Tokyo Olympic Games
First off, let’s celebrate Nevin Harrison! Nevin Harrison just had an historic race at the Tokyo Olympic Games winning the Women’s C1 200m sprint, the race being the first for women canoe paddlers. She won it quite handily, too. (Click the image below to view her race on YouTube.) Hopefully Nevin’s success will bring interest, attention, and athletes back to our sport here in America.
Recruiting Membership
The club has held several “Introduction to Canoe and Kayak” events this summer – six weekends in June and July while the pandemic had waned some. With the help of Rick and Joanne Diebold from the St Charles Canoe Club (they are living at the Ventura Harbor temporarily), Assistant Coach Lynn Rimkus, and Washington Canoe Club’s Ian Ross, we worked with over 30 individuals giving them water safety instruction and time in both kayaks and canoes. Several people came to multiple events and show interest in joining the club!
These initial events were for up to 10 people at a time, four of the events reached this limit, and thanks to having the help of others, we were able to make these events a success. Going forward, we’ll do smaller events on an appointment basis for up to 4 people at a time with one or both of the club’s coaches.
A New Access Point at the Ventura Harbor
With the help of the Ventura Harbor Master, we have secured the use of a public small craft dock on the south of the Portside apartment complex. There is now a public use area that includes a parking lot, two beach volleyball courts, and this small craft dock. There is a combination controlled gate on the dock — we have the combination and support of the Portside Dock Master to use it. This is a much better location for our club to use than the public launch area and we hope to make it a permanent home. Perhaps someday we can get a 40′ shipping container on some of this space? That would be a major milestone for the club. In the meantime, we can drive boats over from the trailer in the dry storage area or pull the trailer there if we have the need.
Nationals in Oklahoma City
The Nationals are still schedule for the end of August and instead of being in Ohio as they were once scheduled to be, they will be held in Oklahoma again. The races will coincide with an International Canoe Federation “Super Cup” event being held at the same time which should bring some of the bigger names in the sport to the area. While it would be wonderful to watch the Super Cup and race again, no club members are going to attend the events this summer. Instead, we’ll focus our efforts on recruitment and training. With the pandemic possibly roaring back to life, there’s also a safety concern about traveling and mixing with people who have also traveled, etc. Please get vaccinated if you have not already so we can all safely get back to doing things together!
Donations
The club received more generous equipment donations from Riley Carsey. A new K1 trainer with a fantastic boat cover, a K1 “Slender” which will also be good for beginners, a couple of whitewater boats, several paddles, and a set of racks, and a bike rack! Our club trailer is (over) loaded now with equipment! So much so that we are selling off some of the surfskis to make room and hopefully get these boats in the hands of new paddlers. We also had a donation from Nellie Cohen through the PayPal Giving Fund that was quite generous. The club’s finances are in excellent shape!
