. If people want to carpool we could meet at the Eureka Walmart at 8:00 am to combine boats. Parking at Blue Springs can get busy on the weekend. Let me know where you want to join the group so I can try to organize the shuttle. For new members, I require everyone to wear a PFD when on the water. I will post a final update tomorrow afternoon.
